The current economic system is mostly linear: We extract raw materials, process them to produce goods, distribute them, use them, and when we finish using those products they are discarded as waste.
In this linear economy, large volumes of materials must be extracted, along with a huge increase in the waste we bury in the ground or dispose of in bodies of water. In a circular economy, on the other hand, we keep materials and resources in circulation for as long as possible, minimizing or eliminating waste.
This circularity implies higher quality and greater efficiency in production, longer product use, and the reuse or reintroduction of waste into another production process. In this way, the need to extract raw materials is limited and the reduction or complete elimination of waste in landfills or bodies of water is achieved.
The linear economy we have historically followed — “extract, make, and discard” — has driven the planet’s natural systems to an imminent collapse, by generating greenhouse gases in an uncontrolled way to the point of raising the Earth’s temperature.
In this sense, circularity brings benefits in saving carbon emissions through smarter product design, reducing the generation of products made with virgin raw materials, extending use, and minimizing waste.
Carbon impact measurement: A clear vision of change
The latest circularity gap report 2023 (The circularity gap report 2023) states that globally only 7.2% of extracted materials return to a production process, the rest (more than 90%) are wasted, lost, or cannot be reused for years.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, circularity figures are below the global average. According to the Circularity Report for Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 by UN Environment, daily waste generation is 541 thousand tons in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean; this is like having 15,457 tractor-trailers loaded with waste every day and only 5% of the waste generated is recycled, with 95% disposed of in landfills or open-air dumps.
Although the outlook seems discouraging, some companies are helping to close the circularity gap. Through the use of tools to measure the carbon impact of production processes, it is possible to demonstrate that circularity brings benefits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In this blog, we will share how we carried out the carbon impact measurement of Control Ambiental, a company that implements advanced technologies to generate compost and soil conditioners from waste from the food sector and forestry pruning.
Organic waste management at Control Ambiental
To evaluate the carbon impact, CarbonBox used its own tools to collect information from two scenarios: processing one ton of organic waste at Control Ambiental’s composting plant compared to sending it to the landfill.
Through a rigorous approach based on up-to-date and local data, we analyzed various variables and factors that influence the process.
We considered aspects such as the emissions generated by the transport of the waste, the emission factor associated with the decomposition of organic, wood, garden, and paper waste, mobile and stationary combustion, as well as the electricity consumption involved in the process.
In addition, we also took into account the environmental benefits resulting from composting and the manufacture of carbon-enriched soil conditioners.
Using the CarbonBox impact module, we achieved a complete life cycle assessment of one ton of waste and a precise calculation of the carbon impact of its management.
This module is cloud-based, enables the impact measurement of value chains, and produces as a result an indicator of greenhouse gas emissions savings based on the life cycle assessment of a product.
As a result, one ton of organic waste processed at the Control Ambiental plant saves 3.81 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) throughout its life cycle, compared to sending it to the Doña Juana landfill.
This demonstrates that the circular economy has a positive impact by avoiding emissions in landfills (already obsolete and inefficient treatments), in addition to improving soils and the benefits from the use of its organic products.
Control Ambiental now knows the impact its business generates and sees the potential for other business benefits such as: improving the company’s corporate image, strengthening relationships with customers committed to sustainability, and standing out in an increasingly conscious market.
This success story in organic waste management demonstrates the transformative power of adopting sustainable practices and understanding their impacts. The transformation to circular systems is a challenge we must address urgently.
In the circular economy, all actors are relevant and contribute to some extent to achieving more efficient production processes, much longer product life cycles, and alternatives for making use of “waste,” which we should now call: by-products.
At CarbonBox we are driven to work every day for these processes and companies, which over time are becoming aware of the need to contribute to a more sustainable society.