Background
Our current conventional economic model for plastic products is linear, extracting finite raw materials (such as fossil fuels), producing products that become waste. A circular economy is an alternative model which promotes waste as a “resource”.2 It is a “system solution framework… based on three principles: eliminate waste and pollution, circular products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerative nature.”3 This means that the entire process changes, starting with extraction of raw materials, to design to prevent the creation of waste, keeping the material in circulation for as long as possible through reuse, repair, refurbishment, recycling and recovery of end-of-life products.4 The circular economy model is presented as a solution to reduce plastic pollution by keeping plastic within the economic system by design and could prove a more ecologically sound choice.