The circular economy and an endless recycling of materials is an absurd proposal, and not only from a technical perspective; the very idea of a “sustainable” high tech society is in a direct conflict with the laws of physics. After reviewing the technical reasons behind
The relevant constraint is the carrying capacity of the ecosystem beyond the short run, i.e. without fossil fuels, depleted resource base and the ecosystem services due the overshoot, at some level of technology sustainable under the circumstances. We’re over an order of magnitude beyond these limits, by most estimates.