Beyond Recycling: Why Circular Economy is Key to Fighting Climate Change
The circular economy is a sustainability approach that focuses on keeping resources in use for as long as possible and reducing waste by closing the loop of production and consumption.
In this GovernmentTechnology’s In Case You Missed It videocast, Rheaply CEO Garry Cooper, explains how efficient asset management is helping cities across the country and highlights how the circular economy is often discussed in terms of reducing waste and materials movement.
While important, this focus is incomplete. Climate change impacts everything from communities to supply chains, and every business and job will be affected for generations to come. Some global examples of how circular economy concepts have been applied creatively include:
Agbogbloshie, a commercial district in Accra, Ghana, uses circular economy principles to turn electronic waste into an extractable, valuable material, providing jobs for the poorest people in the country.
France has adopted an anti-waste law that bans supermarkets from disposing of unsold food goods and requires them to donate to those in need, creating economic growth at the national level.
Conceptos Plásticos, a Colombian company, uses 100% recycled materials to build circular homes, providing jobs for vulnerable communities.
In the GreenBiz Circularity article A visit to the future of electronics recycling, Jon Smeija mentions that recycling of precious metals from e-waste, particularly from circuit boards, is a key element of the circular economy. Smeija references how Camston Wrather, a circuit board recycling facility in California, has developed an innovative process to efficiently capture metals from circuit boards and recycle them back into new electronics. The post highlights the importance of capturing these metals to reduce the amount of e-waste going to waste and to move towards a circular future for electronics.
The circular economy can create environmental resiliency as the foundation of sustainable economic recovery, while also benefiting the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. Corporate leaders must become changemakers and involve those hit hardest by the climate crisis to build a holistic value chain together.
