The Circular Economy: A Full Circle of Sustainability
"The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least try not to defy them.” -Paul Hawken. The first rule of business is to earn profit because without it, it will die. Henry Ford rightly pointed out that a business that runs solely for profit will also die because it has no purpose for its existence. Majority of businesses find their path to success by adding value or solving a problem in a consumer’s life. But, the idea of sustainable development is not their priority in the process. We learn so much from natural ecosystems every day whether it be the streamlined shape of ships derived from fishes and birds or the indomitable team spirit of ants. Little did we know that the solution we needed to minimise waste and create ecological balance in the economy was right in front of us. Yes, it is the circular economy that is completing the cycle of businesses that starts with raw materials and ends at landfills, by providing alternate uses. The world has a reason to believe that this might be the solution to our problems of sustainable development.
The circular economy model utilises raw materials to the maximum without letting them lose their value. At the same time it minimises waste and promotes social and ecological balance. This type of a closed loop model sounds familiar to us because it is a direct application of what is observed in natural ecosystems. A food chain is a closed loop, what starts with plants and goes to herbivores, then carnivores, then omnivores, ends with decaying bodies that are eaten by micro-organisms that enrich the soil for the same plants. The circular economy functions on a similar principle. When a pair of jeans which consumes approx. 10,000 litres of water during manufacturing, is re-designed into a tote bag and sold in the market instead of increasing the height of a landfill, a chain is completed and we have successfully taken a step towards a sustainable future. A circular economy aims to preserve and extend the life of products at their ‘use’ stage by ruling out the harmful substances like toxic chemicals involved in production and retaining the value of the product. From small and large businesses to governments and national economies, it can be implemented at every level. With the superior designs and technology available to us now, we have the ability to explore renewable energy and reusability of materials at every step of our business plans.
Divided into biological and technical flows, it treats consumable goods like food and durable goods like computers as separate components to decide their future usage. Besides this, renew-ability is intertwined in each step from manufacturing to distribution and rent and subscription models are adopted in most cases to ensure product reuse. In other cases agreements are set in stone to ensure waste management or reuse of the components of a product with third parties. This approach not only fuels a chain of impact start-ups and social entrepreneurial action but provides a varied option of fields to choose from. A nike football kit or jersey is now a product of 12 to 18 plastic bottles recycled into fine yarns. But Nike with its infrastructure and network, can bear the cost of such a change. So let us talk about smaller businesses like LataSita, an ecological fashion brand based in Kolkata, India that recycles handloom sarees to create affordable, fashion pieces. The recycling process instead of degrading the garment because it used to be a saree worn by someone else, adds to it a story and a cause that only enriches it.
But these stories are a very limited portion of the vast extent to which the circular economy is applicable. The Ellen McArthur Foundation, established in 2010 with the aim to accelerate the transition into a circular economy, predicts that creating a circular economy in the food, cement, aluminium, steel and plastic industries could cut carbon emissions by 3.7 billion tons till 2050. In this way we will also be directing scarce resources to better use and simultaneously fighting global issues like hunger and unemployment. The biggest opportunity that has presented itself in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic has practically forced us to make more out of less. From small changes like reliability on streaming services rather than theatres and especially waste generating CDs and DVDs to widespread digitization of money and wallets, we are already making better use of available resources.
The pandemic has raised some serious questions much like the climate crisis, but in this case, about consumer behaviour and the failure of linear economic models to solve global issues. Waste management and hygiene go hand in hand which is why the circular economy fits perfectly in the current scenario. It will not only change the current supply chain models but will also provide renewable and recycled raw material opportunities to sectors like agriculture and water management. The health industry has already taken to circular methods by recycling masks, sanitizing and innovating in labs. Besides this, at large levels, Amsterdam has adopted the Circular 2020-2025 strategy to fight the pandemic and cut food waste to 50 percent by 2030, implement strict sustainability requirements in construction tenders, and reduce the use of new raw materials by 20 percent, also by 2030. Shifting towards a circular economy system is not the most easiest, especially for businesses who have to ensure profitability at the same time. But, with numerous opportunities of innovation available, government support and funding and various incubation centres coming up, social start-ups are our best shot at ensuring sustainability. The stories of people who are contributing to the circular economy are inspiring many others everyday and it just strengthens our faith in a better tomorrow.
