Circular economy: �learning to identify, value e apply good practices

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Topics

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• World Biocapacity and Carbon Footprint
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS)
• Circular Economy: key steps

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World Biocapacity

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'Global biocapacity' is the total capacity of an ecosystem to support various continuous activity and changes. It is measured by calculating the amount of biologically productive land and marine area AVAILABLE to provide the resources a population consumes and to absorb its waste, given current technologies and management practices.

Ecological footprint

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The ecological footprint (EF) measures how much bioproductive area (whether land or water) a population would require to produce on a sustainable basis the renewable resources it consumes, and to absorb the waste it generates, using prevailing technology

Earth Overshoot Day

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Earth Overshoot Day is computed by dividing the planet’s biocapacity (the amount of ecological resources Earth is able to generate that year), by humanity’s Ecological Footprint (humanity’s demand for that year), and multiplying by 365, the number of days in a year:

�2019 -> 29 July�2020 -> 22 August(1,60 Earths)�2021 -> 29 July (1,70 Earths)�2022 -> 28 July (1,75 Earths)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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These are common goals, affecting all countries and all individuals, on a set of issues important for development in which no one is excluded or left behind along the path needed to take the world on the road to sustainability.

Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.�

To achieve this, it is important to harmonize three basic elements:�

• economic sustainability
• social inclusion
• environmental protection

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Circular Economy in Goal 12 of the Agenda2030 for Sustainable Development

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To meet the challenges that these premises will put before us while respecting the capacity parameters of the Earth system, it is imperative to adopt sustainable patterns of consumption and production.

�The basis for future development is ensured by the efficient use of resources.

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Linear Economy

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New production more resources extracted

Criticism of the linear economy

• infinite extraction of natural resources

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• the linear economy is different from natural systems

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• each stage of a product's life cycle generates environmental pollutants

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• waste

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• social impacts

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Where do the things we buy come from and where do they end up when we throw them away?

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Waste

The main cause of waste generation is a pattern of consumption based on:

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• purchases that exceed real needs;
• purchases encouraged by marketing strategies that tend toward aesthetic;
• mistaken habits;
• absence of purchase planning;
• poor knowledge of the quality of materials;
• poor knowledge of the nutritional value of foods;
• confusion about "best before" and "use by" label claims;
• poor knowledge of products and their proper storage.

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Towards a Circular Economy

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The current production system is not sustainable over time -> We need to change the way we produce and consume.

But how? We need more than just recycling!

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Circular Economy

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The circular economy takes its inspiration from the processes that distinguish living systems and assumes that economic systems should function as organisms, in which nutrients are processed and utilized, and then fed back into both biological and technical cycles.�

This gives rise to the definition of 'tailored design' which draws from, a number the more specific approaches, including Cradle to Cradle, biomimicry, industrial ecology, and blue economy.

Defining Circular Economy

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According to Ellen Mc Arthur Foundation:

“In contrast to the ‘take-make-waste’ linear model, a circular economy is regenerative by design and aims to gradually decouple growth from the consumption of finite resources”

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Adopting a circular approach means reviewing all stages of production and paying attention to the entire supply chain involved in the production cycle.

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1 ECO-DESIGN

Designing products and services by thinking from the outset about how to extend the useful life of an asset and its end-of-life use. Then with features that will enable its reuse and recycling: disassembly, repair, and refurbishment.

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2 MODULARITY AND VERSATILITY

Prioritize the modularity, versatility and adaptability of the product so that its use can adapt to changing external conditions.

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Practices of Reuse and Re-utilisation

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• The repair and remanufacturing of products, which leads to their reconditioning. In this way, compared to reuse, there is even greater preservation of the initial value of the product;�
• Reuse that preserves the maximum value of products [Reuse Centers].�
• Upcycling, reuse in which products are worth much more than the raw materials they are made of�
• Servitization (Product as a service)�
• Services instead of products (pay per use)
• Sharing economy (sharing economy)

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3 RENEWABLE ENERGY

Rely on energy produced from renewable sources by encouraging the rapid abandonment of the fossil-based energy model.

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4 ECOSYSTEM APPROACH

Think holistically, having attention to the whole system and considering the cause-and-effect relationships between different components.

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5 MATERIALS RECOVERY

Encourage the replacement of virgin raw materials with secondary raw materials from recovery supply chains that preserve their qualities.

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Recycling

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• closed-loop recycling, which involves using waste to make new products without changing the inherent properties of the material being recycled (e.g., plastic and glass);

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• open-loop recycling, also known as downcycling, which uses recovered materials to create products that have a lower value than those produced in a closed loop;

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• bio-refining, which allows spent products to be transformed into new raw material that can have high energy potentials -> second-generation feedstock

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