The Circular Economy

Walter R. Stahel is the Founder-Director of the Product-Life Institute (Switzerland), the oldest established consultancy in Europe devoted to developing sustainable strategies and policies. He isSenior Research Fellow at the Circular Economy Research Centre, Ecole des Ponts Business School and Visiting Professor in the Department of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey. He is also a full member of the Club of Rome. He was awarded degrees of Doctor honoris causa by the University of Surrey (2013) and l’Université de Montréal (2016), and the 2020 Thornton Medal of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Introduction 1. Circularity, Sustainability and Labour in the Circular Economy 2. The Circular Industrial Economy: New Opportunities in Changing from Producing Objects to Producing Services 3. The Loop of Stocks of Physical Objects: The Era of ‘R’ 4: The Loop of Stocks of Materials: The Era of ‘D’ 5. The Significance of the Point of Sale or Factory Gate 6. The Invisible Liability Loop and the Role of Policy 7. The Performance Economy 8. Radical Innovation: Injecting Innovative Ideas, Systems, Components and Materials into the Stocks 9. The Circular Economy: Roots, Context and Outlook