WHY THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY?

WHY THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY?

The current economic system, the linear economy, is a model in which growth goes hand in hand with (over) consumption and therefore with the extraction of natural resources. This is an ‘extract, manufacture, consume and throw away’ system in which resources are extracted, processed, transformed into products, consumed and then, in the majority of cases, incinerated or sent to landfill (Figure 2). While landfilling is still commonplace in Europe and around the world, in Switzerland it applies only to special-category materials such as some types of deconstruction waste. These are materials that cannot be incinerated or that it may be possible to reprocess and re-use in the future (for example the phosphorus in sewage sludge). If everyone in the world had the lifestyle of the average Swiss person, we would need the resources of three planets Earth. Every year, the NGO Global Footprint Network calculates Earth Overshoot Day. This is the date in the year by which humanity has consumed all of the resources that our planet’s ecosystems can produce in one year. Figure 3 shows some of the dates calculated for 2020, including the date for Switzerland: the 8th of May. This clearly illustrates the limits of the linear economy and the fact that, although it is not a panacea, the circular economy represents a worthwhile alternative and a more responsible, sustainable way to create societal (economic and social) value. The circular economy is designed to continue to generate growth, but by using fewer primary raw materials than we do currently. This is called decoupling economic growth from the consumption of raw materials.

RAW MATERIAL PROCESSING

DESIGN & PRODUCTION CONSUMPTION & USE INCINERATION & LANDFILL  Figure 2 Diagram of the linear economy. Source: Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)

Figure 3  Overshoot Days in 2020. Not all countries are shown in this diagram. More details are available here. Source: Global Footprint Network2

MARLOES FISCHER General Manager, Madaster

Circularity means that we have to plan ahead and use buildings as raw materials warehouses so that we can re-use resources as efficiently as possible.