Global recycling is dismal. Over 91 percent of plastic goes unrecycled annually. Despite decades of investment and intent, reduction, reuse, and recycling of most materials is just not working. It is time we Rethink Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. CERMR’s work will focus its efforts on a sustainable recycling of all materials. According to the EPA, only 8.4 percent of the collected plastics (~35.4 Million Tons) was recycled.
Today:
A better way forward is the circular economy. The circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. Circular systems employ reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, re-manufacturing and recycling to create a closed system, minimizing the use of resource input and the creation of waste, pollution and emissions. All waste should become a resource for another process: either as a byproduct or recovered resource for another industrial process, or as regenerative resources for nature. This regenerative approach contrasts with the traditional linear economy, which has a ‘take, make, use, dispose’ model of production. The traditional linear economy model that is in place today is no longer acceptable to society.
The circular economy is the future:
