One program in at National Cheng Kung University is trying to push new concepts that go beyond recycling.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/08
By: Nate Maynard
Since the first stone was whittled down into an arrowhead, production has followed a
Credit: REUTERS / Bobby Yip
similar pattern; raw materials are pulled from the earth, formed into usable objects, used until they break and are discarded.
But this linear production model, especially for a small island nation like Taiwan, doesn’t work with industrial scale manufacturing. The old “take-make-dispose” model produces an almost unfathomable amount of waste.
Taiwan has so much existing resource management experience, and students can finally tap into this wealth of knowledge.
The circular economy (CE) concept, endorsed by the UN, the World Economic Forum and an alliance of business leaders, hopes to tighten up the waste stream and make products shareable or transformable. You probably recycle, but a circular or regenerative economy goes beyond that. Researchers define a circular economy as a regenerative system where resource inputs, waste, emissions, and leakages are minimized by slowing closing and narrowing material and energy loops. They achieve this through long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, refurbishing, in addition to recycling. [FULL STORY]
