The circular economy is a concept that has been established for more than a decade in our society and in the daily life of companies and organizations. In the challenge of sustainability, it is presented as a cycle, in which materials and objects … They can once again have a useful life, closing a circle that is the main beneficiary of the environment.
The equation is to use less resources and create less waste, research is key in a change aimed at promoting a change in collective consciousness, in this change, one of the key points is moving from a recycling economy to a circular economy to prevent waste from being lost, bringing it back to use and making its recycling a last resort. This was advocated by Harvard Professor Manuel Maqueda yesterday at the forum ‘Better: The Circular Economy and the Recycling Economy’ co-hosted by the Isaac Perel Foundation, Cajamar and the Development Institute. The bank is led by Patricio Valverde, the foundation’s managing director.
In the region of Murcia the event found the perfect setting to take place due to its commitment to sustainability and technological change, and its ability to capitalize on the talent surrounding this aspect. In fact, as Joaquin Gómez, director of INFO, announced during the inauguration, “a circular economy map is being prepared with more than 100 successful projects to show that we are a national and international reference in this matter, which “helps. Create a lot of specialized employment,” he pointed out, encouraging us to move forward together to improve the competitiveness of companies.
Manuel Maqueda argued that “things in our world are not the result of what we do, but of how we do it.”
For this purpose, the forum brought together different experts to address the challenges presented by the circular economy and analyze the steps to follow to improve the processes. Maqueda informed the participants of the axis of his analysis: “Things in our world are not the result of what we do, but the result of how we do it.” While betting on circularity, he pointed to the need to apply nature’s principles to the economy, from a ‘design for design’ approach, using that design to eliminate toxicity, pollution and waste. keep product components and materials in use; and renewal and regeneration of natural systems. “The circular economy gains power only when it has design regulation,” said the expert, adding that 80% of environmental and social impacts are determined at the design stage, and only 7.2% of the economy is circular, giving the opportunity to expand that number, create jobs, and make the economy more resilient.
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7.2%
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At the environmental level determined during the design phase
In this spirit of “not creating new things, but looking at them with a desire to design”, he sees today’s products as banks of materials for tomorrow’s products, but at “yesterday’s prices”, “stopping the economy. To be serious about the materials used in repair, design and maintenance work”, preventing waste from being lost and Makes recycling a “last resort”. “If it is not designed with purity and value, there is no circular economy,” he pointed out.
He believed that “recycling cannot be the basis of economics”, and that a linear mindset for the future should be replaced, encouraging a paradigm shift from efficiency to efficiency that would transform the economy.
Change the rules of the game
José María Fernández Alcalá, Director of Circular Economy at Ihobe, the Basque Government’s public association for environmental management, participated in the forum to present the main points of the law related to this economic model and current regulatory structures. In this regard, he pointed to the problem of the rules of the game, which “allowed the linear model to be more economically viable.” “Knowing that as a society globally we are going to the bottom, we need to change the rules and do something more complex to ensure that sustainability and competitiveness go hand in hand, which is not currently happening,” he stressed. .
“We have to go hand in hand with sustainability and competitiveness,” said José María Fernández.
To meet this challenge, Maqueda turned the starting point into productivity, researching how to make products last longer through closed cycles, but they can continue in that cycle so waste management is the last alternative. According to experts, the areas of action are transparency and sustainability, eco-design, raw materials and waste management, life cycle decarbonisation, zero pollution and sustainable finance.
“The challenge in the next four years is to comply with the obligations contained in the various approved mechanisms and legal frameworks and to see if this is sufficient. The regulatory framework is essential for the circular economy as an economic model that combines sustainability and competitiveness,” Fernandez said, noting that about 44% of energy expenditure is focused on the product manufacturing process.
A successful transition
The forum featured a round table to present success stories in commitment to circular economy. Carlos García, research professor at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CEPAS-CSIC), wanted to highlight how research could impact the circular economy in a “more focused way”. For example, he talked about adding exogenous organic matter to increasingly desert-like soils to improve their fertility because “soils, like water and air, are as important to future sustainability.” Following this research approach, María Ángeles Esteban Abbott, professor of cellular biology at the University of Murcia and secretary of the Department of Cellular Biology and Histology, highlighted the “ability to transform and multiply its profits” that seem insignificant, such as certain fish parts.
Félix López Gil, OCHP, Fama Sofás proudly displayed his formula for ensuring that sustainability and profitability go hand in hand, as the company has more than 200 projects related to environmental design and sustainability in four decades. Their goal is that the sofas are not only designed to be comfortable and usable, but they have created an interchangeable core “so that in 20 or 30 years, by replacing those pieces simply and cheaply, we will be around. We can last longer”. “The key is to try to turn it around so that it’s easier to give the product a new life, not the other way around,” he said.
It was Jesús López Martínez, Coordinator of Agri-Food Innovation at Grupo Cajamar, who wanted to highlight that “the bioeconomy is sustainable,” referring to the DNA that characterizes the company in its relationship with the agri-food world. Awareness of waste disposal in any production process.
A digital production passport, the most obvious option
José María Fernández noted during the forum the importance of a digital product passport for transparency in information compared to the limitation offered by labels.
According to the expert, this will help inform who is involved in professional agencies throughout the product life cycle. “It will reach elements such as traceability and the composition of its materials,” he added, referring to horizontal criteria, which would be common to all products, and vertical criteria applicable to certain cases, such as measuring the carbon footprint. “When it becomes mandatory, it will be incorporated and there will be specific elements in the regulations related to it,” Fernánez concluded. This digital passport is expected to come into effect from 2026 onwards.
