The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has designed the Butterfly Diagram – a visual tool which demonstrates how the circular economy works in practice. It illustrates how materials flow in two different cycles – the biological and technical. The biological cycle consists of biodegradable materials. The technical cycle consists of non-biodegradable materials, such as, plastics and metals which can be kept cycling through reuse, remanufacture or recycling.
In 2020, academics Patrick Schröder, Alexandre Lemille, and Peter Desmond modified the EMF Butterfly Diagram to include the human sphere. This integrated the United Nations Social Development Goals, a commonly accepted and proven framework for human-centred sustainable development, with the circular economy.
This new visualisation of the circular economy aims to deliver both environmental and social regeneration.
Schroder, P., Lemille, A., Desmond, P., 2020. Making the circular economy work for human development. Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, 156, p.104686.
Part funded through the European Social Fund (part of the European Strategic Investment Framework) for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
