This blog is a chronicle of the role Circular Blu is playing in developing the circular economy. Circular Blu is a company based out of Massachusetts (U.S), whose goal is to create an inclusive circular economy by redefining the value of waste.
Circular Blu started as Blu2Green in 2013 by collecting sterilization wrap (blue wrap) waste and hiring people with disabilities to sew the material into reusable tote bags. Blue wrap is a polypropylene fabric that is disposed of in massive amounts by hospitals all over the world. The material is nearly identical to the non woven polypropylene that is used to make reusable shopping bags, so it only makes sense that the material be used again for that purpose.
Blu2Green rebranded into Circular Blu in 2016, with the goal of expanding the business to include new circular economic experiments beyond just blue wrap. There are countless opportunities to develop non-linear economic models that can be more profitable, better for the environment, and better for society. That is what Circular Blu is setting out to do.
The purpose of this blog is to promote and explore all the different facets of the circular economy. Content will span from science, to humor, to economics, to real-life stories and experimental concepts and everything in between.
The concept of the circular economy put simply is: an economy with a circular flow of materials where waste (whether technological or organic) will be used as feedstock for creation of new goods, thus creating circular material flows. The current economic model can be described as linear and is commonly referred to as the “take-make-waste” model. The global waste crisis that we now face is a result of this linear economic process.
The circular economy will be necessitated by the simple truth that there is a finite amount of quickly dwindling resources that will have to be shared by an infinite amount of consumers (if our goal is to survive eternally as a species). The world that we all grew up in will not be able to accommodate the rapidly growing population and unless a change is made, disparity will reap havoc on our species by causing civil unrest and war that will be amplified by climate change and degradation.
The arguments supporting the essentiality of a transition to a circular economy are many and include (but are not limited to) the following:
- The circular economy can help slow and possibly reverse climate change
- The circular economy will be the greatest business opportunity of our generation
- The circular economy will help eliminate the waste crisis we are facing
- The circular economy will prevent soil degradation by keeping nutrients in the ground and out of landfills
- The circular economy will create jobs (which will be ever more important as autonomy removes jobs)
I invite you to join me and begin rethinking what is possible and create a better future for our children, and their children, and on and on. In 100 years, when history has been written, would you rather that our generation be known as the generation that ruined the world? Or the generation that saved it?
The Circular Blu Blog 