What does circular economy mean?
Circular economy Is a Model for the production and use of material from raw materials. This means reusing raw materials instead of mining primary raw materials and disposing of them again after a single use. The ultimate goal is To avoid waste as much as possible. To do this, as much as possible should be recycled and products used and repaired for as long as possible. Substances should be kept as long as possible circuit be led. Your value should therefore be retained for as long as possible.
One Circular Economy Strategy takes into account all required steps from product design and the selection of materials about the production up to as far as possible long use And finally the recycling. The circular economy is also linked to the right to repair, that it must be cheaper to have products repaired than to buy new ones.
For this purpose, in December 2024 Still the National Circular Economy Strategy (NKWS) decided. The NKWS relies on the 10-stage R-ladder: refuse, rethink, reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose, recycle and Recover. The aim is to mine as few primary raw materials as possible. Die Waste prevention is in the Refuse phase. Sustainable and effective product design is reflected in rethinking. Reduce primarily refers to the reduction of raw material consumption. Recycling is also relevant for critical raw materials, as they are only finally available.
Why is a circular economy important?
In germany Is the Consumption of raw materials per person at 13 tons per year, 50 years ago, it was 8 tons. Commodity consumption in Germany is significantly above the global average. In the future, it is expected to fall back to six to eight tons. In particular, it should be used in EU decline as it is in 2022 at 14.9 tons per capita lay. The amount of waste in the same year amounted to 190 kg.
Raw materials should therefore be used sparingly. Are more raw materials now being recycled, i.e. more secondary materials used, must fewer primary materials mined and processed become. This would have several advantages: The mining of raw materials interferes with animal habitats, destroys landscapes and reduces biological diversity. This can also have a direct impact on humans when diseases pass from animals to humans and trigger pandemics. At Extraction of raw materials and the Preparation of intermediate products Do they arise most greenhouse gas emissions. If intermediate products or end products are recycled, you save yourself the need to produce new intermediate products or the mining of raw materials and can thus significantly reduce emissions.
There is a major problem with plastic, who is in industry, construction and wraps is used extensively. So far, only a small part is recycled. Even though disposal, separation and recycling have been improved, the use of raw materials is still primarily linear. The share of secondary raw materials amounts to just 13 percent. In the case of plastics, the lack of information on how they are composed in detail also prevents recycling. Die digitization can actively help Information accessible to make: digital product passports can document and communicate the composition in order to recycling to enable or facilitate.
How does the economy benefit from this?
Die business models, created by innovations or ideas for recycling and sharing should also arise Create jobs and thus strengthen the economy. By reusing materials that have already been produced, the economy should also independent of expensive imports and purchases are made as well as from uncertain supply chains.
