Circular economy
Designing out waste The restriction on movement of people and goods caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the global supply chain to one of the most significant challenges since the birth of globalisation. How could a circular economy help? WORDS NICOLA CARNIATO, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR AT AKT II
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he pandemic is not a short-term crisis; it will have long-lasting implications for how people work and how supply chains function. At a time when the climate emergency is bringing into sharp focus the fact that we cannot continue building as we always have, there is an urgent need for businesses to improve the resilience of their supply chains in preparation for future challenges. More importantly, the current crises have highlighted the need for a critical reassessment of the present global economic model. The existing, linear economic system offers traditional linear consumption patterns of ‘take make dispose’, which increase the exposure of companies to risks such as higher resource prices and supply disruption, and are causing environmental degradation, climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
Design Out Waste
A circular economy will provide a sustainable economic model that is founded on a resilient supply chain and on environmentally focused outcomes. It will also offer opportunities for innovation and creativity to enable this positive, restorative economy. A circular economy replaces the concept of ‘end of life’ with the concept of restoration, and aims to eliminate waste through lasting and nourishing design.
Catalysing opportunities
Aim for Less
In the face of supply disruptions and higher resource prices, the call for the adoption of a circular economy is becoming louder. Brexit – and the potential difficulties in transporting materials across borders – could catalyse opportunities for the UK manufacturing industry to secure these material supplies from a stable domestic market, and could stimulate the materials’ circular flow. Around 400 million tonnes of material are used by the UK construction industry each year, of which approximately onequarter is imported, with some sectors more reliant on imports than others. Almost 70% of timber, for example, is brought in from overseas using carbonintensive sea freight. Yet, with around 100 million tonnes of material wasted each year, the construction industry is
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