Where the Loop Leaks

Abstract

The diagrams are beautiful, and that is part of the problem. A circular economy is usually drawn as two loops, one for materials that return to the soil and one for materials that return to the factory, with arrows that close neatly at the top. Nothing in the drawing leaks. Nothing wears out. Nothing is burned for heat. Nothing is added to the pile of buildings and roads that a growing economy accumulates each year. The drawing is a statement of intent, and it is often read as a description. The second chapter in this book (chapter 2) traced the idea from Kenneth Boulding's closed capsule of 1966 to John Fullerton's eight principles of 2015, and set out the difference between a brief that asks for less harm and a brief that asks for more life. This chapter is the fair critique. It takes five problems the research has raised, states each as strongly as its authors would, and then says how a practitioner works through it. None of the five is a reason to abandon the idea. Each is a reason to use it with the measuring instruments switched on.