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The world is changing, even though it has changed for good in many ways, on the environmental aspect, the mother earth has deteriorated from its state. As the population is growing exponentially, everyday usage of resources is drastically spiking. We have followed the use-and-throw concept so far, but the next generation people are slowly looking for ways to adopt circular economy that is restorative and regenerative by design.

Countries across the globe have been taking individual initiatives to reduce carbon-emission and streamline renewable resources. For the first time, countries united together and powered the Paris Climate Accord to keep global temperature below 2˚C. The first step that countries took towards achieving the goal as per the accord is to focus on the energy landscape. Unfortunately, the usage of energy resources varies from one another and the environmental cost of creating virgin resources will soon be too much for the planner to bear. For a year, more than 100 billion tons of resources enter the economy, but only 8.6% of them get recycled and used again. This is why circular economy is such an appealing concept. It is a new way of life that can help the world adapt to renewable trends in a climate-friendly way. Circular economy not just patches the environmental devastation gap, it also brings positive impacts to many industries, sectors, and lives.

Circular economy and its opportunities 

In general, raw natural resources are taken, transformed, and disposed of. In contradiction, circular economy model aims to close the gap between the production and natural ecosystem’s cycle, on which humans ultimately depend upon. Circular economy gives space for activity building and rebuilding. The concept recognizes the importance of the economy needing to work effectively at all scales starting from big to small businesses, for organizations and individuals, globally and locally. A circular economy aims to maximize value and eliminate waste by improving the design of materials, products, systems, and business models. Here are some opportunities that circular economy has leveraged.

Streamline natural resources

The main motto of circular economy is to use natural resources like forests, soil, water, air, metals, and minerals. However, it is not easy. People are very much used to throwing away products after having them for a short time. For example, the textile industry consumes huge

quantities of fossil fuels to produce clothes from synthetic fibers each year. On a whole, textile production facilitates almost 100 billion cubic meters of water per year, about 4% of global freshwater withdrawal. Still, people throw away clothes even when they are in wearable condition. If we make the textile industry adopt a circular economy, product wastage will drastically plummet. In order to reduce the amount of land, water, and fossil fuel used, textiles manufacturers should shift to recycled and recyclable materials.

Reusing used products

Besides using renewable resources to manufacture products, industries should also try their hand at reusing the disposed product. The core principle of circular economy is that products should be designed to last, with component parts or materials that can be used again. For example, MRI scanners or agricultural equipment are large and expensive machines that cost a fortune. But disposing the whole system when they malfunction is not a good idea. Henceforth, many companies are successfully using circular models where they take the product back and refurbish it or repurpose the materials.

Enriching soil’s health

Circular economy on the farming system ensures that important nutrients are returned to the soil through anaerobic processes or compositing, which softens the exploitation of land and natural ecosystems. In this way, the soil gets healthier and more resilient, allowing a greater balance in the ecosystems that surround it.