Spending Sustainably: How to Contribute to the Circular Economy
By: Ben Greeley
Tags: Minimalism, Circulareconomy, Recycling, Sustainability, Environment

The 20th century saw enormous innovation, scientific discovery, and invention. It also saw environmental degradation and pollution caused by unsustainable business practices. The 21st century will see a similar magnitude of innovation as well: this time, making these practices sustainable. These discoveries and inventions will permit economic growth without environmental degradation. Humans will not have to flourish at the expense of the planet.

The blame for the profligacy of our modern economy rests on the shoulders of two men. Leo Baekeland discovered Bakelite: the first synthetic compound and modern plastic. This discovery was key to many of the 20th century’s discoveries and innovations, but came with a cost. Plastic takes centuries to biodegrade, and often causes environmental harm in the meantime. The other, Alfred P. Sloan, the CEO of General Motors, suggested the cars have annual changes. This would encourage consumers to buy a new car on a frequent basis as past models would be obsolete. This practice was so successful GM surpassed its competitor Ford in sales. Planned obsolescence was even lauded for bringing the economy out of the Depression.

So it stuck.

The majority of our economic output ends in a landfill, often in a developing country. Impoverished nations shoulder the burden of our wasteful behavior. Sustainability is as much a human rights issue as an environmental one.

Here’s what we must do.

Reduce

Buying less stuff should be pretty easy. You want to save money right? Except, money is boring. “Stuff” is fun. For a little while. Then stuff gets boring too. Only purchase what you need, or you suspect may be valuable long term. If you wish to try out things you don’t own, try Renting, as discussed below.

Reducing your consumption is only part of the picture. You can also put pressure on corporations to reduce their output. Supreme is a streetwear brand known for offering its merchandise in a limited supply. Other luxury prestigious brands destroy unsold merchandise. Supreme never has that problem.

Reuse and Repurpose

Finding new uses for things can be scintillating. But even if you can’t think of ways to reuse something, chances are someone else can.

One man’s trash is another’s treasure.

Reciprocation

So give it to others who may find your stuff more useful. Swap. Donate. Whether to a homeless person or a charity.

Recycle

Recycling is often out of our hands as everyday citizens. Often recycling companies promised to recycle and landfilled anyway. Fortunately there are many innovations that have made recycling cheaper and feasible.

What you can do to help with the adoption of such technologies is lobbying your local government. City and town jurisdictions have control over municipal waste. Residents need to YIMBY conversion/processing plants and recycling centers.

Other new companies help with recycling printer cartridges, tires, and electronics. Find these companies. Promote them. Raise awareness of them and help make them money.

Repair and Refurbish

Many companies have made it impossible to repair their products. Apple and Tesla are examples. Sometimes governments have passed legislation discouraging it as well. This is the influence of the planned obsolescence movement. There are two ways to combat this. One is finding companies that provide a lifetime guarantee. Teracube is a startup providing a smartphone with one such guarantee. The platform is Android, but the components are far more durable. The other is putting pressure on companies to offer repairs, or permit repairs.

Most affordable items are impossible to repair, hence their price tag.

Rent and Return

This is an often overlooked part of the circular economy. Renting from companies provides less incentive to make shoddy items. Because rental payments are recurring, companies have incentive to provide items that last. When items break or when they finally deteriorate, they can be returned and swapped out. The original manufacturer can then reuse and recycle those older items. There aren’t many companies helping with this, so this is a golden opportunity.

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Replace and Refuse

An easy way to encourage companies not to use materials that are difficult to recycle is to not accept them. Don’t take non-degradable disposable items. There are compostable alternatives for most single-use items. Put pressure on companies to use them and encourage others to as well. Boycott companies that aren’t sustainable. Seek out companies that are. Promote them. Reward sustainability.

Rot

By far the most important component of a circular economy is organic material. There are biodegradable alternatives to many items. Where there aren’t, there are opportunities for invention and innovation. Materials that are either compostable or burnable should substitute artificial inorganic materials. This again comes back to finding companies and promoting them.

Economies obey consumer spending. If you want the economy to change, change where you spend your money. Patronize circular economy companies.