Being part of a sustainable world, we need to review our way of buying, consuming and our waste. Our economy, nowadays, is based on three words: take-make-waste. It is a linear economy. It pushes people to consume more and more and then put it “away”. However, this leads to two major issues in today’s society:
- Lack of raw materials and insufficient resources.
- Increase of field waste, increase of dangerous zones due to the degradation of objects.
This is why scientists try to find a way of implementing a circular economy in today’s society.
However, this is not without challenges such as big companies not wanting to change their point of view or way of doing things, or politics that prefer to be with the most profitable people instead of the most sustainable.
In this article, we will review what is a circular economy, how people can achieve it and why today we still did not implement it?
What is a “circular” economy?
A circular economy is based on recycling or turning waste into something new. It prevents the two main issues of the current economy:
- No insufficient resources: as we are creating new objects from waste, we do not use natural resources.
- No land field with waste as we use this last one to create new products.
According to the Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation, a circular economy would have an impressive amount of benefits:
- USD700 million annual material cost savings.
- Reduction of 48% of carbon dioxide emission by 2030.
- USD 550 billion reduction in health care costs associated with the food sector.
How can it be achieved?
Going towards a circular economy is something which is currently trying to take place in our lives. As an individual your impact is different than big companies, however with some simple gestures you can:
- Recycle everything you can. This is the first step for bigger companies to transform waste into something new.
- Compost. Instead of putting in the trash things such as food waste make sure you create a small compost.
- Keep plastic bags and reuse them when going to the supermarket. You will save money (0.10p per bags) and reduce your plastic use.
- Buy things that last. No fast fashion or beauty product that you cannot recycle or reuse more than several times.
There are 100 more of gestures you can adopt to come closer to a circular economy.
Why, today, a circular economy is still not implemented?
A circular economy implies a lot of research in the recycling fields and requires companies to invest in new ways of production which are more expensive. A lot of firms do not want to lose profit so instead of going towards a more sustainable way of creation they decide to keep the cheap old killing-the-planet way! BUT YOU CAN HELP! By doing your researches and buying only from companies working towards a more conscious way of creation you can encourage them by consuming their products. If a company is not working on any changes and it sees its sales declining due to the non-circular economy change, they will be forced to make it.
Big companies, due to their profit, have nowadays a huge impact on politics and society. Actions need to be taken by the society to change that! Make the changes you wish others will do. A circular economy is a necessity for the future to survive and it will need to be implemented at a certain point. Better now than later!
I hope you liked this article and understood more about the circular economy. Let us know what small changes you think we can do! If you want us to look at a subject in particular share your thoughts with me. Do not forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
