SAP BrandVoice: Skateboarding For Sustainability

New survey findings published March suggests local authorities and SMEs want the circular economy to be much more of a priority – both for their own organisations and for UK policymakers.
The research with 300 senior decision makers in local authorities and SMEs across England found that 77% believe accelerating a global circular economy should be a high priority for policymakers in the build up to COP26.
In addition, 74% of all respondents would like their own organisations to make more use of the circular economy. 28% are not convinced that circular economy practices are currently well embedded in their organisation.
Despite the appetite for change, the survey also shows the need for greater clarity on the circular economy. 23% of those polled weren’t sure of how a circular economy can help tackle the climate crisis, and over a quarter felt that they needed more help to understand how they and their organisations could benefit from it.
Read the full article at: www.circularonline.co.uk

Together with countries in the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) region, UNEP is developing a project entitled “Reduce marine plastics and plastic pollution in Latin American and Caribbean cities through a circular economy approach” co-financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). This project aims at facilitating governments and businesses at the city level in the region to address the plastic pollution through accelerating their transition to a circular economy for plastics. The project is planned to be implemented in 6 cities in Colombia (Cartagena, one more to be decided), Jamaica (Kingston, Montego Bay), Panama (Panama City, Colon). UNEP is issuing the following two types of posts to support the development of the project: Data collection consultancy: collection of data related with marine plastics and plastic pollution from the 3 target countries, in particular the 6 target cities; Policy consultancy: policy baseline identification and stakeholder engagement at national and local level related with circular economy, marine plastics, and plastic pollution from the 3 target countries, in particular the 6 target cities.

Located in the rural area of Masarhi, state of Bihar, India, the Vistex Hospital was founded in 2019 with a grant from the Vistex Foundation and is operated by the NGO Doctors for You. The hospital is one of the main health care centers in the region.  Since its inception, the goal of the organization was to build a sustainable, energy-efficient hospital in order to provide consistent and dependable health care and services for their community with a small environmental footprint.  The area where the hospital is located experiences frequent power cuts. By using on-site solar energy generation, energy-efficient equipment, and climate-smart architecture.  The walls of the top floor were constructed using agribio panels made from straw, a residue from the harvest of rice the hospital reduced its energy consumption and associated costs by 58%, saving approximately 10,000 US Dollars per year.