An increasingly favored economic model in which resources minimize waste, pollution, and environmental impact using practices such as smarter product design, longer use, and recycling.  This model contrasts with the current linear economic model in which the system extracts raw materials from nature, turns them into products, and discards them as waste. Estimates are that only 7.2% of used materials are currently cycled back into economies after use. This contributes to growing concerns around climate, biodiversity, and pollution - and calls for a circular economic model. A circular economy will place new demands on the learn-and-work ecosystem, especially the preparation of a workforce with skills to design smarter products, longer use of products, and recycling.