Be part of the circular economy!
Our current (“linear”) system mostly operates like this: we take materials from the Earth, make products from them, throw away the byproducts made during the production process, use the products, then throw them away as waste.
In contrast, a circular economy operates more like this: we take materials from the Earth and from waste streams of other industries, make products from them, capture the byproducts made during the production process and reuse and/or recycle them, use the products, then capture the waste from those products and reuse and/or recycle them again.
It’s all about efficient resource utilisation.
In my own little soapy way I am trying to contribute to the shift towards a circular economy, here’s how:
I make my soaps out of beautiful, food-grade quality extra virgin olive oil from the legends at Mount Zero Olives. But I use oil that would otherwise be waste, because it is the last of each press which means it has olive pulp sediment in it - so can’t be bottled for sale or used in restaurants and cafes. But the oil is still perfectly good and for a soapmaker the sediment is no problem - I can strain it out and compost it.
Capturing the ‘waste' oil and making sure it isn’t wasted is just one of the many steps MZO is taking as part of their efforts to champion a responsible and sustainable food system. As I said before, legends!
So it's pretty simple to be part of the shift towards a circular economy - choose to buy from businesses that put a lot of thought into how they make their products and dispose of their 'waste'.