The availability of resources that we extract from the planet is decreasing, and by contrast, the consumption of resources is increasing, especially in developed countries. Therefore, the availability of (non-renewable) resources is one of the crucial challenges facing our society in order to, on the one hand, be able to guarantee the quality of life …
Waste as resources: moving towards a circular economy Read More »
The environmental recycling benefits that we have seen in previous chapters may fail to convince those who lack a developed ecological understanding or awareness of the environment. However, everyone is aware of the importance of employment, especially after witnessing the last economic crisis.
After seeing the clear relationship between GDP and waste, let’s see the economic balance in recycling or not. Municipalities, on the one hand, receive income from recycled waste, while on the other, they are paying taxes for waste that is not adequately segregated, the rejection fraction that ends up in incinerators or landfills.
Waste recycling not only has positive effects on the environment but also at an economic level, since it contributes to the GDP, and at a social level, as a generator of employment.
Within the scope of waste prevention –generating less garbage –one of the current main battles is the huge quantity of food waste that we produce. We’re not aware of it, but FAO[1] has established that, worldwide, 1/3 of the food produced for human consumption is wasted.