Circular Economy
The Circular Economy is a system focused on minimizing waste, emphasizing sustainability, resource efficiency, and long-term environmental health. The transition from a linear model, where resources are extracted, used, and then thrown away, to a circular model, is often associated with more sustainable growth, reduced environmental impact, and resilient financial economies.
RASEI Researchers are exploring how the circular model can be incorporated into different aspects of society. By designing products and encouraging practices for durability, repairability, and upgradability we can extend the lifetime of products while also reducing resource extraction, greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation, and population and environmental impacts. Some of the work in RASEI has a specific focus on how this can be done with plastics and polymers, and on a larger policy scale for the broader economy.