Having been to the Oxford Freshers Fair today and being asked a few times about the use of flyers and that being environmental, I thought I’d jot a note about the circular economy and get people’s views.
So the flyers we distribute from Better Century are from recycled paper using an innovative printing process that uses much less energy and water. SeaCourt printer are probably the most environmental way to print as all their paper is recycled and they have zero waste, and have made their own tailored, low water, zero waste long lasting printers.
So when there is process like that isn’t it acceptable to use technology and innovation to continue to help society still distribute information on paper? I think so.
The energy in recycling the paper and printing, alongside other low ecological impact printing inks, are really the sole consideration. I think those are fine to accept into society’s practices going forward.
The idea of a circular economy as written by Wikipedia is:
A circular economy (often referred to simply as “circularity”[1]) is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. Circular systems employ reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturingand recycling to create a close-loop system, minimising the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions.[2] The circular economy aims to keep products, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources. All ‘waste’ should become ‘food’ for another process: either a by-product or recovered resource for another industrial process, or as regenerative resources for nature, e.g. compost. This regenerative approach is in contrast to the traditional linear economy, which has a ‘take, make, dispose’ model of production.[3]
It’s interesting to discuss to what level should the circular economy be accepted into Better Century?
The concept can be applied to plastics as much as printing, and really challenges people’s conception about how things should work in the future. It of course demands a massive shift infrastructure and I believe shouldn’t function to serve immense amount of single use. For example I think we should all refill bottles as it is an easy way to avoid waste and energy use, by the simple act of putting water back into a bottle…
Be interesting to hear what others think?