reduce resource use with circular material chains
Cities consume over 75 percent of natural resources and produce over 50 percent of global waste.Resource extraction and use is a major concern and impacts the environment, biodiversity, and the climate. Waste typically accounts for 10 percent or less of direct emissions in most cities. A key element in the transition to a green economy is therefore improving resource efficiency, including improving production, management and reduction of waste. New opportunities for the greening of the waste sector arise from the growth of the waste market, the increasing scarcity of resources and the availability of new technologies. The two most promising areas are recycling and energy production.
The current economy is linear, which means that things are made with virgin raw materials, used and then thrown away. In contrast, circular economy keeps products and materials circulating within the economy at their highest value for as long as possible, through re-use, recycling, remanufacturing, delivering products as services and sharing. There are many benefits to shifting towards a circular economy, including cost savings from reduced resource use, emissions reduction, and inclusive and equitable job creation.
Circular economy is a way to solve the issue of increasing waste in a world of finite resources. It encourages value chain actors to make the most of existing products and their components. The flows of building materials, water, electronic waste, and food can be reconfigured to avoid wasting resources.
Circular model builds economic, natural, and social capital and it is based on three principles:
Design out waste and pollution
Keep products and materials in use
Regenerate natural systems
The buttons below will provide you more information on how to reduce resources through circular material chains.
develop nature-based solutions for the water cycle
Sustainable neighbourhoods replace engineered infrastructure by solutions that work with nature, in which water recycles and supports life at local scale.
Close the loops of energy and waste flows
The neighbourhood scale allows developing integrated hybrid combinations of renewable energy systems (including waste-to-energy) that maximize efficiency.
develop circular construction chains
Reducing the carbon footprint of materials and equipment in the buildings value chain by taking a life-cycle approach is needed to lower embodied energy and emissions in buildings materials.
Develop a circular organic residual streams chain
In circular organic residual streams, food and water of the highest quality are delivered to consumers; organic residues are economically recovered and reused in innovative applications.
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