Hiroshan Hettiarachchi
United Nations University (UNU-FLORES), Dresden, Germany
Title: Realizing the true potential of Recycling in a circular economy with Nexus Thinking
Biography
Biography: Hiroshan Hettiarachchi
Abstract
The demand for resources or what we take from nature is on the rise for many reasons, and so does the waste generation. Recycling is certainly a sustainable way to conserve resources. However, recycling itself is not able to address the increasing resource demand and waste generation issues. This requires a holistic approach that entails the whole process of consumption. The process of consumption as we traditionally know of is based on a linear economic concept of take-make-use-trash. We “take” natural resources to “make” products for our “use.” Whatever is left after make/use is what we “trash” as waste. Circular economy presents us the most sustainable alternative to linear economy that we practice today. What circular economy teaches us is minimizing both take and trash by using the material, that we have already borrowed from nature, as many times as possible. This means that the make/use steps should ideally go in a circular pattern which is also why the process is called circular economy. One may wonder why circular economy is yet to become popular despite the sound argument it offers. It is just not so easy to walk away from the linear economy concept that we have been using for thousands of years. Transitioning to a circular economy requires us to train ourselves to think and act differently. This talk focusses on how we may benefit from nexus thinking of integrated resources management as a catalyzer to transition to a circular economy to realize the true potential of recycling.