A Circular Economy (CE) is a system in which materials are never wasted and nature is replenished. A CE keeps items and materials in circulation through activities such as maintenance, reuse, refurbishing, remanufacturing, recycling, and composting (Macarthur Foundation, 2024). A CE is a regenerative economy where recovered waste materials are used to make other products. CE promotes activities that preserve value in the form of energy, labour and materials.
The Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) is a research partner in the Just Transition to Circular Economy (JUST2CE) Project running fromSeptember 2021 to August 2024. The project is funded by the European Union and coordinated by the University of Barcelona.
See the link: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101003491
JUST2CE is assessing the current state of transition towards the CE in relevant economic sectors and analysing possible transition scenarios, as well as their outcomes and impacts.
SIRDC has contributed to the development of an online book titled: “Circular Economy for Social Transformation: Multiple Paths to Achieve Circularity”.
See the link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10958884
In this book, the Environmental Science Institute (ESI) of SIRDC contributed the following two Chapters:
- CHAPTER 4: CONDITIONS AND CONSTRAINTS FOR A JUST TRANSITION: DEFINITION AND ROLE OF THE SOCIAL AND JUSTICE DIMENSION
Social justice is an essential concept in the transition process towards a CE and is the core focus of Chapter 4. Social justice includes equality, equity, diversity, fairness and human rights. A just CE transition implies societal changes that revise the balance between winners and losers so that susceptible countries and vulnerable populations are not left behind. As a result, a CE transition should promote inclusiveness and participation of all involved stakeholders and rely on appropriate methods and indicators that measure positive and negative impacts on social justice.
- CHAPTER 20: CIRCULAR ECONOMY (CE) IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES
The transition to a just CE in Africa has the potential to reduce poverty, inequalities and environmental degradation. However, rapid urbanisation, industrialisation and population growth are essential challenges. Waste collection and recycling rates remain low, while the continent is becoming a destination of waste streams (mainly toxic) from the Global North (GN). In practice, the CE in Africa primarily concerns waste management and recycling activities, mostly performed as informal initiatives. These are a source of social injustices carried out by the poorest sectors of society without any social protection.
SIRDC has contributed to the development of a map of CE practices in selected African and European countries. SIRDC led the process of creating a Global Atlas of CE practices and initiatives. This atlas is accessible ONLINE and is running on a web service integrated with the website of the project. The atlas collects and visualises information about CE practices and initiatives aligned with the dimensions explored by JUST2CE. The Atlas will be populated with the contributions of all the consortium members. The Atlas can be accessed at:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1hQ2r7MM0bY_AQVB5E52MWaZc6FYBIbQ&usp=sharing
The atlas represents the geographic distribution of the selected CE practising centres. It shows CE practices from Africa (Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe) and Eastern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy, United Kingdom and Greece). In the atlas, the cases are categorized according to the different CE practice sectors which are: Waste Management, Agriculture, Manufacturing and Personal Hygiene, among others.
Fourteen institutes from nine countries (Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Ethiopia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Portugal) participated in the project. Thus, the project enabled the Environmental Science Institute of SIRDC to contribute to Greening Zimbabwean Industries to achieve Social Transformation through the Circular Economy.
