Circular economies are closed economic systems that aim to eliminate waste while utilizing resources appropriately.
The system combines reusing, repairing, and recycling, among other tactics, to reduce waste, pollution, and carbon emissions.
[1] Waste management, one of the focuses of a circular economy, is a global issue with local impact. In fact, the World Bank reports that, by 2050, rapid urbanization and increasing populations are expected to drive global waste generation up by 70% to 3.4 billion tons.
[2] The problem lies not only in how solid waste is managed after use, but how much is generated to start with. Even though high-income countries only represent 16% of the world’s population, they are responsible for generating more than one third (34%) of the total waste.
[3] In fact, New York City is the world’s biggest producer of waste, generating 33 million tons per year.
[4] It is widely understood that waste management is a vital element for sustainable, healthy, and inclusive communities; unfortunately, it is regularly overlooked as a real problem, particularly in low-income countries. Thus, the fact that social enterprises are working to improve and revitalize circular economies in developing regions is vital to sustainable development.
empowering people. Network aims to identify and support innovative technologies and organizations that work to solve basic circular economy problems around the world.
A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims to tackle global challenges as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution by emphasizing the design-based implementation of the three base principles of the model. The three principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and the regeneration of nature. CE is defined in contradistinction to the traditional linear economy. The idea and concepts of circular economy (CE) have been studied extensively in academia, business, and government over the past ten years. CE has been gaining popularity since it helps to minimize emissions and consumption of raw materials, open up new market prospects and principally, increase the sustainability of consumption and improve resource efficiency.
At a government level, CE is viewed as means of combating global warming as well as a facilitator of long-term growth. CE may geographically connect actors and resources to stop material loops at the regional level. In its core principle, the European Parliament defines CE as, “a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended.”
In a linear economy, natural resources are turned into products that are ultimately destined to become waste because of the way they have been designed and manufactured. This process is often summarized by "take, make, waste". By contrast, a circular economy employs reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system, reducing the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions. The circular economy aims to keep products, materials, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources. Waste materials and energy should become input for other processes through waste valorization: either as a component for another industrial process or as regenerative resources for nature (e.g., compost). The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) defines the circular economy as an industrial economy that is restorative or regenerative by value and design.
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