linear economy

the linear economy is a way of decribing our current ways of doing business – typically a ‘waste’, or throughput system.  We create waste and emissions at every stage, polluting our air, atmosphere, soil and water.

This linear economy relies on using finite resources – metals, minerals, and fossil fuels.  It also relies on land and water – and we often forget that they are finite as well.  In dumping all that waste and pollution, we’re destroying the living systems we depend on, and often harming people as well.  When we discard the product, we waste all those resources – and we waste all the energy, labour and knowledge we invested in the product at every stage in the process.