The growing global demand for raw materials and natural resources is putting increasing pressure on ecosystems, and the finite nature of these resources raises doubts about supply capacity in the coming years.
In turn, once these materials and resources are "used" in the production of goods and services, they are quickly discarded and most of them become wastes that generate pollution, health and management problems.
Against this backdrop, a new concept emerges, the circular economy seeks to break with the current situation where extra - produced - discarded by a new paradigm where products are remanufactured or materials recovered to be incorporated back into production.
It is necessary to evaluate the responsible way to reincorporate these resources back into the system. Recycling is the closing of the circle, but it should not be seen as the first option. When we recycle we consume more resources (transportation, energy for transformation) for their reincorporation into the market compared to other options such as extending the life of the product and thus optimizing the use of natural resources.
Three activities stand out at the core of circular economy practice:
In European countries such as Denmark and Germany, the circular economy is being used and this has brought them an economic impact. In Denmark there is already legislation that points towards a transformation to the CE, in Germany between 2000-2010 the economic growth was 2.5%, and this was done by reducing the amount of raw materials imported by taking advantage of the optimization of processes.
Among the benefits of the circular economy are net material savings and a reduction in exposure to volatile raw material prices. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has estimated that the savings generated for moderately complex industries in the European Union could amount to US$650 billion annually in the most optimistic scenario.
In Costa Rica, as in other countries, this concept is beginning to be implemented as a fashion, where a wooden pallet becomes a piece of furniture, a plastic bottle becomes plastic lumber for construction, decorative pergolas or garden furniture and thus uses that resource that was going to be discarded.
