What does this mean
CE Economy
A circular economy is way to challenge the current – Take, Make, Waste – linear system of production and consumption.
A guide to waste
Understanding waste
Current global production and consumption leads to large quantities of waste much of which ends up in landfill or is exported and ultimately becomes someone else’s problem. A key contributor to an organisation’s ESG objectives will be to create a sustainable approach to waste management.
It is estimated that the UK generated 41.1 million tonnes of commercial and industrial (C&I) waste in 2016, of which 33.1 million tonnes (around four-fifths) was generated in England. The latest estimates for England only indicate that C&I waste generation was around 36.1 million tonnes in 2017 and 37.2 million tonnes in 2018. The UK generated 221.0 million tonnes of total waste in 2016, with England responsible for 85% of the UK total. (DEFRA report March 2020)
Managing waste is a huge challenge particularly given the composition of ‘modern’ waste and the slow rate of decomposition.
Nylon decomposes over 40 years
Foam cups decompose in circa 50 years
Wet wipes decompose in circa 100 years
Batteries decompose over 100 years
Plastic straws decompose over 200 years
Printer cartridges from 400 to 1000 years.
Why does it matter?
The waste hierarchy
The diagrammatic below outlines the priority for waste management options and is a well-established environmental management principle.
There are well understood producer responsibility policies in the UK applied to packaging, WEEE waste, electrical and electronic equipment and RoHS restriction of hazardous substances.
The principles of Extended Producer Responsibility and life cycle thinking are developing rapidly where the producer accepts responsibility for the management of their outputs ‘end of life’. This is driving the circular economy approach.
Introducing
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation offers the definition ‘The circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.’
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation states that ‘The circular economy considers every stage of a product’s journey – before and after it reaches the customer.’
It aims to transform our throwaway economy into one where waste is eliminated, resources are circulated, and nature is regenerated.
It suggests that to create a circular economy for plastic we must take three actions:
Eliminate
All problematic and unnecessary plastic items.
Innovate
To ensure that the plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
Circulate
All the plastic items we use to keep them in the economy and out of the environment
The Butterfly diagram
The Butterfly Model below developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation illustrates how this should be implemented.
