For years, we have been operating within the so called linear economy. What does it mean? It is based on a simple pattern 'take-make-consume-dispose'. Production and consumption are accelerating while natural resources are being used to a larger and larger extent. We are generating more and more waste, which poses ever so serious social and environmental threats. We can buy more but does it make our lives happier, healthier, better? You need to answer this question for yourself. Yet, it gradually becomes evident that the 'linear' formula is becoming irrelevant as natural resources are running short, their prices higher and more volatile, dependence on third country suppliers increasing, and the threat to the ecological and social balance ever so real.
Questions about the future of waste
Is change still possible? Is it consumption and production that modern economic growth relies on, this is the formula for the success of many an international corporation. Will they be willing to change their business models? Will we as consumers be willing to appreciate durability of products and give up quantity for quality? Is it possible to go back to our grandparents and grand grandparents' ways when a broken product would be successfully repaired while well-made clothes made of high quality fabric would be worn for years and not become unfashionable and useless within months of purchase? Finally, are we able to minimize the volume of waste and reuse the waste we cannot avoid generating seeing it not as garbage but valuable secondary raw material?
These are some of the challenges the circular economy (CE), said to be possibly the greatest revolution in the last 250 years of the global economy, requires us to face.
How do you close the loop?
What factors can make corporations and consumers change their ways and go circular?
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Surely, economic issues will matter, e.g.: the looming natural resources crisis, growing waste management costs, financial gains from reusing them, lowering the costs of raw materials and energy. The prospect of increasing the company's gross profit by 50% while at the same time reducing material usage by 90% thanks to the recovery and recycling of used components sounds enticing.
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Social factors are also crucially important. NGOs, consumer and green movements are ever so busy working on disseminating knowledge and raising awareness but also putting pressure on the way organizations operate.
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In the nearest future, regulatory solutions will become key: legal regulations, tax relief, extending manufacturers' liability.
How near is near?
For the European Union member states it is practically happening now. On December 2, 2015, the European Commission adopted an ambitious package concerning the circular economy. The package comprises a set of proposals for the coming years that are expected to contribute to the shift in the economic paradigm. It includes the document 'Closing the loop - an EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy' and a legislative proposal of amendments to waste management directives. These are supposed to be followed by national programmes implementing the CE framework in the member states in a way that will ensure that the new economic paradigm will have a comprehensive and cohesive base and will be implemented at all levels - from the European Union to member states to regions, voivodeships and municipalities. As a result, in Poland, an inter-ministry team for EC was established as well as workgroups to deal specifically with the issues of waste management, bioeconomy, education and promotion, and business models. This allowed the Ministry of Development to draw up a document titled the Road Map of the Shift to CE. Objectives, priorities for actions, their timeframe, and responsible institutions are specified in the document. Changes generate even greater demand for technological solutions that will allow the circular economy to work in practice.
The world without waste is drawing nearer, then.
