However wear and tear and the continual and very much observable degradation of our human artefacts hints at entropic tendencies of materials. The laws of thermodynamics moves us all towards greater disorder and the only way to restore low entropy is by increasing it elsewhere. Nature might come close to 100 % recycling of materials but even if we humans look to nature as an example every transformation of material, new or old, requires more energy and more material.
The best way then to build our societies to prosper within limits is with renewable material made by nature. Here again a reminder is at order that even though renewables are renewable by nature they carry a limit meaning that having all humans flourishing within limit for a long time we have to respect the limit of our ecosystems regenerative capacity and share the resources and services they provide better!