In our post about Farm-to-Table restaurants, we asked you to put a pin in the term “circular economy”. At the heart of the businesses we honed in on rests the desire to further invest and participate in this concept. For this installment, we will focus on the start and end point of a resource, with the intent of cutting out unnecessary waste and repurposing the product at the end of its use. Circular systems directly combat the linearity of our current production and consumption methods, where goods are mass produced and treated with chemicals & unnatural pesticides for longevity and hastened growth. Where emissions are heightened by shipping internationally to reach destinations and where products are ultimately discarded when their usage ends.

As consumers, knowing where our food comes from and how it is produced is a great step forward. However, to fully realize the way a circular system can play a role in our own lives, we need to consider where our food goes after use. From large scale businesses all the way down to us as individuals, the majority of what we produce, purchase, use and dispose of on a daily basis ends at the landfill. Taking part in a circular system means recognizing where waste can be minimized and where goods and materials can be reinvigorated. It means supporting green businesses, working to reduce the use of non-sustainable packaging, increasing our investment in sustainable products and educating ourselves on how to correctly dispose of our post-consumer waste (“Analysis of Waste Systems in the United States” by Rahul Kulkarni). These are steps we can take as everyday consumers to contribute to the health of the circular economy initiative, but what can be done at the commercial level?