What is Circular Economy?

So what exactly is circular economy? I think it’s been throw around to anywhere lately though sustainability causes, but there are so many great resources that does a better job explaining circular economy than me. The pioneer of this is Ellen MacArthur (by the way, she has an incredible background story!) and her thorough definition can be found on her amazing site. I might not be the master of circular economy but I am a fan of the concept and even did my master thesis on the topic. My thesis was a bit more niche and focused on the fashion and luxury industry and I will share bits of it along the way. Therefore I have a shorter version of the definition, from my thesis:

Circularity is defined as the removal of waste from the life cycle of a product, and changing the product life cycle from “cradle to landfill” to “cradle to cradle”.

Why is this so important? Well, circular economy sounds like a dream but as a business student I always want to figure out if it is financial viable as the future of business. If the world can fully utilize its waste and turn it into the resource, it would fundamentally changes a lot of the great problems the world possesses. Hence, my thesis involved developing a business model that will champion circular economy, in a more specific industry. In the next few posts, I will share with you snippets of my thesis:

Can a circular business model exist within the luxury fashion industry and what would it look like?