The circular economy arises as a response to a world suffocated by the contamination of disposable elements that, at a given moment, in the last century, were conceived to give greater comfort to the human being in the transport, acquisition, storage and care of many products between which those for human consumption deserve special attention.
The term “circular” is used in contrast to the linear scheme of production and consumption in which goods were produced without the slightest concern for what happened to the residues after use or consumption. The circular scheme seeks to keep products, components and materials within the economy, avoiding the unnecessary generation of waste and the use of new non-renewable resources.
Undoubtedly, this new economic concept demands a high degree of innovation that has led us to generate new business models.
One of the biggest challenges that circular economy faces is to become a matter of general education to promote its understanding and learning by citizens, and also to be considered by legislators who generate policies and regulations in the States and in the conglomerates. . Within this context, Enkador S.A. and some other companies dedicated to the recycling of plastic elements in Ecuador, manage some circular economy business models, such as:
- Products based on recycled waste: in the production of PET resin from post-consumer packaging.
- Raw materials generated in used products, materials, components or residues: in the production of “plastic wood”.
- Reusable or recyclable inputs for production: with returnable elements of textile products.
- “Green” customers: especially in some B2B relationships with environmentally conscious companies.
- Restoration or remanufacturing of products, components or equipment: in the use of equipment no longer used in areas whose business has been reduced.
The challenge continues to be around the 3 R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle; but with an increasingly technical and profound vision. From this point of view, a negative position towards the reuse of some materials such as plastics is not responsible, a discourse that has been erroneously popularized without considering the severe consequences of not doing so.
Several plastics, including PET, have all the characteristics that make it a suitable material for generating a circular economy: it is widely used in packaging for countless products, it is collected by grassroots collectors, it is driven through logistics chains to specialized recyclers that have the technology to turn this waste into resin that can be incorporated again into food containers for human consumption with full sanitary guarantee, and finally this process can take place in indefinite cycles.
The business models conceived or associated with the circular economy present an interesting alternative not only to support the viability of the business, but also to avoid a greater environmental impact than we have had up to now.
Los modelos de negocio concebidos o asociados a la economía circular presentan una interesante alternativa no solo para sustentar la viabilidad del negocio, sino para evitar un mayor impacto ambiental del que ya hemos tenido hasta el momento.
