The ancient philosopher Pythagoras considered the circle to be an ideal object – without beginning or end, a symbol of the perfection of eternal, cosmic existence. The term circular economy, which is assigned to a much more mundane topic, also carries a little of this noble metaphor. This refers to economic models that aim, among other things, to keep materials and the products made from them in circulation for as long as possible before they finally leave the cycle as waste. But that is just one aspect of the ambitious approach. “Most people believe that the circular economy is only about recycling,” criticizes Karin Huber-Heim from the BFI Vienna University of Applied Sciences. “Recycling is just one of the ten so-called R strategies of the circular economy.”
