Attitudes towards waste need to change if we are serious about reusing resources and investing in a circular economy, says Charles Darwin University researcher Michael Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie.
Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie said that a psychological hurdle to achieving circular economy goals across sectors is that there is little value put on waste.
He described the circular economy, where spent resources are reused and repurposed so no waste is caused, as a second chance to look at the value and resource in end-of-life waste.
“There is a real problem in that, right now, we don’t put any value on waste,” Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie said.
“What complicates matters further is the interests among many to own products or items rather than leasing or renting.
“Now is the time for us to approach the circular economy agenda sector by sector. The solution will differ for different sectors, and some lessons remain for other sectors.”
Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie said some sectors are focusing on the wrong goal when it comes to implementing the circular economy.
“For a circular economy to work, actors have to be aware that waste has value.”
Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie found that the electronic sector is one that has fallen into this trap for a long time.
“The status quo has been a ‘throwaway’ sector – malfunctioning electronics are wastes and nothing else.
“But as e-waste continues to grow as a problem, recent initiatives targeting anthropogenic stock seem to pose new hopes to the electronic sector. Now we are seeing massive growth in what has been termed urban mining because e-waste is perceived to have value because they still have precious minerals inside,” he said.
Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie said economies such as the United States and China have invested heavily in urban mining because they see value in their e-waste, while places such as Australia and India are still lagging.
For more information, visit www.cdu.edu.au
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