3 – A Circular Economy

I. Think and discuss.

1. What are some things you own that have lasted a long time?
2. What are some household objects that need to be replaced fairly often?
3. What are the reasons you decide to buy something new?
4. What do you do with electrical products that no longer work?
5. What is the oldest gadget you own?

II. Complete the text.

commodities forward-thinking modular outset precious metals

recycling plants salvage throwaway upgrade waste stream
When we begin to move away from linear economy, we can begin to address the problem of the 1._________ of goods
causing our landfills to overflow. If we rethink business models, we could create items which will be recycled from
the 2._________ and then fed back into the system. Taking ideas such as LED light bulbs and 3._________
smartphones means increasing the life of our products. The 4._________ used in many electronic goods can be
recycled rather than be lost forever. Although it is more profitable to continuously produce new goods, the increasing
costs of 5._________ may convince companies to reconsider the desire to drive innovation and to instead look into
ways to help customers 6._________ their gadgets rather than buy new ones. It will certainly help our planet if we
can 7._________ as much as possible from goods that have been produced. A circular economy can help the
environment by making 8.________ an integral part of the life cycle of products.

III. Think and discuss.

Product life cycle

 the growth phase

 the decline phase
 the introduction phase
 the maturity phase

IV. Answer the questions.

1. What does Maja say about the market for recyclable goods?
2. What is Maja’s feeling about the product life cycle?

V. Choose the correct option.

1. Maja says her organisation does not like being told that
a) there is no market for recyclable b) goods must stop being sold in a c) companies cannot look after the
goods. market. planet.

2.Klaus says that

a) he and his company are satisfied b) winning awards for work-life c) using fairly sourced materials is
with their performance regarding the balance and equality makes his the only solution to saving the
environment. company special. planet.

3.Maja claims that the product life cycle can be sustainable when
a) raw materials are reused. b) packaging does not hurt the c) manufacturers need to buy new
environment. machines for their production
processes.

4.Maja mentions the concept of planned obsolescence and says that it

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 a) is good for industry. b) is common practice in most c) encourages customers to buy new
companies. products more often.

5.Maja says that the environment must come first so that

a) there will still be consumers. b) people will want to buy products. c) manufacturers consult customers
about the lives of products.

6. Klaus feels that change

a) will be very expensive. b) is something he can apply in his c) has begun in some industries.
business.

VI. Passive voice.

The passive voice is used when who or what is responsible for an action is not known, not relevant or obvious. The
passive voice can be used:

a) with phrasal or multi-word verbs (e.g. verb + preposition)

b) with –ing forms
c) with infinitives used with different tenses
d) as infinitives or –ing forms following the verb need
e) with the causative have

1. Car manufacturers of hybrid cars are among the first to have been considered successful by making a major
change in their vehicles.
2. Have you had the process looked at by an expert in sustainability?
3. Our organisation doesn’t like being told by a company that products…
4. However, this type of thinking needs to be implemented sooner rather than later.
5. Items which are regarded as essential by consumers can continue to grow for several years.
6. At this point the market share needs maintaining and new features may be added.
7. Products need to be removed from the market once they reach their final stage.
8. Having been given awards for work‐life balance and equality in the workplace, we’re very happy with our
profile at the moment.
9. The product life cycle itself can be thought of as sustainable.
10. We’re concerned about the concept of planned obsolescence, which limits the life of products and causes
people to replace them when they are considered to be no longer useful.

1. Recycling and More was hoping _________ for an innovation award.

a) to choose b) to be chosen c) to have chosen
2. It is clear that the product needs _________ as it is near the end of its life cycle.
a) update b) updated c) updating
3. Last week we ________ the entire production process evaluated by an expert.
a) were having b) had c) have had
4. Their star-up _________ out by a larger company.
a) was bought b) was being bought c) had bought
5. He doesn’t like _________ how to run his department.
a) having been told b) having to tell c) to be told
6. I _________ all the information put together at the moment.
a) am having b) had c) will have
7. No one enjoys _________ that they are wrong.

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 a) to be told b) being told c) to have been told
8. This structure can _________ to a number of different manufacturing processes.
a) to be applied b) applied c) be applied
9. The assembly line was one of the greatest innovations _________ by industry.
a) be implemented b) to implement c) to have been
implemented
10. The decline phase of products needs _________ carefully to prevent too much waste.
a) looked at b) to be looked at c) to look at

1. The company aimed their marketing campaign at a young demographic.

The marketing campaign ___________________________________________________________.
2. We don’t like people criticising us for no reason.
We ____________________________________________________________________________.
3. It was the first recycling initiative our city tried.
It was the first recycling initiative ___________________________________________________.
4. We need to promote the campaign at universities.
The campaign ___________________________________________________________________.
5. The garage tested my car for emissions.
I _____________________________________________________________________________.
6. It was the last idea they tested.
It was the last idea _______________________________________________________________.

VII. Memo.

Decide on the target audience.  not using plastic in the kitchen

Make your proposal clear.  not printing all documents
Use appropriate language.  replacing all non-energy efficient light
Check what you have written. bulbs
Use passive voice.  reusing old office supplies
 separation of waste materials
 use of artificial light only when
necessary
 etc.

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 Reading bank

Unit 2
1 Read the article about the circular economy and decide which two sentences summarise it best.
a The article is about companies that make cheap disposable goods trying to find ways to produce less waste.
b The writer is not optimistic about the circular economy because he believes that companies won’t be able to recycle or
refurbish goods and still make a profit.
c The writer believes that young consumers are creating pressure to make companies come up with ways to help people
shop with an environmental conscience.
d The writer has little hope that we will be able to solve the problems of packaging and waste.

2 Read the article again and choose the best answer (a, b or c) to the questions.
1 What is Ikea planning to do to become more
environmentally friendly?
a recycle all their furniture and kitchen units
b start renting out furniture and kitchen units
c make better quality and more long-lasting goods
2 What used to be kept over a decade ago for twice as
long as is done today?
a furniture
b cars
c clothes
3 What could make a company like Ikea go into
liquidation?
a only manufacturing strong, long-lasting products
b making products from recycled materials
c reusing and refurbishing goods
4 According to the writer, what should throwaway containers be
replaced by?
a plastic containers
b glass containers
c reusable containers
5 What is one of the disadvantages of the circular economy for the
environment?
a Some companies will go out of business.
b Some products will be over-consumed and cause more
pollution.
c The effort that went into producing a product will be wasted.
6 What is lost through recycling?
a the work and money that was put into making the product
b the raw materials used to make the product
c the environmental damage caused by the manufacturing of
the product

3 Find the words in the box in the text and match them with the definitions (a–i).

Verbs: curb exacerbate lease wander Nouns: congestion heirloom occupancy pitfall velocity

Verbs
a to walk slowly past sth
b to allow someone to use something for a period of time in exchange for payment
c to make sth worse, e.g. a problem
d to control or limit sth, especially sth not wanted
Nouns
e valuable object you are going to inherit
f speed
g the act of using or occupying a place (e.g. a house, land or method of transport)
h danger or difficulty, often hidden
i the state of being crowded (e.g. with lots of traffic)

4 What is the missing prefix in these words from the text? Which two words are related to throwing away?
play (noun) close (verb) pose of (phrasal verb) card (verb)

5 Complete the sentences using words from Exercises 3 and 4.

1 If you want to of unwanted clothes, you can donate them to a charity provided they are in good condition.
2 The growing availability of cheap goods will the problem of waste worldwide.
3 There are more advantages than when it comes to buying an electric car.
4 It can take over an hour to drive across the city because of heavy during rush hour.
5 Scientists have underestimated the of climate change, which appears to be much faster than initially
predicted.
6 You should try to your impatience with new recruits as it won’t help them learn the job any faster.

1 Business Partner C1 © Pearson Education 2020


Ikea furniture does not need to fall apart
The most circular thing about Ikea, the Swedish furniture
retailer, has traditionally been the path that it makes
customers follow through its superstores to find the goods
they have driven there to buy. As they wander along its
5 displays, Ikea wants them to spot other decorations and
take them home too.
The ‘circular economy’ now means something else: the
reuse and repurposing of products in different ways. Ikea
disclosed this week that it not only wants to recycle more
10 furniture, but plans a trial in Switzerland this year to lease
desks, chairs and perhaps kitchens. Instead of acquiring
furniture cheaply and later throwing it away, customers
might lease it for a while and then upgrade, with the old
pieces being refurbished for other users.
15 No one buys Ikea furniture to pass on to the next
generation – it is rarely moved from the spot where it
is put together. That is not the point – like fast fashion
clothing and other goods made in China, it has been cheap
enough to treat as disposable rather than as an heirloom.
20 But even Ikea shows signs of doubting whether this
approach can endure.
The velocity of consumption has steadily risen, partly
because companies such as Ikea make buying stuff
easy. Sofas and televisions were once hefty household
25 investments but can be bought cheaply now. About a
hundred billion garments are made each year – fourteen
for each person – and they are kept for only half as long
as fifteen years ago, the consultancy McKinsey & Co
estimates.
30 This causes a lot of damage. Each person in the world
draws about ten tonnes of raw materials from metals
to biomass annually into the economy to support
consumption and production, according to the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation, which advocates a circular
35 economy. Much of it will end up as waste, given how
hard it is to reuse – only 14 percent of plastic packaging is
taken for recycling, and far less actually recycled.
Few companies would stay in business if they only made
goods that lasted a lifetime. But plenty can do more to
40 limit repetitive consumption. They have selfish motives to
try, as Ikea and others are doing: young consumers enjoy
buying things but many are environmentally conscious (at
least in theory) and are repelled by waste.
Reading bank
45 Companies can start with packaging, too much of which
is made from complex plastics that ends up in landfill or
the world’s oceans.
More containers should be refillable, like the glass bottles
brought to my door by our milkman, and SodaStream®’s
50 carbon dioxide gas canisters for bubbly water.
Packaging is only one of the excesses in the way that
products are marketed and consumed. Not only are
things bought and disposed of rapidly, but many are used
sparingly while their owners have them – in Europe,
55 the average car is parked 92 percent of the time and
31 percent of food is wasted, McKinsey estimates.
Consumers can learn a lesson from the way companies
often lease equipment and goods, paying by usage rather
than for objects themselves. That applies to photocopiers
60 made by Kyocera and Xerox™, while the flooring
company Desso leases office carpets – cleaning as well
as fitting.
More things could be rented by individuals, as technology
has encouraged. The internet makes it easier to share
65 occupancy of cars and apartments through Uber and
Airbnb, and people subscribe to music and other digital
services rather than buying discs.
People lease cars for three or four years and there is no
reason why more durable goods, including furniture,
70 cannot be rented. Not only does it limit waste but it gives
companies an incentive to make things sturdily – better
materials would require fewer repairs.
The circular economy has pitfalls, notably the so-called
rebound effect: the easier it is to use products, the more
75 intensively this will happen. That is not a problem for
furniture, but sharing cars can exacerbate congestion and
pollution rather than curbing it.
But the reuse and refurbishment of goods has enormous
80 benefits compared with things being sold once, used
for a time and then dumped. At best, recycling involves
breaking things into raw materials and, in effect,
discarding all the investment and labour that went into
their making and marketing.
85 If Ikea aspires to become circular, there is no reason why
others should not follow. It will be difficult to reform the
consumption habits of the past few decades but all of us
– consumers and companies – can try.
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