From Linear to Circular: Australia’s Transition to an Eco-Economy
Scroll
By Alexi Freeman
If you keep cutting corners, you go around in circles – but when it comes to our economic relationship – circularity is precisely the right direction. Environment minister Tanya Plibersek is developing national initiatives aiming at “transitioning to a more circular economy” having established the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group. Led by its inaugural Chair, Professor John Thwaites AM – a global expert on developing policies to address sustainable development – the group will provide expert counsel on the opportunities and challenges associated with making this transition.
Circularity, a concept championed by Dr. Walter Stahel in the 1970s, has become a central theme in sustainable development. Often dubbed the “father of the circular economy,” Stahel argued that extending the lifespan of products is the initial step towards a sustainable economy. The Ellen Macarthur Foundation, echoing Stahel’s sentiments, identifies three design-driven principles crucial for circular economy creation: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials and regenerate nature.
Initiating efforts for a circular strategy demonstrates that the current Australian Government has a high priority and aligning community sentiment that we should be once again a leader in decarbonisation rather than a laggards, and align with best-practice countries that have implemented circular economy strategies with broad-scale industry adoption.
Guided by Associate Professor Simon Lockrey – industrial designer and sustainability research leader at RMIT University – a new strategy for circular design draws insights from a comprehensive set of reports titled Enabling Design for Environmental Good, targeted at propelling Australia into a new era of sustainable design practices addressing critical environmental challenges and laying the foundation for a resilient and regenerative future. The partners collaboratively managing the project included Arcadis – a provider of sustainable design and engineering solutions – and One Planet Consulting – offering strategic support toward developing national sustainability goals.
This interdisciplinary approach brought together academia, government, not-for-profits and industry through a co-design process, signifying a commitment to cross-sectoral engagement. “This call for new and coordinated approaches to designing sustainable products and industries is not a nice-to-have, but an urgent necessity,” Lockrey said. “We need an approach that ties together the interests of the federal, state and local governments, which will help businesses and industry work towards a common goal.”
At the core of the strategy lie four guiding principles of eco-design, aligning with global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reflecting a commitment to holistic environmental stewardship.
- Regenerative Design: a shift from conventional approaches to collaborative, nature-centric models.
- Systems Thinking: promotes understanding of product life cycles, optimising usage and reusability.
- Zero-Waste: advocates for transitioning from a linear take-make-waste model to circularity.
- Ethical Design: highlights the importance of making choices that prioritise collective well-being and ethical considerations.
The project also identifies ten cross-cutting levers – significant actions and initiatives relevant across sectors – providing a comprehensive guide for industry and government to integrate eco-design. These levers are contextualised for critical Australian sectors:
Textiles
With Australia ranking second in global consumption, a strategic intervention aims to enhance product durability and longevity to mitigate resource inefficiency.
Plastics
Already exceeding 3.4 million tonnes consumed annually – only 13% of which are recycled – urgent action is imperative as global plastic consumption might double by 2040, and plastics may outweigh fish by 2050.
Electronics
Approximately 50% of e-waste is diverted from landfills, but the volume is growing. The report details methods for Australian designers to design for disassembly, mitigate the impacts of e-waste and lead the global charge of advanced manufacturing technologies for ecological benefit.
Construction
Our third largest industry, producing around 11% of GDP, the report emphasises the urgent need for circular economy-based reform within this critical sector.
Arcadis Australia project lead Richard Collins said design was crucial to ensure materials, products and systems were environmentally and economically sustainable from the start of their lifecycle. “Design contributes to up to 70% of the environmental impacts of a products lifecycle,” he said “For instance, before a building begins construction, design decisions regarding materials used, how it’s built, where it’s positioned and subsequently how it performs over its life, will determine the environmental and financial impact of the building… If decisions are poorly made, the building will have negative environmental impacts, cost more to run, maintain or upgrade. But this is much bigger than construction – the same design principles need application across textiles, electronics, plastics and more.”
The Enabling Design for Environmental Good report underscores the significance of policy-based, financial, regulatory and educational/engagement cross-cutting levers as instrumental tools guiding Australia towards improved environmental outcomes through evidence-based design practices. These levers provide a strategic framework for integrating sustainable practices across diverse industries, laying the foundation for leaders in a circular economy prioritising ecological and economic sustainability. “We need to educate people in these positions, as well as future decision-makers, to understand the environmental and economic benefits design can have on their business or sector,” said Lockrey.
With the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water commissioning an eco-design strategy and Minister Plibersek’s creation of the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group, a national commitment to strengthening collaboration enables a dialogue for insights, recommendations and actions from sustainability experts across fields. Specifically, the circular design strategy, scaffolded by commitments from all Australian environment ministers (federal, state and territories), also targets collaboration with the private sector to design out waste and pollution, keep materials in closed-loops and cultivate markets supporting a circular economy by 2030.
Commissioning a national strategy for circular design is timely, but implementing this strategy and enacting longitudinal and meaningful change will likely entail barriers akin to the industry backlash when former prime minister Julia Gillard tried to pass a climate-prioritising resources tax. Everyone may be on board with a greener future, although few want to lose out on sunk costs and for assets to get stranded. In practice, industry may need incentivisation and support to transition to well-rounded circular principles – as for some – safeguarding our only liveable planet may not be payment enough.
Learning from the lessons of countries further around the arc of circularity will help align Australia with global best practices to catalyse our circular transition.
- The Netherlands have pioneered circular economy practices, including circular procurement and sustainable product design – practices that are now deeply ingrained into their culture – aggregating in a circularity rate of 24.5%.
- Finland’s comprehensive circular economy action plan includes waste reduction, circular business models and initiatives to support recycling nutrients from waste with a carbon neutrality target by 2035.
- Japan’s Sound Material-Cycle Society Plan draws on its history of promoting circular principles in various industrial sectors, including recycling valuable materials, waste reduction and increasing resource efficiency.
- France’s Roadmap for a Circular Economy (2018) charts a path of 50 measures for rapid progress towards their 100% circularity target, including all plastics being recycled by 2025.
Equipped with the knowledge that numerous countries have demonstrated the capacity to legislate and implement circular economy practices in their industries – Plibersek’s promise to “protect, restore and manage” the country’s environment and continued willingness to seek counsel from seasoned sustainability experts like Thwaites, Lockrey and Collins can catalyse alignment with our global community.
As Australia deepens its understanding of circular principles, it strengthens the global sustainability movement to safeguard a harmonious coexistence with the environment for future generations. Implementing these strategies will require staunch government support for research and innovation, regulatory measures, industry incentives and public awareness campaigns. Essentially, we need a simultaneous triumvirate approach of top-down, bottom-up, and all of us sandwiched in between to get on board with circular principles.
Australia’s timeline for transition will depend on the interplay of the economic, social and environmental context over the coming years. Thankfully, plenty of us climate-allies are committed to meaningful change. Through design-driven research and collaboration scaffolded by ministerial support, we can shift to circularity before heading in a linear line towards climate collapse.
