The Circular Economy
A User's Guide

A Circular Economy seeks to rebuild capital, whether this is financial, manufactured, human, social or natural, and offers opportunities and solutions for all organisations. This book, written by Walter Stahel, who is widely recognised as one of the key people who formulated the concept of the Circular Economy, is the perfect introduction for anyone wanting to quickly get up to speed with this vitally important topic for ensuring sustainable development. It sets out a new framework that refines the concept of a Circular Economy and how it can be applied at industrial levels.

This concise book presents the key themes for busy managers and policymakers and some of the newest thinking on the topic of the Circular Economy from one of the leading thinkers in the field. Practical examples and case studies with real-life data are used to elucidate the ideas presented within the book.

Introduction 1. Circularity, Sustainability and Labour in the Circular Economy 2. The Circular Industrial Economy: New Opportunities in Changing from Producing Objects to Producing Services 3. The Loop of Stocks of Physical Objects: The Era of ‘R’ 4: The Loop of Stocks of Materials: The Era of ‘D’ 5. The Significance of the Point of Sale or Factory Gate 6. The Invisible Liability Loop and the Role of Policy 7. The Performance Economy 8. Radical Innovation: Injecting Innovative Ideas, Systems, Components and Materials into the Stocks 9. The Circular Economy: Roots, Context and Outlook

Walter R. Stahel is the Founder-Director of the Product-Life Institute (Switzerland), the oldest established consultancy in Europe devoted to developing sustainable strategies and policies. He isSenior Research Fellow at the Circular Economy Research Centre, Ecole des Ponts Business School and Visiting Professor in the Department of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey. He is also a full member of the Club of Rome. He was awarded degrees of Doctor honoris causa by the University of Surrey (2013) and l’Université de Montréal (2016), and the 2020 Thornton Medal of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.