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At a family gathering in August, I gave a brief tribute to my mother on the occasion of her 90th birthday. As the guests sipped their coffee in the warm summer air, I ticked off a dozen or so pieces of wisdom that she has imparted to her family over the decades. One insight that I credited to her was an aversion to waste. In our household, items such as clothes and toys would have multiple lives before being thrown out, and leftover food would be transformed into tomorrow’s lunch. In other words, my mother was an early advocate of the circular economy, in which materials and products have multiple iterations, and the waste of one process loops back and becomes the input for another.
Part of Nature Outlook: The circular economy
Part of Nature Outlook: The circular economy
For people of her generation, these are commonly held values. But younger generations have largely strayed from these ideas, opting instead to produce and consume more and more. Some of the waste is recycled, but that only goes so far towards addressing the problem that the planet has limited resources to offer.
The finiteness of this supply distinguishes materials from energy. There’s little doubt that in the future we will be able to capture more solar power and even build nuclear fusion reactors to abolish energy scarcity forever. But for material resources, no such technology is in view.
That’s what makes the research reported in this Outlook so important. As the world sets out to put its economies on a sustainable footing, this Outlook looks at the progress and barriers to the sustainable use and reuse of plastics; electronic devices such as mobile phones; building materials; and clothing and other textiles. It also examines the transition of biofuels to a more environmentally friendly form that will foster less soil-depleting and carbon-producing agriculture, and the urgent need to become better stewards of Earth’s water resources. Two researchers also debate whether plastic recycling is central to the advancement of the circular economy, or a counterproductive distraction from the need for more fundamental change.
We are pleased to acknowledge the financial support of Google in producing this Outlook. As always, Nature retains sole responsibility for all editorial content.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03643-2
This article is part of Nature Outlook: The circular economy, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.
How to make plastic less of an environmental burden
Beware the false hope of recycling
Recycling our way to sustainability
How to rescue biofuels from a sustainable dead end
The path towards more-sustainable building construction
How to fit clothing into the circular economy
Video: how to make the construction industry circular
Sponsor feature: How Google is supporting the circular economy
Beware the false hope of recycling
Root out threats to Amazonian forests and Indigenous peoples
Plastics tsunami: Can a landmark treaty stop waste from choking the oceans?
Beware the false hope of recycling
A heat-harvesting film can also bend and bow
Anomalous thermal transport under high pressure in boron arsenide
Video: how to make the construction industry circular
Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden)
Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden)
The University of British Columbia (UBC)
You have full access to this article via your institution.
How to make plastic less of an environmental burden
Beware the false hope of recycling
Recycling our way to sustainability
How to rescue biofuels from a sustainable dead end
The path towards more-sustainable building construction
How to fit clothing into the circular economy
Video: how to make the construction industry circular
Sponsor feature: How Google is supporting the circular economy
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Nature (Nature) ISSN 1476-4687 (online) ISSN 0028-0836 (print)