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Circular economy

A circular economy is about keeping materials and products in use for as long as possible, through repair, reuse, recycling and design for disassembly. Reuse uses the product again as it is and ranks higher in the waste hierarchy than recycling, which breaks it down into raw material.

reuse>recycling\text{reuse} > \text{recycling}the waste hierarchy: reuse is preferred over material recycling

Example

Screw joints instead of gluing is design for disassembly: it allows materials to be separated for repair or recycling later.

Ask "can this be used again as is" before thinking recycling — reuse saves more resources.
Practise sustainability for free →

← Life cycle assessment (LCA) · Greenhouse gas accounting and scope 1–3 →

Part of Technology, Ethics and Sustainability: Sustainability.