Following a linear path, single-use products fail to provide longevity and sustainability while also contributing to waste buildup. Reuse models, like Circulr, work to reshape our perception and relationship with common consumer products. By rethinking the linear economy, we can shape a circular economy together.
What is the Circular Economy?
I’m glad you asked! The Circular Economy is an economic system that incorporates both production and consumption with the goal to keep products and materials in circulation for as long as possible through the methods of reuse, repair, refurbishing, sharing, and recycling. Although that’s not all the methods to build a circular economy, they are the most common.
Reuse
Although it may not surprise you, Circulr actually got its name from the idea of the circular economy. Shocking, I know! After a product is produced we are firm believers that reuse should be the first method to be looked at for that product’s post-consumer life. Though systems like recycling and refurbishment are important “downstream” solutions, that can follow reuse, reuse is one of the easiest and most impactful ways to increase a product’s circularity. Reuse reduces waste, eliminates packaging from being sent to landfills, and reduces the need for new production. Not only is it better for our environment, but there are clear economic and social benefits to take advantage of.
Work with us to build a Circulr lifestyle, increasing the life cycles of products and avoiding landfills. To do this together, let’s learn a little bit more about how reuse models directly benefit our communities.
Benefits of Reuse
Sustainability
Four main factors impact a product’s sustainability levels:
- Production
- Transport
- Number of uses
- End-of-Life.
While production and transportation act as impactful sources of emissions, our focus is on increasing the number of uses and ensuring proper end-of-life handling.
Collecting jars throughout the community ensures a jar’s productive life is extended. As you participate in a reuse model, environmental impacts from production are divided, significantly decreasing the total amount of emissions per use. Reintegrating the same product back into the consumer cycle feeds into creating a sustainable circular economy in Ontario.
“Reuse avoids the need for resource extraction and reduces energy use compared to the manufacturing of new products and recycling.”
Reuse models intervene and reduce the need for new virgin materials production. With many non-durable single-use items, recycling is the best-case scenario. But, reuse models challenge this linear model in favour of fostering longevity for products. A study from Zero Waste Europe revealed that reusing glass bottles at least 5 times reduces their overall environmental impact by a third and other studies have found similar findings across different types of packaging and different geographies.
Affecting your wallet
Zero-waste reuse systems are all around us, whether it is the reusable bag you bring to the grocery store or reuse programs like the Ontario beer bottle program and 3 & 5-gallon water jugs. These systems are great because they make sure that you are not paying for a piece of packaging only for you to throw it away. Instead, you are simply borrowing the packaging and purchasing the valuable product inside. This means you can pay less overall because brands and retailers no longer have to factor in wasted packaging as a recurring cost.
Community
Reuse stimulates the local economy by keeping resources and jobs within the community, and it provides small businesses an opportunity to compete on the same level as large global brands. Jobs are brough back into the community as the handling of packaging is no longer pushed out to far away recycling plants, but instead is recaptured and cleaned within the community for further use. Furthermore, by properly handling packaging we can ensure our local environment and community remain clean and litter free.
Circulr & Community
Our focus is on making change happen locally. Working to amplify local brands to keep resources in our communities. In partnership with your favourite brands, we are shifting away from single-use products towards a model based on a zero-waste circular economy.
In 2022 alone, Circulr collected almost 12 thousand jars, reviving them back into the product cycle. This avoided 2,428 kg of CO2e emissions by eliminating the need for new packaging production.
And we’re working hard to make it easier for you to participate. By continuing to shop with your favourite brands, we can work together to create positive changes in our communities by increasing the number of life cycles a product has.
We have created a system that is accessible for people hoping to make positive changes in their lifestyle for the environment. Building a network of almost 20 drop-off locations and 18 different brands, we’re bringing change to your neighborhood.
Circulr can help fuel a sustainable lifestyle that suits you. We’re meeting you where you are, creating space to easily reduce emissions. Discover more about Circulr’s reuse program and how you can join us in creating a more sustainable future, one jar at a time.
