Economic Levers Shift Between Linear and Circular Models

Why It Matters

Understanding these economic drivers is crucial for designers aiming to embed circularity into their products and systems. By recognizing when and why linear models are favored, designers can proactively develop strategies and solutions that overcome these barriers and promote more sustainable, circular approaches.

Key Finding

Economies are not strictly linear or circular but a mix, with the balance shifting based on profit, scarcity, and business opportunities. Linear models are often reinforced by overproduction and fast consumption, creating systemic barriers to circularity.

Key Findings

• Economic applications have always been a blend of linear and circular, with proportions varying over time.
• Profit, scarcity, circumstances, and business opportunities are key drivers influencing an economy's tendency towards linear or circular practices.
• Factors such as redundancy, overproduction, and rapid consumption perpetuate linear models and hinder circularity.
• Systemic path-dependent forces and lock-ins underpin and perpetuate the linear economy.

Research Evidence

Aim: To investigate the dynamic interplay between linear and circular economic models and identify the factors that influence their prevalence and transition.

Method: Literature review and case study analysis

Procedure: The study reviewed existing literature on circular and linear economies, analyzed emblematic examples of economic practices, and identified factors that encourage shifts between linear and circular models.

Context: Economic systems and industrial practices

Design Principle

Design for economic adaptability: create solutions that can thrive and transition between linear and circular economic paradigms.

How to Apply

When developing a new product, analyze the current market's economic drivers (profit, scarcity) and identify how your design can leverage these to favor circularity, or how it can mitigate the factors that promote linear consumption.

Limitations

The study's findings are based on existing literature and case studies, and the specific economic contexts analyzed may not be universally applicable.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: Economies are always a bit of both linear (make-use-dispose) and circular (reuse-recycle). What makes it lean one way or the other is things like making more money, running out of stuff, or what businesses are doing. Things like making too much stuff or people buying and throwing away quickly keep us stuck in the linear way.

Why This Matters: Understanding the economic forces at play helps you design solutions that are not only environmentally sound but also economically feasible and likely to be adopted.

Critical Thinking: How can designers create business models that inherently favor circularity, even when profit motives might initially push towards linear approaches?

IA-Ready Paragraph: The economic system is a dynamic interplay between linear and circular practices, influenced by profit motives, resource availability, and market opportunities. Understanding these drivers, as highlighted by Morseletto (2023), is critical for designing sustainable solutions that can overcome systemic lock-ins and the perpetuation of a 'throwaway society'.

Project Tips

• When researching your product's context, consider the economic incentives that might favor or hinder its sustainability.
• Explore how your design can actively counteract the drivers of a 'throwaway society'.

How to Use in IA

• Reference this study when discussing the economic feasibility and market context of your design choices, particularly when advocating for circular economy principles.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate an understanding of the economic factors that influence the adoption of sustainable design practices.

Independent Variable: Economic factors (profit, scarcity, business opportunities, circumstances)

Dependent Variable: Prevalence of linear vs. circular economic practices

Controlled Variables: ["Systemic path-dependent forces","Drivers of throwaway society (redundancy, overproduction, fast consumption)"]

Strengths

• Provides a nuanced view of economic systems beyond a simple linear/circular dichotomy.
• Identifies key drivers and barriers to circularity.

Critical Questions

• To what extent can design alone overcome deeply entrenched economic 'lock-ins'?
• How can designers effectively communicate the long-term economic benefits of circularity to stakeholders driven by short-term profit?

Extended Essay Application

• Investigate the economic viability of a circular product design in a specific market segment, analyzing how profit, scarcity, and existing business models might influence its adoption.

Source

Sometimes linear, sometimes circular: States of the economy and transitions to the future · Journal of Cleaner Production · 2023 · 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.136138