The challenge
Global resource consumption has long been on the rise and is estimated to triple from now until 2050. While the consumption of goods has grown steadily in the industrial countries for decades, developing countries are seeing a rapid increase in household consumption and number of consumers. This is for instance seen each year at Earth Overshoot Day, the day when humanity effectively exhausts nature’s resource budget for the year, which occurs sooner every year. Not since 1970 have we managed to stay within the calendar year.
The future
The time has come for us to make do with the linear take-make-dispose model and begin to look at how we create a more circular future, where focus is on resource optimisation, closing the loop and reducing the amount of waste we produce. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle are keywords in the circular transition and countries, companies and citizens alike must start rethinking consumption patterns and increase recycling rates on a global scale.
