Soil scientist Eugene Kelly and sustainable textile researcher Sonali Diddi delivered a talk April 3 exploring the circular economy model as a potential pathway to a low-carbon economy. The model has become increasingly relevant as researchers seek economic practices that are both environmentally sustainable and profitable.

Right now, companies and consumers operate under a linear supply chain in which items are manufactured, distributed and disposed of. A circular model, by contrast, would not dispose of the product after consumption but would reuse the waste materials to create more products.

“We have to change from that mindset of consumers to users,” Diddi said. “We are just users in a system, and then you move on, and you finish it, and pass it on to somebody else. And that’s what circular economy is trying to do. It is, ‘How do we regenerate the natural system? If I’m taking from the land, how am I putting it back into the land?’”

Diddi said that implementing circular economic practices would require collective action toward systemic reform on every level of society. Manufacturers must design products with the intent of reusing them, consumers must be willing to recycle rather than dispose, municipalities must provide the appropriate infrastructure and so on.

“It is a systemic thinking that we need to come together for,” Diddi said. “Any one part of the system is not going to be able to solve it.”

While Diddi primarily studies circular economics from a textile production standpoint, Kelly likened the model to regenerative agriculture.

“When you start looking at this, it really not only provides a social benefit, but there’s an environmental benefit and an economic benefit,” Kelly said. “It’s the perfect kind of science to test ideas of sustainability and regenerating ecosystems, so it’s a great model to work with, and that’s where Sonali and I intersected.”

Kelly applied circular economics to his company, Solum, which sells shoes that have regenerative outsoles made from plant material that deposit nutrients back into the environment as they are worn. The soles are made from dandelion rubber and waste from grain elevators, exemplifying how waste can be reused.

“It makes me really want to get involved. This was a goal of grad school, too, to get involved with policy and be the bridge between research and system change.” –Dimagi Kottage, materials chemistry doctoral candidate

Although Kelly and Diddi recognized that it could take time for circular economics to be widely accepted and used, they pointed out that several companies like Uber and Airbnb are already searching for ways to use resources more efficiently.

“They’re not material things, but if you think about it, they were trying to use the resource creatively,” Diddi said. “You have your car; you’re using it only 20% of the time, and somebody had this ‘aha’ moment to say, ‘Why can’t I rent out my car? Somebody else drive it? I get money.’ And that’s how Airbnb or Uber or CouchSurfing or Vrbo rentals — all of this started with that.”

One issue that companies have faced so far is scalability, or getting access to enough waste material to mass produce new products. Diddi pointed to a company called Smartwool, which uses old sock material to create new socks.

“They’re like, ‘I can shred, I don’t know, 10,000 pounds of socks in one day, so I need more waste,’” Diddi said. “So the scalability is the problem, and this is only one brand which is doing it. What if all brands came together?”

While circular economics is regarded as a budding solution to resource depletion, there are still several critiques of the model.

Dimagi Kottage, a doctoral candidate in materials chemistry, said the model fails to advocate against the central issue of overconsumption.

“Circular economics doesn’t address the reality of consumption, and that we just need to decrease consumption,” Kottage said. “We consume a lot in the U.S., and we’re trying to fix that problem but not change our behavior.”

Amelia Skinner, another doctoral candidate studying chemistry, said climate-focused economic models are good, but it is disheartening to know that solutions must accommodate corporate interest even though corporations produce the most waste.

“It’s hard being somebody that’s trying to look into the science behind it and the issues knowing that the people here aren’t really the people producing all of these issues,” Skinner said. “Everybody should care and put in the effort, but at the same time, we don’t have as much power as a whole entire business that’s producing all of this waste.”

Diddi also mentioned the financial constraints of circular economics in her lecture.

“We might start businesses which are sustainable, but if they’re not going to make money, then we cannot sustain a business,” Diddi said.

Despite some criticism across academia, circular economics remains an evolving discipline with much yet to uncover. Research by CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability continues to broaden its scope through ongoing studies and classes.

“It makes me really want to get involved,” Kottage said. “This was a goal of grad school, too, to get involved with policy and be the bridge between research and system change.”

Reach Chloe Waskey at science@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.