THEME

Circular Economy

Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Re-choose, Repair,
Reuse, Recycle towards zero waste

ESRAG Food Waste

WHAT IS IT?

Circular Economy at ESRAG

How does circular economy benefit humanity?

Circular strategies reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution associated with resource extraction, manufacturing, and waste disposal. The Circularity Gap 2022 report estimates that as much as 70% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated by materials handling and use, and that humans waste over 90% of the materials we extract. “The twin agendas of circular economy and climate mitigation gets us on a path to a well below 2-degree world by 2032,” according to the report’s executive summary.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Learn more

Great News! Reusing solar panels counts towards million solar panel goal

Great News! Reusing solar panels counts towards million solar panel goal

By Elizabeth Henke, MD, Lead, Million Solar Panel Campaign  Reusing older solar panels qualifies for ESRAG’s Million Solar Panel Challenge. Rotarians and Rotaractors: whether you buy new or used solar panels for yourself or those less fortunate, please log your solar...

Recycling Solar Panels: An Untapped Opportunity

Recycling Solar Panels: An Untapped Opportunity

by Geert Jan Pastoor, ESRAG Renewable Energy Task Force Empowering Communities with Repurposed Solar Panels Solar panels are gradually becoming an indispensable part of our society. Clean energy is an important answer to the climate problem and an indispensable link...

Take Action with Circular Economy

Use your professional expertise and influence to promote the development of durable products that are produced sustainably and are practical and affordable to repair. Incentivize resource recovery. Encourage sharing of services and tools – like cars or a Library of Things. You will help businesses, consumers, and local governments save money on materials, energy, and waste disposal. Click on the project overviews below to discover some of the many ways Rotarians are building circular economy around the world.

Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling

Dispose of lithium-ion batteries through a fully closed-loop recycling solution.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY IMPACT

Resources

A circular economy is an economic
system aimed at eliminating waste and
the continual use of resources.

 Throughout our region Rotary is making a difference in a variety of ways that are tailored to suit the local situation. We have included some and look forward to promoting more project types when we receive the information.

A major area of focus is recycling and re-purposing reusable equipment and supplies.

These strategies replace the “take-make-waste” linear economy by circulating products and materials at their highest value and keeping as much as possible out of our waste stream. Circular economy can be enhanced at every stage of a product’s useful life:
• building sustainability and durability into product design
• sustainable manufacture
• improving systems for maintenance and repair
• sharing services and equipment
• reusing products, and
• minimizing waste

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Featured Events

Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

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ESRAG Seminar: Trees That Feed Foundation
Speaker: Mary McLaughlin
Topic: Feeding People, Creating Jobs and Benefiting the Environment

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Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

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Building a Better World, Pre-RICON Summit
Speaker: Hosts: ESRAG & RAGCED
Topic: Building a Better World, Pre-RICON Summit

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Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

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Project Impact: Let’s See Your Environmental Impact!

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Plastic Café
Speaker: ESRAG's Plastics Solutions Task Force
Topic: People gather from around the world to connect, learn, and explore collective wisdom.

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ESRAG Seminar: Unused lever in nature protection - Storytelling
Speaker: Markus Gilles

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