Adopting a circular economy can be beneficial in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and job creation in the low to medium skills market in SA.
So says Alex Lemille, CEO at Wizeimpact, who notes that circular economy is a breakthrough concept as it shifts consumption patterns towards a more responsible society without changing the demand for product performance.
"Ultimately, a circular economy aims to rely solely on renewable energy as we estimate that there is more than enough potential from renewable energy for our growth and prosperity," says Lemille. "So the main purpose of this type of economy is to 'run' exclusively on renewables."
He explains that there will be several stages in adopting this model, including moving away from an oil/coal economy into a mix of natural gas and renewables (wind, solar, biomass).
Other roles of a circular economy and energy is that it enables a virtuous cycle within which biomass/biogas/biofuels are generated from food waste and other biological waste as in the blue economy model.
In the circular economy model, he says, waste is the potential source of another product, a potential nutrient for another plant or the ingredient to produce green energies.
"Remember that the aim is zero waste in a regenerated environment; ie we capitalise on the environment and energies (increasing natural stocks instead of destroying the stocks for future generations)."
Throughout its history, our industrial economy has never moved beyond a linear model of resource consumption that follows a 'take-make-dispose' pattern, he says. "Companies extract materials, apply energy and labour to manufacture a product, and sell it to an end consumer - who then discards it when it no longer serves its purpose."
To Lemille, any system based on consumption rather than on the restorative use of resources entails significant losses all along the value chain.
He points that the circular economy model is estimated to use less virgin material and less material stock even though the world population is projected to grow exponentially. "By defining a model where consumers become users of goods, we will access products instead of owning them. We are a performance-driven society, so let it be so, but away from ownership and more focus on paying as we use," he notes.
He explains that circular economy provides numerous opportunities for SMEs. "Given that manpower is considered an unlimited energy, SMEs in the space of repairing goods, maintaining your park or home appliances, managing your energy consumption-as-a-service or granting you access to the garden tool that you will only use once, will flourish," notes Lemille.
Lemille believes any goods produced in SA or imported into the country will have to be maintained as long as physically possible, thus creating thousands of jobs in the SME space to support our network of shops offering goods as a service. "Even our mining industries could benefit from such a model by maintaining our stock of metals and raw materials wisely, as experts, reducing the needs to dig even further into the earth," he says.
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