Buzzword No. 2: Circular Economy

When I started preparing content for The No Nonsense Sustainability Podcast, the circular economy was the buzzword I was desperate to dissect. All the claims about circularity, reuse, and a zero-waste society sounded so far-fetched that I hardly knew where to begin.

At first, all I saw was recycling. Every article seemed to equate “circular” with “better bins.” But once I dug deeper, I realised it was a lot more than that. I went down the rabbit hole and discovered bold visions of a “fully circular future,” where waste is eliminated, resources are continuously reused, and industries operate without depleting the planet. It sounded less like policy and more like a fairy tale.

The fairy tale version

My cynical self smirked as I read claims such as:

• No more landfills full of electronic waste - every phone, laptop, and battery designed for repair and easy disassembly.

• No more food waste- composting, redistribution, and biodegradable packaging solving the problem entirely.

• Factories powered by renewables, recovering every drop of water and material at the end of its lifecycle.

Uplifting, yes. Realistic, not so much.

The more feasible vision

Then there were ideas that seemed within reach:

• Fully electric public transport systems.

• Modular buildings made from recyclable materials.

• Water and energy networks recovering waste heat and reusing treated wastewater.

• Regenerative farming that restores soil health and relies on organic fertilisers.

Those examples resonated with me as I have seen projects like these financed by IFIs - I worked on a few myself! Maybe circularity isn’t pure fantasy, but a mix of hard-to-reach ideals and practical shifts.

Recycling: a band-aid, not the cure

No matter which path I explored, I kept bumping into recycling. And yet, statistics tell a sobering story: less than 10% of plastic worldwide is actually recycled. Many materials that could be recycled still end up in landfills or incinerators because infrastructure is inadequate.

That raised the question: is recycling just greenwashing, a distraction from the real issue of overproduction? If we keep churning out materials without changing design and business models, recycling alone will never be enough.

Who pays for circularity?

Following the money led to another puzzle. Who funds this transition? Consumers may demand durable, repairable products, but building circular systems requires new infrastructure, redesigned supply chains, and major innovation. Developing countries already struggle with waste systems while trying to industrialise. Governments often lack incentives or funding. Should development banks and global financial institutions step in? Probably.

And yet, even building the “green” industries of a circular economy isn’t resource-free. Electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines all need lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earths - resources that are often mined at high environmental and human rights costs. Even with progress on eliminating forced and child labor, the reality is grim. Can we really celebrate a circular future if it depends on children in Congo mining cobalt?

The human side of transition

And then there’s the human cost closer to home. Shifting from a linear to a circular economy means jobs in fossil fuel and heavy industries will disappear. Workers will need to retrain and transition - a concept captured in another buzzword: “just transition.”

But it’s not just about workers. Whole economies in developing countries depend on resource exports. If richer nations reduce imports in the name of circularity, how do those economies survive? The gap between global north and south risks widening unless solutions are truly inclusive.

From recycling to rethinking

When I spoke with my guest, Dariusz Prasek, things clicked. He has worked with governments and industries to put circularity into practice - beyond recycling. And he asked me a question that was eye-opening in many ways:

“Do you really want to own a washing machine? Or do you simply want clean clothes?”

That simple reframing captures the essence of circularity. Today, there are companies leasing washing machines instead of selling them. The manufacturer maintains the machines, repairs them when needed, and takes them back at end of life to recover the materials. It’s not about ownership, but about designing services that maximise use, minimise waste, and keep resources flowing.

That’s when I realised circularity isn’t just technical. It’s cultural. It means asking whether things can be repaired, remade, or redesigned instead of discarded. It means shifting incentives so that businesses profit from durability, not disposability. And it means rethinking our relationship with stuff and with growth itself.

Keeping it real

This is why I find the circular economy both frustrating and inspiring. Frustrating, because it’s become another sustainability buzzword, often used in ways that mask business-as-usual. Inspiring, because when you strip away the fluff, it does point toward an economy that doesn’t treat people and nature as disposable.

The challenge now is to keep it real. Not linear-in-disguise. Not recycling as a fig leaf. But true circularity that works for both people and the planet.

That’s the conversation I had with Dariusz - and one I think we all need to keep having.

Listen to EP02 of The No Nonsense Sustainability Podcast for the full conversation.