Battery used Battery charging

Thematic Book Series: How Circular is the Circular Economy?

The fourth volume in a series of books opening up Low-tech Magazine’s archive by theme.

Image: Book cover.
Image: Book cover.
View original image View dithered image

The circular economy – the newest magical word in the sustainable development vocabulary – promises economic growth without environmental destruction or waste. However, growth makes a circular economy impossible, even if we recycle all raw materials and all recycling is 100% efficient. No technology can change that because it’s not a technological problem. In addition, many modern products are too complex to recycle.

In this series of articles, LOW←TECH MAGAZINE explores how the circularity of various technologies like bicycles, solar panels, and wind turbines evolves. Placing the recycling of resources in a historical context makes clear that we are not moving toward a circular economy but rather increasingly away from it.

Contents table:

  • How circular is the circular economy?
  • Can we make bicycles sustainable again?
  • Plastic waste in the fuel tank?
  • Recycling animal and human manure is the key to sustainable farming
  • How to make wind power sustainable again?
  • Reinventing the small wind turbine
  • How to build a low-tech solar panel?
  • How to escape from the Iron Age?

Available in our bookshop:

Patrons get free access to ebooks, as well as early access to new print books at a reduced price.

Other books in the series:

The Low-tech Magazine archives are also available as a chronological series consisting of four volumes.