Circular Economy

As part of its initiative to promote sustainability, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) initiated a campaign to develop an inclusive circular economy.

Important aspects of the campaign:

• To create a sustainable paradigm for plastic waste management in India, the project is an expansion of an already-existing cooperation under UNDP's flagship Plastic Waste Management Programme.

Managing plastic trash from beginning to finish by encouraging:

• Waste separation at the source
• Gathering of the separated garbage
• Establish Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to recycle various types of plastic waste.
• Collaboration with the private sector
• Additionally, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) would aid in enhancing urban local bodies' abilities to adopt MRFs or Swachhata Kendra
• Collaborations: Municipalities, businesses, Safai Saathis, and the general public are working together on the project to create cleaner, greener cities.
• 100,000 families will be impacted by the project, which aims to end segregation at its source.

What is circular economy?

• Waste management in India is thought to have a $15 billion market potential.
• 25% of India's total trash production consists of recyclable dry waste components.
• This recyclable garbage can be used as a source of raw materials after being improperly collected and deposited into landfills. It can be a very lucrative source of cash generation if correctly separated out and processed further.
• An economic system called a "circular economy," also referred to as "circularity," handles problems like pollution, waste, biodiversity loss, and climate change.
• The 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) and material refurbishing, recovery, and repair are prioritised in a circular economy.
• The circular economy so aims to increase production through resource usage that is more efficient and hence has a minimal impact on the environment.
• All facets of manufacturing, consumption, and design are built on sustainability.

What Advantages Does the Circular Economy Offer?

• Environmental defence by cutting back on emissions, utilising less resources, and producing less waste.
• Promoting business models that use recycled waste from the neighbourhood as a source of raw materials has advantages for the local economy.
• Encourages the creation of a fresh, innovative, and cutting-edge industrial model that boosts the economy and creates jobs.
• According to NITI Aayog, the circular economy has the potential to create 1.4 crore jobs and lakhs of new enterprises over the course of the next five to seven years.
• Reduces the need for imported raw materials, promoting the autonomous utilisation of resources.
• Potential for Greater Economic Growth: According to the UNCTAD, India may embrace circular concepts in only three industries—cities and construction, food and agriculture, and transportation and vehicle manufacturing—to create $200+ billion in new economic value by 2030 and $600+ billion by 2050.
• Reduced Negative Externalities: Customers will also receive products that are more creative and durable, improving their quality of life and allowing them to accumulate savings over time.

Conclusion

• The circular economy is a viable alternative to the linear economy. By maximizing the value of resources throughout the product life cycles of the items that include them, adverse consequences on the environment, the economy, and society associated with product life cycles can be reduced.
• Because of this, the circular economy offers a straightforward answer that meets current policy goals. The circular economy's contribution to the world economy has a lot of space to increase.

Circular Economy

• It is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste; and the continual use of resources.
• It is a system of resource utilization where reduction, reuse and recycling of elements prevail.
• Circular systems create a closed system, minimizing the use of resource input and the creation of waste, pollution and emissions.
• It is an alternative to a traditional linear economy.
• This linear economy is modelled on the take-make-waste industrial model (make, use, dispose of).
• Sustainable Development Goal 12 → responsible consumption and production→ requires changing the linear production model and shifting towards a circular economy.