For most people, the notion of a circular economy is probably an abstract and perhaps distant concept. Although there is much talk in the media about the importance of the “green shift”, many are not yet fully aware of the significant changes in our way of life that will be required to ensure our long-term welfare and a sustainable future.
Today’s linear economic model, which is based on extracting, producing, using and discarding, is not sustainable and must be replaced. Some of the challenges we face today, such as resource scarcity, climate change, waste accumulation and pollution, will only increase in the future. A change in the direction of the circular economy will be crucial for value creation, economic growth and waste and resource management in the coming decades. This can provide us with the solutions we need to get added value out of smaller resources, as well as provide opportunities for innovation and innovation in the future.
Circular economy is about making the most of our resources, ensuring sustainability and value creation in the short and long term. Keeping resources in the economy for as long as possible requires innovation and innovation in value creation in these hitherto commodity-focused industries, so that we get more out of nature’s benefits.
The resource use we have today is not sustainable. We consume and extract more raw materials than our planet is capable of delivering in the long term. By 2050, the number of middle-class consumers in the world will be up to 6–7 billion, and this will entail ever-increasing pressures and pressures on the environment. Our modern lives are increasingly focused on ease and comfort, which has a cost on the environment.
In circular economics there will be no waste, what is left in one part of the cycle is needed in the next part. In the circular economy, we go from being consumers to becoming users. Rather than owning, consuming and discarding, we are part of the cycle in that we strive for recycling, re-use, material recycling and sharing fully and completely and not piecemeal and divided as today. The shift towards a circular economy will help to mitigate the environmental and health problems that today’s linear “produce-use-throw” economy is causing. But it will require radical changes in our production and consumption systems that go far beyond resource efficiency and waste recycling.
Today it is cheaper to extract new raw materials than to use recycled materials for production. This is because all economic incentives favor the operation of new raw materials. For this reason, there is low demand for recycled raw materials, and it is not prioritized. Clear and clear incentives must be introduced, which will demand the circular model, and that it will be profitable to save the earth’s resources. For the economy to become circular, we must be able to utilize all the resources of a product and pass it on for recycling. Then the product must be manufactured so that we can pick out all parts and materials. The companies that recycle must know exactly what the product contains. In the circular economy, companies must make money in ways other than constantly over-producing and pushing new goods into the market. Companies need to find entirely new forms of cooperation, across different sectors and national borders.
We need new business models that are profitable in a circular economy. We need new standards. An important aspect of realizing the circular economy will be building knowledge, monitoring progress and ensuring that policy makers have the understanding and data and information they need to develop supportive and flexible policy measures. We need legislation, guidelines and international agreements that ensure that the most critical raw materials are recycled, here producer responsibility can play an important factor.