Circular Economy in Spain

Professionals in the field of CE have sceptical points of view lacking a global vision of what CE can mean for the development of a sustainable future.

I attended a talk yesterday in Barcelona with the title of 'Nothing to waste: A conversation about circular economy' organised by the branding and innovation agency Firma. I am sad to say that the feeling I left with was not that great. Even though the organisation and the speakers were great, the conclusions I draw from the presentations and the conversations I had afterwards are not optimistic. The scepticism showed for law enforcement and the opinions that put all the sustainable responsibility on the shoulders of the consumers that I heard from speakers and guests alike, make me think that the general view of what Circular Economy means in this country is not fully developed yet.

Circular Economy (CE) is a complex matter, and we will be wrong on assuming that is the answer for all sustainable problems. It is fair to say that the Circular Economy and the Ellen McArthur foundation have contributed to pushing the hot topic of climate change, and the reaction of businesses, to the roof. But there are still a lot of questions unanswered about the viability of CE. And the responsibilities of all parties involved.

To start with, even if we manage to reuse and reclaim all the materials circulating in our system right now, nobody can assure that we, as consumers will be replacing new things for second-hand things. What if we keep buying both new things and second-hand things, multiplying the purchases we make? It is great to believe that technology will come to the rescue, but it is important to keep in mind that there should be also a change of mindset. And this can only be possible involving government, consumers and companies.

There is also the question of the energy needed to recycle the materials that we have already extracted and transformed into products. Sometimes the processes involved in recycling materials are not energy efficient or include the use of hazardous chemicals. Luckily, solutions like taxing on the extraction of new materials, or creating tax relieve schemes for the innovators that come up with cleaner ways of reusing, recycling and repurposing already existing products are around the corner.

Another problem is the viability of the recycling stage. Some materials are not recyclable with the technology we have available right now. Like most of the textile fibres.

Unfortunately, the conversion that arose from the talk and the presentations of the experts were quite flat and simple. The professionals attending the talk seemed to put all the responsibility on the shoulders of consumers. There was little mention to policymakers and legislators, or the responsibility of the state and the European Union to create the necessary framework to push companies to react and create more circular business models. And even though the EU has voted to ban single-use plastics and this law will come into force by 2021 in all EU member states, people still look at these efforts reluctantly. The experts in the room seem to believe the law will not be enough to make big companies change their behaviour. However, I have to disagree and blame this rection on pure ignorance. I was lucky enough to participate in a gathering of Spanish supermarkets and providers to discuss ideas and solution to substitute all the plastic they use for packaging for something less polluting. All because the EU is planning on banning the use of single-use plastics and they wanted to be ready. So obviously companies are taking seriously. If, as a company, you don't anticipate all these regulatory issues, you will most probably end up out of business.

Another negative and common reaction I observed during the event is the lack of critical thinking towards research and reports. I heard several opinions where they dismissed research findings and reports as biased or limited. I even heard criticism towards the efforts of several universities on trying to create a reliable way of doing lifecycle assessments. Obviously, there is no absolute way of measuring the impact of products during their lifecycle. And it gets even more difficult if we have a CE product on the table since they get 2 or 3 product lives. However, that is not reason enough to dismiss all the research efforts out there, that are trying to calculate these impacts.

In conclusion, I think the state of CE in Spain is still in the early stages. And unfortunately, a part of the Spanish context is not ready to absorb and use all the tools, research and strategies that Circular Economy is generating out there.