ABSTRACT
In search of models of production that recognize their embeddedness in the natural world, this chapter explores the use of ecosystems as guides for the reconceptualization of industrial production systems. It explores the ideas that underpin contemporary circular frameworks with four product-level frameworks: the Performance Economy; Cradle-to-Cradle design, the Blue Economy and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Circular Economy Framework. The chapter focuses on the practical challenges associated with trying to realize and implement circular strategies, and discusses the business model implications of adopting circular strategies. Circular industrial strategies promise to transform the way people manufacture goods, significantly reducing impacts on the environment and, ideally, moving towards living within planetary boundaries. There are, however, a number of overarching issues that need to be acknowledged as part of this transformation: the appropriateness of using an ecosystem model, population growth and consumption, economy-wide rebound effects, and the importance of context.
