What is the circular economy?

circular economy. Image by Freepikby Freepi

WhoSki.com is a proud circular economy business – but what does this even mean?

In the simplest terms, circularity means keeping stuff – like ski clothes – in use for as long as possible, in either its existing form or at its highest value.

For example, rather than taking to the dump a ski jacket or snowboard pants that you no longer want or need, you make sure they are re-used as secondhand clothing by someone else while they are fit for purpose. Selling them on via WhoSki.com as long as they are wearable extends the life cycle of your pre-loved ski clothes, cuts their carbon footprint and reduces their impact on the environment.

Experts calculate that extending the active life of clothing by just three months per item, would lead to a 5-10% reduction in the carbon, water and waste footprints of your family’s secondhand ski outfits. Find out more on our ski eco page.

THE PUREST FORM OF CIRCULARITY

A peer-to-peer marketplace like WhoSki.com is the purest form of a circular economy business. Other circularity business models include taking existing items and ensuring they are either re-used as something else, or their components are recycled into other useful items. Doing so ensures that materials such as textiles, metal or plastics are re-purposed rather than sent to landfill or incinerated.

WHY THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY MATTERS

Textiles are among the five main areas where the circular economy can make a difference because they are a major contributor to current waste volumes, touch all of us at some point in our lives and show real potential for improvement. Find out more about this at the ReLondon website.

ReLondon (formerly LWARB) is a partnership of the Mayor of London and London boroughs to help the city waste less and re-use, repair, share and recycle more.

Similar organisations exist elsewhere in the UK. For example, Wales has Circular Communities Cymru.

In Glasgow, the Chamber of Commerce runs the Circular Glasgow Network.

It highlights textiles as among the key sectors where the circular economy can help reduce carbon emissions, focusing on “secondhand, re-sale and rental models that extend the lifetime of garments” as key. Circular Glasgow also points out that “the impact of the added logistics of cleaning and transport must be carefully considered”. Selling your secondhand ski clothing peer-to-peer via WhoSki.com keeps these logistics to a minimum.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

If you want to find out more about the circular economy, we recommend visiting the websites linked to above. Additionally, the Zero Waste Scotland website has much useful information as does the Ellen MacArthur Foundation which has long been researching and lobbying on circularity issues.

Image by Freepik

Author: Nicola

Co-founder, WhoSki.com