{"id":18269,"date":"2014-12-16T12:08:04","date_gmt":"2014-12-16T17:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18269"},"modified":"2014-12-16T14:25:43","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T19:25:43","slug":"secret-circular-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Of The Circular Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"tire<\/a><\/p>\n

A circular economy takes its waste products and recycles them back into new products. One classic example of a circular economy is the newspaper business. Old papers from today are\u00a0fed back into the system to make clean newsprint for the newspaper presses tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Tires used to be an example of an economic model that is definitely not circular because the production process creates chemical changes that make recycling difficult. By 1990, there were more than a billion of old tires in landfills in the United States alone and billions more thrown away around the world. The tire industry was not a sustainable business model.<\/p>\n

The key to a sustainable business is creating a circular economy\u00a0in which\u00a0waste products are fed back into the production process as raw material.\u00a0“Zero waste to landfill” is now a primary goal of leading companies in every industry as they search for\u00a0new ways to recycle and re-purpose their waste and make products more recyclable.\u00a0This focus is known as “product stewardship.”\u00a0General Motors<\/a>\u00a0now has 122 production facilities around the world that put no waste into local landfills.<\/p>\n

Often, government incentives and research grants are needed to identify how to recycle and repurpose. According to Slate.com<\/a>, entrepreneurial opportunities are created wherever there is a breakdown between waste products and raw materials. It recommends that those seeking new business opportunities\u00a0look at the waste cycle of any product, find the weak links in its production circle, and identify cost-effective solutions.<\/p>\n

That sort of dynamic has totally changed the tire industry. Today, many of those old tires are being reprocessed into\u00a0tire-derived fuel<\/a>, a substitute for coal and other fuels commonly used in cement kilns, pulp and paper mills, and for electricity generation. Others\u00a0are used\u00a0for ground rubber applications\u00a0like\u00a0rubberized asphalt, artificial turf fields and playground surfaces. Rubberized asphalt lasts longer than ordinary asphalt and has enhanced properties such as better noise control. It also erodes more slowly and has better drainage.<\/p>\n

As a result of such innovative thinking, the number of cast-off tires in the US has dropped by more than 90%\u00a0since 1990. That’s good news for our economy and our environment.<\/p>\n

Car manufacturers are pushing new ways to incorporate recycled products in their new vehicles. In the 2015 Nissan Leaf, for example, 25% of its content comes from recycled materials<\/a>. Now when a new car is designed, engineers actively consider how it will be recycled at the end of its useful life. Thinking about what will happen to a product when its utility is exhausted is the essence of good “product stewardship.”<\/p>\n

Are there any entrepreneurs who can make a profit recycling all those trillions of empty plastic bottles out there in the world?<\/p>\n

Image credit:<\/strong> Shuterstock<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sustainable business needs to have a circular economy model that re-purposes its waste products as raw materials for new products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":18275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,13],"tags":[7611,3468,4741,39,5326,7615,7613,7614,7612],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is a Circular Economy?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A sustainable business needs to have a circular economy model that re-purposes its waste products as raw materials for new products.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is a Circular Economy?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A sustainable business needs to have a circular economy model that re-purposes its waste products as raw materials for new products.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-16T17:08:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-16T19:25:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/tire-reycling-circular-economy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Hanley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Hanley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephen Hanley\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/870fd183849b78d5224d0a6812c87ac6\"},\"headline\":\"The Secret Of The Circular Economy\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-16T17:08:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-16T19:25:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/\"},\"wordCount\":460,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"circular economy\",\"General Motors\",\"nissan leaf\",\"Recycling\",\"repurposing\",\"rubberized asphalt\",\"tire recycling\",\"tires as fuel source\",\"zero waste to landfill\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Sustainability\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/\",\"name\":\"What is a Circular Economy?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-16T17:08:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-16T19:25:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"A sustainable business needs to have a circular economy model that re-purposes its waste products as raw materials for new products.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Secret Of The Circular Economy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/870fd183849b78d5224d0a6812c87ac6\",\"name\":\"Stephen Hanley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ccbe8a963ed00ce0928772f76beb349?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ccbe8a963ed00ce0928772f76beb349?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Stephen Hanley\"},\"description\":\"writes about the interface between technology and ecology from his home in Rhode Island. You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/myrhodetrips.com\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteveHanleyRI\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/stephenhanley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is a Circular Economy?","description":"A sustainable business needs to have a circular economy model that re-purposes its waste products as raw materials for new products.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is a Circular Economy?","og_description":"A sustainable business needs to have a circular economy model that re-purposes its waste products as raw materials for new products.","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_published_time":"2014-12-16T17:08:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-16T19:25:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/tire-reycling-circular-economy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Stephen Hanley","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephen Hanley","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/"},"author":{"name":"Stephen Hanley","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/870fd183849b78d5224d0a6812c87ac6"},"headline":"The Secret Of The Circular Economy","datePublished":"2014-12-16T17:08:04+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-16T19:25:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/"},"wordCount":460,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["circular economy","General Motors","nissan leaf","Recycling","repurposing","rubberized asphalt","tire recycling","tires as fuel source","zero waste to landfill"],"articleSection":["Business","Sustainability"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/","name":"What is a Circular Economy?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-16T17:08:04+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-16T19:25:43+00:00","description":"A sustainable business needs to have a circular economy model that re-purposes its waste products as raw materials for new products.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/secret-circular-economy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Secret Of The Circular Economy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/870fd183849b78d5224d0a6812c87ac6","name":"Stephen Hanley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ccbe8a963ed00ce0928772f76beb349?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ccbe8a963ed00ce0928772f76beb349?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Stephen Hanley"},"description":"writes about the interface between technology and ecology from his home in Rhode Island. You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter.","sameAs":["http:\/\/myrhodetrips.com","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteveHanleyRI"],"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/stephenhanley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}