Sustainable manufacturing is essential to preserving the finite natural resources of the planet. While the term has become something of a mantra in recent years, it’s now also forming a central pillar of business and economic activity.
The natural resources around us represent the basis for all human activity on Earth. We use these resources to produce food, clean drinking water, clothes, electrical energy, and everything else we need to survive. But these resources are limited.
‘Smart Circularity’—the circular economy as it relates to connected technology and the IoT—can help the world shift away from linear consumption to an economy where resources are fed back into a closed loop of recycling, reusing and sharing.
If devices lasted longer and were easier to fix, they could provide many years of good service before recycling. That saves precious materials and the energy needed to manufacture new products.