Chapter II - The circular model’s founding principles
- by Joss Blériot
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- 22 Feb 2012
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- Version française
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The closed loop model is a biomimetic (life-imitating) approach, a school of thought that takes nature as an example and considers that our systems should work like organisms, processing nutrients that can be fed back into the cycle – hence the “closed loop” or “regenerative” terms usually associated with it.
© Richard Crookes
It relies on five founding principles
Waste is food
Eliminate waste. The biological and technical component parts (nutrients) of any product should be designed for disassembly and re-purposing. The biological parts are non-toxic and can be simply composted. The technical, polymers, alloys and other man-made materials are designed to be used again with minimal energy.
Diversity is strength
Diverse systems, with many connections and scales are more resilient in the face of external shocks, than systems built just for efficiency – it applies to economies and communities too.
To make this happen…
Energy must come from renewable sources
As in life, any system should ultimately aim to run on ‘current sunshine’ and generate energy through renewable sources.
Prices must tell the truth
Prices are messages and to use resources rationally these prices should reflect the real cost of our activity. It is part of setting the ‘rules of the game’ for positive development cycles.
Thinking in terms of systems is key
Understand how things influence one another within a whole.
Read further: Chapter III – Putting the circular idea into application
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