Climate Change and the Circular Economy: Analysis of Policy and Individual Behavior in the Indian Ecosystem

Introduction

The impacts of climate change ranging from increasing extreme weather events to increased droughts and wildfires to massive flooding serve as a stark forewarning of the times to come in case the world does not act now. It is estimated that even if countries comply with their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC’s) under the Paris Agreement, the world is unlikely to be able to reduce emissions consistent with a 1.5 degree rise in temperature. Linear economy with its make-take-waste approach leads to an ever increasing and unsustainable demand for resources. Calls for degrowth and adoption of circular economy have become particularly relevant in the circumstances.

Any efforts to address climate change must necessarily include efforts to reduce production and consumption to sustainable levels, for the simple reason that individual consumption is responsible for a large share of green-house gas emissions. This is true across industries but more the impact is much more significant in areas such as transportation, food production and consumption and plastic production and consumption. The rise of consumerism and corresponding increase in expected level of convenience and comfort translate directly into increased per capita consumption of materials and energy. In a linear economy this creates problems of not only unsustainable extraction of resources and excessive waste generation, but also contribute to climate change due to the green-house gas emissions associated with these processes.

Degrowth which can be defined as “the equitable downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions at the local and global level” and the adoption of circular economy which aims at the de-linking of “value creation from waste generation and resource use by radically transforming production and consumption systems” are concepts that are gaining international recognition as a new sustainability paradigm. Circular economy focuses on restoration and regeneration and looks at value creation from waste. The United Nations in 2015 adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Two of these goals that is SDG 12 of responsible production and consumption and SDG 13 of taking urgent action to combat Climate Change and its impacts can be directly addressed by adopting a circular economy.

The plastic packaging industry is expected to become one of the largest contributors to green-house gas emissions if current trends of production continue. Clearly the largest driver of single use plastic production is the consumer demand. Owing to the paucity of time and increase in the buying capacity of people, plastic packaging has become convenient. Also, buying packaged version and readymade goods is far easier than preparing it for hours. The plastic packaging does not add much to the manufacturing cost which makes it a favorable choice for the companies too. The companies using the plastic are also flouting rules like Extended Producer Responsibility for plastic. In fact, businesses have repeatedly blamed consumers for unsustainable demands on resources and the problems of mismanagement of waste. Coca Cola company was recognized as the largest plastic polluter in an audit of plastic waste in 2019 and despite having this dubious distinction, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2020, Coca Cola’s head of sustainability Bea Perez cited continued consumer demand as the reason for not ending its production of single use plastic bottles. Sustainable consumption behavior on part of consumers and conscious rejection of unstainable business models then contributes to adoption of business models which foster sustainable consumption and promote a circular economy.

There has, however, been some change in the attitude of companies wherein they are partnering with entities which get their plastic wastes collected. These collected plastics are then supplied to the cement kilns where they are utilized. The management of plastic waste is much different from the wet waste management. There are some companies for example Saahas and Tetrapak which are helping in the management of plastic waste through different methods like collecting the plastic waste from companies and waste-pickers and then using them in either making new products or providing it to the companies which can use it in their manufacturing process (Saahas, n.d.).