Month: March 2021

More than 100 billion tons of resources enter the economy every year – everything from metals, minerals and fossil fuels to organic materials from plants and animals. Just 8.6% gets recycled and used again. Use of resources has tripled since 1970 and could double again by 2050 if business continues as usual. We would need 1.5 Earths to sustainably support our current resource use. This rampant consumption has devastating effects for humans, wildlife and the planet. It is more urgent than ever to shift from linear, use-it-up-and-throw-it-away models to a circular economy: where waste and pollution are designed out, products and materials are kept in use for longer, and natural systems can regenerate. A circular economy isn’t just about fixing environmental wrongs, though: Evidence shows it can bring big opportunities and positive impacts across industries, sectors and lives.

Sustainability should be at the forefront of our efforts as a society to ensure that we are maintaining healthy environments and reducing waste. A circular economy is an economic system based on regenerating natural resources and systems and eliminating waste and pollution. How can we make efforts to widely implement this type of system? Where and how can we start? Here are 5 books that will help you dive into this regenerative process.
 

When my son was 3 years old and asking his mummy what was this “circular economy” thing she was working on, here is what she told him: it is when everything is healthy food for something else. So simple and sweet. I love it! In other words, it means running the economy like nature runs its own business: plants use carbon dioxide and nutrients to grow and produce oxygen. Animals use oxygen and create carbon dioxide and nutrients. Nothing is wasted. It is a closed loop system. Circular economy is generally opposed to the linear economy (take-make-waste) we have been running for many years. Some people also use the term cradle to cradle as opposed to cradle to grave.”

Activities in a circular economy follow reduce (minimum use of raw materials), reuse (maximum reuse of products and components), and recycle (high-quality reuse of raw materials) principles where the life of the product gets extended. Unlike the linear process, it means implementing systemic changes that add value and reduce substantial procedural waste. The waste from the end of the supply chain is directed to the beginning thereby using the resources more efficiently by utilising them more than once.

Valeria Horton finished college in May 2020, two months after the COVID-19 lockdown had stopped everything in Mexico. With a stagnant economy and few job offers for recent graduates, Valeria decided to take advantage of the crisis to start a business. This is their story and with the sole objective of promoting their entrepreneurship, I pitch the idea to them. Like many other graduates, Valeria started looking for work after finishing her Communication studies, but the process was very complicated. “There was the pandemic and there was, well, there is a crisis, so I decided to start a project. I did not want to wait and I wanted to start this so that there are no more pandemics in the future, “he says.