What is a Circular Economy?
A circular economy aims to minimise waste generation and maximise resource utalisation by keeping materials and products in use for as long as possible, through strategies like repair, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, and recycle.
What are the benefits?
Reduced waste: Minimises the amount of waste sent to landfills.
Economic growth: Creates more new business and employment opportunities than linear models.
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions: Circular Economy strategies can help reduce global emissions by 40% by 2050.
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What is a Linear Economy?
A linear economy is a model where resources are mined, made into products and then become waste. This model relies on a steady stream of waste generation.
Australia’s unsustainable linear economy
Australia’s resource-driven economy has traditionally relied heavily on the extraction and export of valuable natural resources. At the same time, we import large amounts of consumer goods, which end their life as waste and are lost permanently from circulation. Waste impacts the environment and doesn’t support Australia’s net zero emission and sustainability ambitions.
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Why Waste-to-Energy plants undermine circular
economy goals
Undermines recycling: Waste incinerators seek the highest calorific value fuels available to burn as this increases the efficiency of their energy. Unfortunately, those high calorific value wastes are also highly valued for recycling. These include plastics, paper, woodwaste and cardboard. By competing for the same materials as recycling operations incinerators undermine the recycling sector and destroy valuable resources and their embedded energy.
Destroys resources and increases emissions: When a discarded product is burned it is converted to energy, toxic emissions and contaminated ash. The resource is destroyed, and the energy intensive process of material extraction, refining, manufacture and transport must be repeated to replace that product.
Entrenches linear economy in society: Waste incineration entrenches a linear economy in our society that relies on the extraction of virgin materials and rewards consumptive and wasteful lifestyle choices. Our society needs to transition as soon as possible to a circular economy where resources are not destroyed through landfills or incineration.
References
- Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water - Australia’s Circular Economy Framework
- Australian Government Productivity Commission - Opportunities in the circular economy
- NSW Environment Protection Authority - NSW Circular Economy Policy Statement - Too Good to Waste
- CSIRO Research - Australia’s circular economy comparative and competitive advantages
- CSIRO - Circular Economy
- CSIRO - Australia’s linear ‘take-make-dispose’ economy is unsustainable
- National Toxics Network - 10 Reasons why burning waste for energy is a bad idea
- US EPA - What is a circular economy
- Ellen Macarthur Foundation - What is circular economy
- Ellen Macarthur Foundation - What is linear economy
- European Parliament - Circular economy: definition, importance and benefits
- United Nations - What is a circular economy and why does it matter?