CIRCULAR ECONOMY
HOW CIRCULAR IS THE SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY? The circular economy concept is gaining increasing traction as a comprehensive environmental-economic strategy, which falls in line with sustainable development imperatives.
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circular economy is a systemic approach to economic development designed to benefit businesses, society and the environment. The concept is gaining traction worldwide; however, it risks being empty talk if it’s not grounded in firm evidence. Systematic, comprehensive empirical assessments are required in order to understand the status quo and to be able to develop robust guidance without simply shifting problems. A team at BOKU, Vienna, developed a suitable accounting and calculation framework to
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capture and describe the state of circularity of a national economy. The Department of Science and Innovation, through the Waste RDI Roadmap, contracted the University of Cape Town, in partnership with the BOKU team, to adapt this framework to the South African situation and to develop economy-wide indicators of circularity for the South African economy. The team chose the year 2017 as the base year for the analysis, as this was the year with both the most recent and the most robust data in a variety of data sources.
Methodology The objectives of this study were: • to adapt the comprehensive economy-wide monitoring framework to the South African situation • to quantify all materials and energy use, as well as resulting waste and emissions • to derive policy-relevant indicators on the state of circularity of the economy • t o present systems-level guidance for improving the sustainable circularity of the South African economy. To achieve these goals, information was compiled for 82 materials, organised in six
