Circular Economy: the end of waste?

Humans consume, in a year, more than 90 billion tons of raw materials according to the last data of the UN. At the same time, we produce more than 2 billion tons of waste per year, according to the last data of the World Bank. The management of this waste generates around 1.6 billion tons of carbon-dioxide, that’s approximately 5% of global emissions. And these numbers are predicted to increase by 60 or 70 percent in the next 30 years according to the same sources. Many companies, NGO’s, governments, and institutions are trying to find ways – often successfully – to reduce the amount of waste that we generate. Maybe one of the most popular approaches nowadays is Circular Economy.

In this episode of OBREAL’s Podcast, we talk about Circular Economy with Marcos Segovia, director of the NGO Circular Change; Valdis Bisters, Chief Executive Officer of the Startup HYROGAS; Jimena Estrella, Innovation Advisor at OBREAL; and Lidia Robaina, Professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

All of them are part of the consortium that is implementing the Start Circular project, funded by the European Union. The project focuses on preparing entrepreneurial graduates to work for and develop sustainable businesses. It also aims to reinforce university-SME collaboration in teaching, learning and training.