7.3.9—Circular economy and waste

A circular economy designs products and systems to retain function and material value through maintenance, reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling, reducing new extraction and residual waste.

Example—smartphone path: minerals and components are manufactured into a phone; durable design and software support extend use; the phone is repaired or passed to a second user; usable components are recovered; separated metals return to manufacturing; only unrecoverable residue is safely disposed.

Trace design → manufacture → use → collection → highest-value recovery → recovered input, including energy, contamination and losses at each stage.

A loop is never perfectly closed: quality loss, energy use, missing collection and rebound demand can still create impacts.