Author: Germana Girelli

Photo by "My Life Through A Lens"  Circular economy aims to optimise the use of materials at their highest value and optimal use for an increased efficiency of products and a reduced environmental impact. The use of R’s as operational imperatives of the circular economy answers to a need of conceptualisation and modelisation of the circular economy principles. We will present here the commonly defined as 7 R’s of the circular economy: Reuse:  Many products can be used for more than one application over the time. Even if the first customer won’t need a product anymore, because his circumstance change or because he simply does not want it anymore, this same product has good probability of being in a good enough state to enable a new use by someone else.…

Sustainable consumption is a concept closely associated with the concept of sustainable production and the articulation of both is what is known as sustainable development. In its initial definition in the Brundtland report: “It is in the hands of humanity to make development sustainable, lasting, that is, to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”[1]. David Suzuki is a Japanese Canadian academist, locutor, scientist and activist of environment. In 2008, he published a “Green Guide” where he included a list of guiding principles of sustainable consumption that can be applied by everyone in daily life to better consumerism behaviours. In this book, he identifies the most effective ways individuals can be greener in four key areas:…