Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF)

The alternative, as promoted by organizations like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), is to design out waste from the very beginning. This means abandoning the linear model in favor of a "cradle-to-cradle" approach, where materials are conceived as either technical or biological nutrients that circulate at their highest value. The EMF's vision of a circular economy is based on three principles: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials, and regenerate nature. While the SDF supports this goal, it maintains a critical distance from what it perceives as the EMF's predominant focus on a market-based circular economy. The EMF often frames circularity as a new engine for economic growth and job creation, which, from the SDF's perspective, risks perpetuating cycles of consumption and the creation of "satisfiers" that may not align with fundamental human needs.