Circular Economy
Circular Economy / Zero Waste
The traditional way to deal with waste and its pollution is to separate the material flow process into extraction, manufacturing, production, marketing, consumption, and waste disposal. Nevertheless, the waste management sector is heavily impacted by how products are manufactured, produced, marketed and consumed; thus, the different steps of the process cannot be treated separately.
The approach of managing the flow of material in human society, instead of just dealing with the by-products of this flow, is called Zero Waste or Circular Economy. Implementing a circular economy strategy includes looking at each product flowing in a certain economy, and reinvent its manufacturing, marketing, and consumption in a way that does not generate harm and where all raw materials are recovered.
Why this is important?
Living on a finite planet with limited resources, having a linear process for extracting material and disposing of it will never be sustainable. We have no choice. We have to be more efficient in the way we use material, and eventually transform into a fully circular economy.
“Humans are the only species that produces waste. We are the least efficient species on the planet.”
This inefficiency in using material is showing everywhere, in our rivers, oceans, soil, food, and bodies. Microplastics are now in our blood, and the patches of plastic waste in the oceans are becoming as big as continents.
What we do?
Since its establishment in 2007, IndyACT has been working on redefining how we look at waste, and understand that it is strongly linked to the full process of material flow in human society. In 2010, IndyACT published a report called “From waste management to material management: Zero Waste in the Arab World”, which outlines how the circular economy could be implemented in the region.
IndyACT is a member of global networks working on Zero Waste, such as GAIA and Break Free from Plastics. IndyACT follows on international multilateral agreements related to the subject, such as Stockholm, Bassel, and the new Plastics negotiations.
