What is the circular economy?

It’s a popular topic nowadays, often discussed with technical and almost incomprehensible terms. Generally the circular economy is defined as an economic system of production and consumption, which involves sharing, reusing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended and waste is reduced as much as possible.

How does Livingcap contribute to such a virtuous system?

We prefer illustrating things through simple examples, reflecting our attitude, clear and concrete. For example, let’s talk about rice: Italy is the main European rice producer, with approximately 220 thousand hectares of plantations and a large variety of productions. The average Italian eats over 5kg per person per year.

Consider that the rice production generates a huge amount of waste — a ton of white rice corresponds to 200kg of lolla, the husk covering the grain.

Our partner Mixcycling combines the rice husks in their blend Mixcycling® LOLLA through a patented process. Livingcap then gives them a second life using this blend to develop sustainable packaging components for cosmetics that could include rice among the ingredients in their formulation.

Finally the circle is closed and the cosmetic is preserved in a packaging that contains what would have been scrap. This is the circular economy as we mean it at Livingcap.