Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sostenibilidad

Just another web-blogs Sites site

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Agriculture and Food Security
    • Climate change
    • Ecosystems and Biodiversity
    • Environmental and Social Safeguards
    • Infrastructure and Sustainable Landscapes
    • Institutionality
    • Responsible Production and Consumption
  • Authors
  • English
Circular economy

Circular economy: now or never

February 17, 2021 por Alvaro Adam 3 Comments


If we continue to consume at the current rate, in a few years we will need resources equivalent to three planets to sustain us. How can we avoid this forecast?

The crisis we are facing with the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerability of the current economic system. Our recovery requires a drastic change in our production and consumption patterns for a circular model in which all products are designed and produced considering the efficient use of natural resources, their reuse, recycling, and the minimization of waste. We have a unique opportunity to make a transition to a more sustainable model that is compatible both with economic and social development and with the planet, making the definitive leap to a resilient and circular economy.

Circular economy as a response to our current rate of consumption

Current resource management, a failed system

The level of overexploitation of natural resources, carbon emissions, and our current waste generation is too high for ecosystems to have the capacity to buffer the impact or compensate for changes. A recent World Bank report warns us that, should the forecast that the world population will reach 9.6 billion by 2050 be fulfilled, it would take about three planets to be able to maintain the current lifestyle.

The population growth in recent decades, mainly in large cities, has been accompanied by a significant increase in consumption, causing an exponential increase in the amount of waste produced.

The current situation in Latin America and the Caribbean is not encouraging. According to a recent report by UN Environment, the region generates roughly 10% of the world’s waste. Approximately one third ends up in open dumps with inadequate final disposal practices, which causes serious impacts on health and the environment. Additionally, it is estimated that only 10% of the waste generated is being recovered and that an enormous amount of material and energy resources are being wasted.

Therefore, the transition to a circular economy, in which the value of resources, materials and products is maintained for as long as possible, while minimizing waste generation, will be key. This transition will promote the development of a resource-efficient, sustainable economy that generates competitive and sustainable advantages. It will in turn avoid price volatility that results from resource scarcity and help create new and innovative opportunities. On the other hand, it could become a source of local jobs, providing clear opportunities for social cohesion and integration.

Sustainability of key sectors

Increasing the coherence of policies that promote environmental sustainability will be key to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, particularly SGD 12 that refers to ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.

It will be essential to have regulatory frameworks in the region that stimulate the sustainability of key sectors, help prevent the generation of waste and promote its recovery in all strategic sectors of the economy. To do this, it will be necessary to establish lines of action that promote research and innovation programs in the creation of new materials, technologies that optimize their recovery, and production methods that promote our transition towards a circular economy.

We are backing the circular economy

The implementation of environmental and social policies in operations financed by the IDB offers clear benefits to promote measures aimed at preventing, reducing, reusing, and recovering waste, as well as at reducing or eliminating the contamination resulting from project activities, through materials free of toxic substances. Besides, if necessary, it allows strengthening national regulations and the institutional capacity of borrowers to comply with international standards and best available practices.

In this regard, the new IDB Environmental and Social Policy Framework sets ambitious standards in various areas and provides cutting-edge provisions to address environmental and social issues. Specifically, the Environmental and Social Performance Standard on Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention (Standard 3) recognizes the concept and emerging practice of the circular economy and resource recovery, according to which it is possible to create or obtain usable and valuable products from what was previously considered waste.

Time to take action

Latin America and the Caribbean face an urgent need to increase investment in a resource-efficient economy. Valuable materials are polluting and damaging our ecosystems instead of being reused. Therefore, a circular economy approach that abandons the traditional idea of a linear economy (extract-produce-discard) and that puts the emphasis on reusing materials and products will be the best solution to the waste generation problem.

We face an unprecedented global challenge. Planning the economic recovery after COVID-19 will be a unique opportunity to align ourselves with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, transforming our society and the economic model to ensure a promising future for all.

In several countries, measures are being implemented to recover materials present in the waste. Do you think it is a feasible and economically sustainable system that could be implemented in the short term? What can governments do to boost reuse and the circular economy?


This blog post is part of a series about the IDB‘s new Environmental and Social Policy Framework (ESPF). You may also want to read:

Three things you need to know about the IDB’s new Environmental and Social Policy Framework


Filed Under: Environmental and Social Safeguards, Responsible Production and Consumption

Alvaro Adam

Álvaro is an Environmental Engineer working for the ESG Unit of the Inter-American Development Bank. He has more than 15 years of experience providing technical expertise and best industry practices to solve the most complex environmental challenges throughout the project life cycle, in both the public and private sectors. He holds an MSc in Environmental Engineer, a PhD Program in Sustainable Development, and a Master in Integrated Management: Quality, Environment, Occupational Risk Prevention, and Corporate Social Responsibility. He has also a strong passion for the promotion of the circular economy, the management of environmental risks, and the conservation of biodiversity.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rajeev Kher says

    February 18, 2021 at 12:12 pm

    Very well written. Truly the Circular economy is the most sustainable way going forward in modern times. Not only reuse but recover will be the motto in the future. Resources are scarce and as citizens and nations we have to consider this considering the climate change, industrialisation and population explosion and so many factors which would be detrimental to human, animal and plant life..Encouragement of circular economy businesses and the ecosystem development would be a great step forward for Global leaders and Decision Makers. I am a proponent of this concept and have been working in the Circular Sanitation Economy and the space since the last many years innovating and working on sustainable business models with toilets and waste resources in India and abroad along with organisations like The Toilet Board Coalition and PSA India.

    Reply
  2. João Biché DANUNE says

    February 23, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    “Uma Europa que utilize eficazmente os recursos” é uma das 7 iniciativas emblemáticas que fazem parte da Estratégia 2020 que pretende gerar um crescimento inteligente, sustentável e integrador.Actualmente é a principal estratégia da Europa para gerar crescimento e emprego, com o apoio do Parlamento Europeu e o Conselho Europeu.
    Esta iniciativa emblemática pretende criar um quadro político destinado a apoiar a mudança para uma economia eficiente no uso dos recursos e de baixa emissão de carbono e que nos ajuda a:
    – melhorar os resultados económicos ao mesmo tempo que se reduz o uso dos recursos;
    – identificar e criar novas oportunidades de crescimento económico e impulsionar a inovação e a competitividade da UE;
    – garantir a segurança do fornecimento dos recursos essenciais;
    – lutar contra a mudança climática e limitar os impactos meioambientais do uso dos recursos.
    Esta iniciativa emblemática oferece um quadro de medidas a longo prazo e, de maneira coerente, outras a médio prazo entre as quais já está identificada uma estratégia destinada a converter a UE numa “economia circular” baseada numa sociedade de reciclagem a fim de reduzir a produção de resíduos e utilizá-los como recursos.
    A economia circular é um conceito económico que se interelaciona com a sustentabilidade, e cujo objectivo é que o valor dos produtos, os materiais e os recursos (água, energia,…m se mantenha na economia durante o maior tempo possível, e que se reduza ao mínimo a geração de resíduos. Trata-se de implementar uma nova economia, circular, não linear – baseada no princípio de “fecho de ciclo de vida dos productos, os serviços, os resíduos, os materiais, a água e energia.
    A economia circular é a intercepção dos aspectos ambientais e económicos. A economia circular é geradora de empregos. O serviço de geração de resíduos em Espanha representa milhares de postos de trabalho.
    Num contexto de escassez e flutuação de custos dematérias-primas, a economia circular contribui para a segurança do fornecimento e para a redindustrialização do territóro nacional. Os resíduos de uns convertem-se em recursos para outros. O producto deve ser desenhado para ser desconstruído. A economia circular consegue converter nossos resíduos em matérias-primas, paradigma de um sistema futuro. Finalmente, este sistema é um sistema gerador de emprego local e não deslocalizável.
    Nota: termino por aqui,,mas podia escrever mais coisas, sobre ‘Funcionamento da economia circular’, muchas gracias caro amigo Alvaro Adam.

    Reply
  3. Sue Ho says

    September 15, 2021 at 4:00 pm

    Really nice blog. As you are writing “We face an unprecedented global challenge. Planning the economic recovery after COVID-19 will be a unique opportunity to align ourselves with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, transforming our society and the economic model to ensure a promising future for all”, I am just wondering how can we transition smoothly into circular economy while maintaining a healthy economic growth and prosperity for developing countries? Given that the Post-covid19 economic situation is even gloomier and harder in general.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

SEARCH

Sustainability

This blog is a space to reflect about the challenges, opportunities and the progress made by Latin American and Caribbean countries on the path towards the region’s sustainable development.

SIMILAR POSTS

  • Understanding your environmental impact: from sustainable living to sustainable projects
  • The Blue Economy: Think like a #BOSs!
  • The Caribbean can make waves with a blue ocean economy
  • Can the Blue Economy spark a sustainable and inclusive recovery in the Caribbean?
  • Access to a healthy environment, a new universal human right

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Derechos de autor © 2023 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
To learn more about cookies, click here
x
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT