In recent centuries, the economic model has significantly improved our quality of life. However, not everyone is enjoying its benefits. More and more people need to have their basic needs met.
This will require rethinking the current development model. Shifting from a linear to a circular model is a feasible option. Lavoisier would say that in nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything changes, and this is the thought from which it is possible to devise alternatives for an increasingly sustainable future.
The Circular Economy model proposes a new way of considering the origin and destination of what is produced and disposed of. It extends the useful life of products from their design through to their repair and maintenance and bets on new ways of consuming, expands the recycling of components, and optimizes the current production model. What is now seen as waste becomes a resource.
With the principles of the Circular Economy, society reduces the negative social and environmental impacts of consumerism. And the transition from a linear to a Circular Economy can afford countless opportunities: innovation in companies through rethought processes, products, and services designed to reduce environmental impacts. It also offers many possibilities for business expansion based on sustainable practices that value products and resources through reuse, sharing, maintenance, remanufacturing, and recycling.
It is also essential that enabling conditions are created, such as specific public policies, appropriate infrastructure, innovative technologies and better-quality education either to raise awareness of consumers or to train skilled professionals. This way, new value chains will be created, as well as jobs and income for society. Here in Brazil, the Circular Economy has run into tax and regulatory issues that make it difficult to implement it.
Brazil needs a strategy and actions for the Circular Economy to improve the relationship between society and the environment and to be a source of inspiration for a new industrial framework for valuing services and products and improving the productivity of Brazilian industry. All stakeholders must commit to this change: government, companies, academia, and the consumer market. This is why CNI has, on behalf of industrial entrepreneurs, committed to rethinking business models.
Ensuring the efficient use of natural resources is an increasing concern when it comes to deciding what - and how - to consume. With the Circular Economy, business models can generate new opportunities and competitiveness for Brazilian industry. Cooperation and awareness are the keys to the future of the circular economy, of industry, and of our country.
