Building Revolutions

12. Circular business models

In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete.

Buckminster Fuller

The linear economy is based on manufacturing products, selling them to a consumer, who then consumes them and is responsible for disposing of them at end-of-life. The circular economy needs new business models to retain the value of products and to help to close the loop.

The business models range from full performance-based models through to take-back and remanufacture. In the performance-based models, the manufacturers retain ownership of the products whilst providing a service to the customer. The take-back model proposes selling products ...