Doha: GCC countries on average recycle little compared to developed regions like the EU and North America. The low GCC recycling rate demonstrates the enormous potential in the field, reflecting the awaiting economic, environmental and social benefits, a Circular Economy Policy Paper by invest Qatar notes.
It states with the adoption of recycling policies and strategies, GCC countries are expected to reap these benefits in the coming future.
The Circular Economy (CE) has gained momentum in different parts of the world. The concept became more popular, especially among the EU countries, in the last decade.
A growing number of people both scholars and practitioners among them see its potential as a safe route to society-wide prosperity and environmental sustainability for future generations.
Across all industries, more and more companies are adopting circular practices to minimise costs, maximise revenues and manage risks. The global pandemic expedited the shift towards CE by bringing to the fore many of the inherent risks and dysfunctionalities of the linear economy.
In June 2020, more than 50 global leaders and chief executives endorsed the circular model as a viable solution to build back better and achieve green and sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
As a result, since the beginning of the pandemic, assets in public equity funds with a CE focus have increased from USD 0.3bn to over USD 2bn, a sixfold jump.
Plastic waste is one obvious disaster of the linear model. According to a research, more than 8.3bn tonnes of plastic has been produced since the 1950s, of which 60 percent ended up in either a landfill or the natural environment. Today, the world produces about 300 million tonnes of plastic every year, constituting 12 percent of the annual global waste.
If the world continues on this trajectory, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish (by weight) by 2050. Thus, reducing plastic waste is a low-hanging fruit and a major step towards a CE. Countries around the world are implementing policies to mitigate the challenges of plastic waste.
So far, as of 2019, 55 countries fully banned single-use plastic bags, 36 more countries partially banned them while another 12 countries are considering enacting some regulations to mitigate the challenge.Governments worldwide are accelerating the transition, with CE action plans adopted both at national and regional level.
In 2015, the European Union adopted a comprehensive CE action plan to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050(19).
The African Circular Economy Alliance and the Circular Economy Coalition for Latin America and the Caribbean are two other examples of regional efforts established to accelerate the transition and promote the exchange of best practices. At a national level, CE legislations and roadmaps are in place in numerous countries.
Some of the countries that are far ahead in adopting CE include the Netherlands which has a CE government-wide program that aims to reduce the use of primary raw materials by half by 2030, China has the CE Promotion Law, which provides a policy and legal framework for promoting CE. Also, China’s Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) targeted improving resource productivity and reusing industrial solid waste by 15 percent and 73 percent, respectively.
Japan has developed an indicator for measuring progress towards a CE by the rate of recycled goods, disposal, and material productivity 17.
Finland was the first country to develop a national road map to a CE (Finland’s CE Roadmap).
Other countries that are making notable strides towards a CE include Luxembourg, Germany, and Belgium.
The CE is fast becoming a solution to global challenges. International organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a pivotal role in coordinating and helping circular practices reach scale.
