The need to accelerate sustainability in the economy and avoid worsening the damage done to the environment has ignited a transition from a linear model of producing goods and services to a circular model, writes Dike Onwuamaeze
A transition is gradually taking place in the Nigerian manufacturing sector. The transition is on the use of natural resources for industrial production with an emphasis on a shift from the linear economic model of manufacturing to a circular and sustainable industrial model that uses raw materials more efficiently and reduces waste.
The linear model of production is characterised by take-make-consume-throw away pattern that mostly depend on the use of virgin raw materials and a vast amount of energy and water while the circular model, according to the 2019 United Nations Environment Assembly, was described as a model in which products and materials are “designed in such a way that they can be reused, remanufactured, recycled or recovered and thus maintained in the economy for as long as possible.”
This transition is not peculiar to Nigeria. Other parts of the world, including Europe, are experiencing it. The European Union said that a circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involved sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible in a manner that would extend the life cycle of the products.
In practice, “it implies reducing waste to a minimum. When a product reaches the end of its life, its materials are kept within the economy wherever possible. These can be productively used again and again, thereby creating further value,” the EU said.
The trend is also impacting Nigeria’s academic system and demanding a comprehensive policy response from the government. Eggheads from Nigeria’s ivory towers and the industrial sector, including the Managing Director of the Unilever West Africa, Mr. Carl Cruz, were of the opinion that fostering this transition would demand tripartite collaboration between the government, the academia, and the industries for policies, manpower and research development and practices that best utilise resources and protect the environment.
Cruz said recently in an event that was organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) on “Strengthening Academia-Industry Collaboration in Circular Economy and Natural Capital Accounting,” that the transition to a circular economy is based on the concept of Earth Overshoot Day (EOD) that is created to enable the human economy to operate within the earth’s ecological limit.
He defined the EOD as of the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeded the limit the earth could regenerate and replenish within that year.
According to him, the EOD for 2021 fell on July 29 and implied that the world has been on an ecological deficit since that date and would carry it over into the coming years unless it is corrected.
Cruz said: “We perpetuate this deficit by liquidating ecological resources and accumulating wastes in the environment.”
Nigeria Experience
Nigeria has experienced a surplus in terms of EOD until 1972. But has been on a downward deficit movement ever since, except in 1997.
He stated that “Nigeria is currently running an ecological deficit of -0.4, meaning that Nigeria is overconsuming its share of the planet. The world’s natural resources of geology, soil, air, water and all living things can be sustainable if we manage them well.
“From this natural capital, human beings derive a wide range of value such as food, water, building materials and medicines that make life better.
“But there is no doubt that we have been over-exploiting our natural capital. And this is catastrophic in terms of biodiversity loss as ecosystem productivity and resilience over time.”
He warned that wholly mismanaged natural capital would create not only ecological liability but social and economic liabilities like massive flooding and droughts, starvation, conflict over resource scarcity and displacement of villagers.
“This particular issue is especially important for developing countries that depend on national capital for about 47 per cent of their wealth. And yet in several of these countries, natural capital is being depleted without corresponding investments in human capital, education, health and infrastructure, which lead to decreasing wealth and the failure to improve the standard of living amongst the whole,” Cruz said.
Hence, it has become imperative for each country to commit to natural resource accounting to possibly correct its stocks of natural assets.
“We must have a strategy for managing our resources better if we must wave off the impending crisis. And here comes the concept or principle of circularity. Our linear make-use-dispose economic model has been at the heart of industrial development and no doubt generated an unprecedented level of growth. But it has also left growing pressures on resources simply because we extract materials, manufacture goods, use them once then threw them away.
“But if we can design waste and pollution out of the system, keep products and materials to be used longer and regenerate natural systems, we can basically reinvent everything,” he said.
Cruz said that Unilever “tries to influence how this can play out successfully. Therefore we have made far-reaching commitments and actions to protect nature and creating a waste-free world. But there is no doubt we all need to do more not only from other industry players but also from academia and the government.”
Safety, Health, Environment Manager of Unilever, Ms. Rachael Ezembakwe, said: “We have the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan for 10 years. Its goals include improving health and wellbeing for one billion people; reducing environmental impact by half by reviewing our operations and enhancing livelihood for millions.
“Our circular economy and national accounting are included in reducing environmental impact by half. Last year, we did a summary of this ten-year program. As of 2015, Unilever achieved zero non-hazardous waste across all our manufacturing sites. What this meant is that we have to look for how and who can re-use our waste. We have had success in the area of finding some SMEs that would reuse our wastes. Now, in Oregun and Agbara every waste is either re-used or recycled by people in the circular economy.
“We are committed to reducing plastics through our framework of reduced plastics, better plastics, and zero plastics. We are interested in consumer return plastic. We will also remove PVR from our system. Unilever is committed to removing 6000 tonnes of plastics from the environment. This will make us become plastic neutral. We want to remove every drop of plastic we have produced back from the environment. In 2014 alone we were able to remove over 1,100 tonnes of plastics from the environment. We are having kiosks in communities where people are encouraged to return their plastics and receive benefits in terms of money or materials.”
Ezembakwe, however, said that the journey is to achieve zero plastic, adding that many bottling companies are currently using less plastic to give the same volume of water.
“This is using smaller plastic to give you the same volume of water. Some of them are infusing recyclable elements to make them reusable. Getting to zero plastic will take some journey,” she said.
The Vice-Chancellor of the Igbinedion University Okada, Professor Lawrence Ikechukwu Ezemonye, who is also a renowned Professor of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Forensics, stated firmly “that we are in a transition from a linear economy that uses resources without replenishing them to a circular economy that sees value in waste.”
Ezemonye said that the transition to a circular economy would bring about a rethink on the conception of waste, which has been erroneously termed valueless. “The circular economy prioritises waste and gives it value, thereby altering the paradigm shift completely.
“To do this we must engage the principles of eco-innovation that involves redesigning products, repairing products and making them long-lasting. The circular economy will drive the concept of ensuring that failed components are replaced, core elements are refurbished, and precious metals are recovered and remanufactured into new products.
“At the end of the day, circular economy drives zero waste scenarios making everybody within the society happy and wealthy for it.
He said that the transition to a circular economy in Nigeria must be driven by a profitable partnership that is comprised of universities, manufacturers and government. “What has always been the problem is who initiates the handshake. This delay has often made this partnership redundant. Mutual trust has not been established and collaborative benefits have not even been put into place so people find it difficult to go into,” Ezemonye said.
He pointed out that the Igbinedion University and the University of Benin are among the Nigerian universities that have started mainstreaming circular economy into their curriculum.
The University of Benin has set up the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation that is modeled after the University of Lancaster. The centre has a desk for the industry to participate in the development of products and services.
He said that the critical elements in this partnership are mutual understanding, trust and benefits, adding that the Igbenedion University, which has a 15-man board that is made up of the representatives of industry, academia and government.
“They met quarterly to review the needs of the industry and develop total academic programs and research that will support the industry to ensure that their problems are solved. The government’s role is to provide the platform for the commercialisation and patent of the innovations and creative works of academia.
“Beyond this, all our postgraduate programs have two supervisors- one from the industry and another from the academia. And every postgraduate project must solve one industry problem before it will receive senate approval.
“The industry and the academia look at a problem and co-design the research. They also develop it jointly and co-deliver it. This takes care of the problem that university’s products are not solving industry needs. Because if you co-design, co-develop and co-deliver with me, will you then say that the end product is not useable? The answer is no,” he said.
Ezemonye stated that industry collaboration with academia has yielded a project that could power 6.5kva biogas engine from cattle dungs and food wastes.
He, however, advised, that policy that would enhance the transition to a circular economy “must be driven by a shared vision and must show pragmatic examples that it works. It must also foster and include community ownership because it is what determines sustainability. Finally, our policies on job and wealth creation must mainstream circular economy to drive the transition on a seamless road. And it is very possible in the Nigeria scenario. We are about to develop a post-graduate study on circular economy.”
A Professor of Agricultural Engineering and former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Professor Michael Faborode, said that circular economies have important environmental and sustainable advantages over linear economies by focusing on re-use and recycling.
Faborode noted that the transition to the circular economy was among the reasons for the review of the entire university curriculum in Nigeria with the introduction of the CCMAS that overhauled the old BMAS.
The CCMAS, according to Faborode, is student-centered and deeply rooted in hands-on practical and industry experiential skills that are anchored on ell-defined learning outcomes.
Its goal “is to produce engineers that are imbued with critical thinking, analytical and modern engineering design skills able to dream, design and manage infrastructure and create entrepreneurial businesses and start-ups,” he said.
Faborode called for increased domestic sources of funding for researches that would promote the transition from linear to a circular economy.
