Leaderspeak | Towards Circularity
More value, less waste central to sustainable urban economy
Cities have to move to sustainable ways of doing business to become resilient. Local governments are best suited to promote, advocate and build a conducive environment for sustainable resource management, and adopt energy efficienct practices to reduce emissions. The circular economy concept can be of great help in the transition
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ore people are moving to cities for want of better life and opportunities. Cities are places of concentrated economic activities. The significant contribution of the urban economy to national GDPs is as high as 85 per cent in many countries. For generating such a high level of growth, cities consume 75 per cent of natural resources used globally and account for 60 to 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions the world over. The trend is not sustainable in the long run, and cities will have to find ways to transform themselves by adopting energy and resource efficienct practices. The growth in urban economic activities is vital to the fiscal prosperity of nations. With cities laying a new roadmap for their
32 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in
post-pandemic recovery, streamlining and integrating economic activities with their sustainable agenda could be helpful to move from the linear model of ‘take-make and waste’ to circularity. A report published by the World Economic Forum in 2019 illustrated that over 90 billion tonnes of materials were extracted and processed in one year. And it contributed to almost half of global CO2 emissions that year. Such regular activities for running economic activities are depleting finite resources and causing extensive CO2 emissions. A lack of a holistic approach to urban management leads to financial losses due to inefficient resource and waste management and increasing negative environmental impacts. Cities are relatively more sensitive to the effects of climate change since a majority of them are located in coastal regions. Factors such as inefficient or lack of
integrated land-use and transport system, lack of planning and grouping of residential complexes, etc., can lead to exposure of the vulnerability of cities. Cities have to look at the transition to circularity as an approach to sustainable development, prosperity, minimizing resource consumption by keeping materials in use for as long as possible and maximizing their trade and industry value. Since the concentration and diversity of activities in cities, urban centres are best suited to drive the circular economy agenda.
Potential of circular economy
A report published by the United Nations Industrial and Development Organisation starts with an explainer of the Japanese concept of ‘mottainai’. It says, “It is a shame for something to go to waste without having made use of its potential in full — something that happens with regularity in a linear economy.” Indians, too, have followed this concept for ages. Indians are wellknown for using things for different purposes during their life cycle, and the products were also made that way. Now, the products are used for a shorter time or, in some cases, for single-time use. Keeping the products in use for the maximum possible time ensures more saving for Indian households. People used jute bags instead of polythene bags. A few decades ago, people started to discard things for want of new things. It is not just wasting valuable natural resources, energy but also creating mountains of landfills in cities. The ever-evolving fashion industry is a good example. With fashion changing in months, people discard their clothes
