Day: August 1, 2021

Acting on the need for reducing pollution and promoting sustainable development, Kochi Metro Rail Limited has decided to adopt the circular economy principles. 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.

If ever there was a marker of modern-day middle-class excess, it has to be a pillowy bag of lettuce leaves gone mushy before they can be eaten.  Most days, for the past six years, Hanneke van Linge, who is now managing director of the non-profit Nosh Food Rescue, spends her mornings recovering food from the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market in City Deep and a small network of supermarkets in the city. She’s after food that is safe to eat but no longer fresh enough to entice consumers. “We have been conditioned to expect crisp at all costs and we need to start confronting why we think of food surplus as food waste or that some foods are for poor people and some food is for rich people,” she says.

Efficient resource consumption can save 22.8 billion tonnes of carbon and help avoid climate breakdown, according to a new report from impact organisation, Circle Economy. 
Circular economy strategies can cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 39% and play a crucial role in avoiding climate breakdown, the report suggests, which is launching today (26 January) during the World Economic Forum’s virtual Davos Agenda Week. The Circularity Gap Report finds that the 22.8 billion tonnes (Gt) of annual emissions associated with creating new products from virgin materials can be eliminated by applying circular strategies that drastically reduce the amount of minerals, fossil fuels, metals and biomass consumed by the world’s economy.

To mark Global Recycling Day (18 March), Bureau Veritas is reminding UK bakery and snack producers to put a circular economy business model at the heart of their coronavirus recovery plan. This is especially important ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), set to be hosted by the UK in November. This year, Global Recycling Day shines the spotlight on #RecyclingHeroes: the people, places and activities that showcase the critical role recycling plays in contributing to a greener future. The third annual Global Recycling Day coincides with a new report by a group of international academics that states that economies and sectors that prioritise a move toward a ‘circular economy’ model​ ​could better recover from the financial impact of the pandemic.

A new initiative to support Latin America and the Caribbean in the transition to a circular economy as part of the COVID-19 recovery has been launched. The Regional Coalition on Circular Economy was announced during a virtual side event at the XXII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of the region, hosted by Barbados and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The Coalition will support access to financing by governments and the private sector, with special emphasis on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in order to promote resource mobilization for innovation and the implementation of specific projects in the region.