In yesterday's linear production chain, value was created by producing and selling as many products as possible. After their use they would go to waste, which created an immense rubbish heap of anonymous material, lost forever. When in the 2010s a lot of materials became scarce, humanity slowly began to realize that linear economy had reached a dead end. Eventually, they found a solution to the problem: if sale is a service, then the product becomes the means, not the ends. Within the value creation chain the sale of a product was replaced by the performance contract and thereby also material became a service. As a result, a second, complementary chain emerged: the value sustain chain. This transformation enabled from then on the almost loss-free circulation of material around the globe, secured through its official registration on the Madaster platform. The revenues generated by material-as-a-service provide a permanent stream of income for the countries where the materials were mined, thereby allowing for a more equal distribution of global wealth.
