The last 150 years of industrial evolution have been dominated by a one-way or linear model of production and consumption in which goods are manufactured from raw materials, sold, used, and then discarded as waste. This model has been exceptionally successful in providing affordable products to consumers and material prosperity to billions. In developed economies, it has largely displaced a traditional economy that featured more reuse and regeneration but required more labour and produced lower returns on investment.
The report, Towards the Circular Economy: Opportunities for the consumer goods sector, focuses on fast-moving consumer goods, which currently account for about 60 per cent of total consumer spending, 35 per cent of material inputs into the economy, and 75 per cent of municipal waste. Importantly, the consumer goods sector absorbs more than 90 per cent of our agricultural output – possibly our most embattled resource in the future.