Circular economy: Is it possible?

An economy where there is no waste – or one that recyles waste into something useful. A community that strives not to harm the environment or consciously reduces its carbon footprint. Households that are aware of the energy, food, and other resources they consume. Companies that can sacrifice profit for the planet. Countries that are cleaner, healthier and safer.

Could these really be possible? Or is this the utopia that exists only in our dreams?

In a panel organized by the Swiss Embassy in Manila last Wednesday, I learned that, indeed, with enough hard work, political will, and cooperation, it is possible to embrace better ways of doing things to help protect our planet. Difficult, but possible.

The panel, titled Sustainability: Building a Sustainable Future Together Through Circular Economy, had House Deputy Majority Floor Leader Antonio Albano as the keynote speaker.

Other panelists were Horia Adrian, president and CEO of Holcim Philippines; Kais Marzouki, chairman and CEO of Nestle PH; Analiza Teh, undersecretary for climate change of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Meg Santos, senior sustainability campaign manager for Plastic Credit Exchange, the world’s first non-profit plastic offset program.

What is  a circular economy?

Rep. Albano explained the concept of a circular economy and discussed what the Philippines can do to embrace it.

Essentially, a circular economy is one that stops producing waste and instead makes use of that waste to produce or to help create usable goods.

The Ellen Macarthur Foundation, discussing the principles of a circular economy, says:

“The first principle of the circular economy is to eliminate waste and pollution. Currently, our economy works in a take-make-waste system. We take raw materials from the Earth, we make products from them, and eventually we throw them away as waste.

“Much of this waste ends up in landfills or incinerators and is lost. This system cannot work in the long term because the resources on our planet are finite.

“It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature.”

During the panel, CEOs of Swiss companies Holcim and Nestle were part of the panel, and they likewise discussed what their respective companies are doing to contribute to a sustainable future.

Holcim’s Horia Adrian talked about decarbonizing the construction industry while Nestle’s Kais Marzouki discussed the multinational’s commitment to signicantly reduce carbon emissions.

Medical, consumer waste

On the part of the government, Undersecretary Teh raised the alarm on some waste issues that were born during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These include the increase in medical waste, the rise in single use plastics, and the unnecessary use of more plastics from e-commerce, such as from food deliveries that boomed during the pandemic.

“COVID-19 has brought a surge in medical waste and disposables. In April 2021, DENR-EMB shared that the country has generated 52,000 metric tons of waste since March 2020 and only 14,000 metric tons have been treated based on special permits to transport, treat, and dispose,” Undersecretary Teh said in her presentation.

Against this backdrop, we really need an efficient recycyling industry to move our country toward sustainability and for us to be able to embrace a circular economy.

It’s good that, as PCX’s Meg Santos shared, many companies are partnering with their organization for plastic credits.

For nearly two hours, the panel, which I was pleased to moderate, discussed the many challenges we face and why we need to embrace a circular economy.

It was no doubt an exciting and important discussion.

There were so many other important points discussed that I hope to share in future columns.

For now, let me conclude that to embrace the circular economy, we need a shift in mindset and develop a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, waste, pollution, etc.

We need everyone’s cooperation – from the government to the private sector.

More importantly, as individuals, we need to do our part in really adopting a change in our behavior. We need to ponder on our daily household consumption of resources and significantly reduce, recycle, and regenerate what we can.

These all sounds like motherhood or first world solutions, but in reality, they’re not. They are real solutions to real problems and the time to act is now.

65 years of diplomatic ties

Kudos to the Swiss Embassy in Manila, led by Ambassador Alain Gaschen, for putting together such activities to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Switzerland.

I hope there will be more of these discussions if only to raise awareness on the enormity of our problems.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.