Despite a call for sustainable development and numerous international agreements to reduce humanity's footprint on the planet, the consumption of natural resources is growing rapidly. “In 1990, approximately 8.1 tons of natural resources were used to satisfy one person's needs, while in 2017, nearly 12.2 tons of resources were extracted per person”[1]. This observation calls to find another way of consuming and this is what the circular economy offers. In fact, it should be remembered that the circular economy does not aim to stop production or consumption, it rather aims for an integrated management of production, consumption and the waste produced by both. The so-called linear economy consumes resources and only seeks to study the products that it could use in its production. A circular economy leads us to think of any product in our production space as a resource that we can, even must, use in its production. The circular economy = efficient use and management of resources. It is based on the concept of the life cycle, and aims to considerably reduce the discharges and environmental impacts of our production.

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The State, companies, and consumers: what roles do they play for a circular economy?

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Implementing a circular economy requires thinking about the elements of this economy and how they are interconnected. You must think about what elements and what wastes, come from the production of one industry, that can later be used in another industry. This economy is part of a sustainable development perspective, it makes it possible to design a set of interconnected elements, such as more local production, reduction of transport, optimization of the use of resources, creation of value, to improve the quality of life[2]. The concepts of reuse, recycle, recover, are linked to the circular economy. In fact, it is an economy that is completely contrary to the way we consume today. So, although the circular economy is not against consumption, it leads us to conceive of it differently.

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This circular economy requires companies themselves to adopt practices to enable the return and recovery of their products. It also requires states to put in place programs and investments that will enable businesses and individuals to recover, reuse, and redirect waste to more sustainable activities. In the notion of circular economy, all waste represents a loss in investment of energy and resources since no waste does so without consuming resources. We must therefore rethink the notion of waste towards one that looks at this waste as products that we could sell and resources that we could use.

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The conference on circular economy therefore aims to bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss and exchange on the subject.

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What are the benefits of the circular economy to support a local economy? What are the current obstacles and limits for a shift towards a circular economy? How to measure the impact of the circular economy on our economies, our environment, and our societies? Is the pandemic an opportunity or a hindrance for the development of the circular economy?

 

[1] https://www.unenvironment.org/fr/actualites-et-recits/recit/la-belgique-en-route-vers-une-economie-circulaire

[2] https://resourceefficientcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/GI-REC-Pilot-City-Brussels-FINAL.pdf