Linear Economy

is a prevailing model in today’s market economies. Production, distribution and consumption are organized as a sequence of activities along unidirectional supply chains with a start (provision of resources) and an end (disposal of used materials). In such ‘take-make-dispose’ regime, value-creation mainly results from (extensive or inten­sive) exploitation of natural and human re­sources. Due to the regulative framework that sustain the linear economy, economic agents do not have to consider the costs of their negative impact on the environment and in most cases have no restrictions in their access to virgin natural resources besides the limits given by their financial power.