Written by Kruti Munot , with Pavithra Mohanraj and Priyal Shah as part of a series with Infinitive . Cross-posted from Linkedin . Over the last year, we’ve discussed ideas around the circular economy (CE) with a range of people - from students and mentees, to companies and government stakeholders. When we start introducing the CE , the most common response is “ do you mean better recycling? ” But (in the words of Ken Webster ), viewing the circular economy as simply “recycling on steroids” ignores some of its most powerful aspects. This post is an attempt to demystify what the CE really is (and isn’t) - based on conversations we’ve had with multiple stakeholders from our work at Infinitive. Q: Plastic bottles are recycled. Isn’t that part of the circular economy? It is circular to recover waste and put it back into production, but very few materials actually get recycled this way. Most are “down-cycled” into products of lower quality and functionality. Ultimately