Architect and designer Bill McDonough suggests that one solution to human-caused deterioration of the natural world lies in redesigning plastics for the circular economy; in other words, we should be designing plastic materials with their next use in mind. Not only should they be reusable, recyclable, and compostable, but also recoverable. They must be clean, healthy, and designed for a next use.

Employing lessons from his groundbreaking approach New Language for Carbon, McDonough explains how innovators and designers can catalyze widespread paradigm shifts—in plastics, in climate change, and in the language we use to talk about the world around us.