Visit Circulate every Friday to read our weekly round up of interesting circular economy related videos, stories and articles. In this week’s piece we explore the economic opportunities for a new plastics economy, the future of work and more!

Are humans economically redundant in an age of machines? It’s a question asked by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee in an article that summarises many of the ideas put forward in their successful book, The Second Machine Age, which questions the future of work in an era of unprecedented technological advancement. Check out their relatively balanced take on an issue that concerns many on Foreign Affairs.

Plastics have been thrown into the “limelight” over the course of the last couple of years as issues such as ocean waste have gained more attention and as ideas like the circular economy have gained traction. A couple of interesting pieces have been published on the subject in the last week.

In Green Biz, Lauren Hepler suggests that a circular economy framework offers a new set of possibilities for plastic. Her article describes a maintenance of stocks, re-purposing of materials and transformation in design, this isn’t just about more recycling.

Meanwhile, Andreas Merkl (president and CEO of the Ocean Conservancy) has written on the release of a new report, Stemming the Tide. In an article for Huffington Post, Merkl emphasises the fact that creating a new plastics economy is not only doable, but also represents a huge economic opportunity.

In other news, industry leaders and academics recently gathered for a Guardian conference on Green Chemistry, an event which included a keynote from one of the concept’s founders John Warner. Get some thoughts on the event from Bruce Watson here.

Finally, this week represented another notable event in the lifespan of electric car technology. The Tesla X was unveiled with Wired UK describing it as “the world’s coolest family electric car”, whatever that means.

The post Circulate on Fridays: A New Plastics Economy and the Future of Work appeared first on Circulate.

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