**4.1 Traditional approach**

The circular economy is fundamentally different from the linear economy. In short, in a linear economy, raw materials are extracted and discarded into a product after use. In a circular economy, we close all these raw materials. Completing these circuits requires much more than recycling. It changes the way value is created and maintained, how production becomes more sustainable, and how business models are used. The circular system and the linear system differ in value creation or retention. The linear economy traditionally follows a "take-produce-throw" stepwise procedure. This means that the raw materials are collected and then converted into products that are used until they are finally disposed of as waste. In this economic system, value is created by producing and selling as many products as possible. Whereas, the 3R approach is followed in the circular economy: reduce, reuse and recycle. Minimum resource utilization (reduced). Ensure reuse of materials and products as much as possible (reuse). And lastly, the raw materials are highly processed (recycle).

The sustainability perspective in the linear economy is different from the circular economy. When we operate sustainably in a linear economy, the emphasis is on

**Figure 8.**

*Comparison between conventional and sustainable circular economy approaches.*

eco-efficiency, meaning we try to minimize our environmental impact to achieve the same result. This extends the time in which the system becomes overburdened [28]. The system of eco-efficiency usually works during downcycling: part of the product(s) is recycled due to poor quality use, which reduces the value of the material and makes it difficult to reuse and recycle the flow of materials as shown in **Figure 8**.
