What is "Circular Economy"?

When discussing business opportunities with potential collaborators, friends or colleagues I always start by saying I have designed my business model based on Circular Economy principles. Since people ask me what that is, I figured I give you a quick insight explained in my own words. So here it is:

A Circular Economy is a new economic model that offers a balanced industrial ecosystem, one that mimics natural ecosystems. 
As opposed to the current linear economy, it aims to radically limit the extraction of raw materials and the production of waste. It does this by increasing product life and recovering and reusing as many of the products and materials as possible, in a systemic way, over and over again. 

LINEAR Economy:

• MASS CONSUMPTION: encourage the idea that more is better, regardless of what we actually need
• PLANNED OBSOLENSCENCE : sustain and create high demand by style changes 
• UNLIMITED RESOURCES: no quantification for the resources it needs, produce now & worry later
• WASTE: the assumption that landfills are the solution
• GROWTH: sell more and more
• OWNERSHIP : people are strongly interest in owning products
• LOW ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS: disregard for the impact that the  production process has on the  environment
• FAST LIFE: burning trough products as fast as possible

                    CIRCULAR Economy:​

• WASTE-FREE: every resource is either      re-used,repaired or recycled in a technical or biological way
• RESILIENT BY DESIGN: it is sustainable
• INNOVATIVE IN DESIGN & BUSINESS APPROACH: the sustainability factor is integrated from the start, in the design process
• RESTORATIVE OF ECOSYSTEMS: it no longer threatens the natural ecosystems, it is naturally integrated

You can think of Circular Economy as the water cycle on Earth: evaporates from oceans, lakes & streams ➡ condensates ➡precipitates ➡ back into the oceans, lakes & streams.
So, the circular economy is a mimic of the natural system : as one creatures reaches the end of its life, it becomes the fuel for another. The cycle in never-ending. 
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Further down you can see the Butterfly Diagram from Ellen MacArthur Foundation :"A circular economy seeks to rebuild capital, whether this is financial, manufactured, human, social or natural. This ensures enhanced flows of goods and services. The system diagram illustrates the continuous flow of technical and biological materials through the ‘value circle’ ."