The introduction of innovations, digitization and the use of new technologies can facilitate and accelerate the introduction of a model of a circular, green, economy in Serbia, which, in addition to conserving resources and the environment, would increase the competitiveness of the domestic economy, it was said at the Digitization and Circular Economy meeting.
“The conventional, linear mode of production and consumption is unsustainable because it adversely affects the consumption of natural resources and the environment”, said United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative Francine Pickup at the conference “Let’s look into the future – Curcular through digital”.
She pointed out that there is much more to be done in the area, as currently only nine percent of the world economy operates according to a circular economy model. That is why the new European Commission will soon introduce a new EU Green Deal, which, Pickup pointed out, will mean that the circular economy becomes a priority for the Union countries.
She added that this should allow the EU to be CO2-free by 2050 and save around 600 billion euros. Chair of the European Stakeholder Platform for the Circular Economy (ECESP) and founder of the Circular Economics Institute (Circular Change) (Slovenia) Ladeja Godina Kosir said that the circular economy is not only a rational use of waste as a resource, but a business model that allows materials and products to be made more than once to use.
As she explained, this is a systemic approach, which means that when designing a mobile phone, it is planned to repair it and to use it for as long as possible so that the device does not change after two years, as is the case now, which waste resources ie materials and energy.
She added that seemingly “clean technologies”, such as the production of electric cars, require a circular business model to determine what sources of energy and materials will be obtained, what to do with batteries when they are worn out or similar.
“The implementation of a circular economy is not expensive because, despite the large investment it requires, it enables the best management of scarce resources and rising prices, which enhances the competitiveness of the economy”, she said. Godina Kosir pointed out that the industries that could first apply the model of circular economy in Serbia and the region are construction industry, agriculture, energy.
Assistant Minister of Environmental Protection of Serbia Slobodan Perovic said that the challenge for Serbia at the moment is that a linear model has not been fully established in waste and wastewater management.
“We still have waste management in most municipalities in Serbia, whose origin is a sanitary landfill, while the recycling rate is low”, he said.
Therefore, he said, the transition to the circular model will be more demanding and some stages of development will have to be skipped.
Analyst at the Center for European Policy (Belgium) Stefan Sipka said that the digitalization process and the circular economy need to be synchronized both in practice and at the level of public policies.
“Digitization can accelerate the exchange of information and data from product design, production, distribution, sales and use to waste management”, said Sipka.
He also emphasized that the manufacturing process itself can be enhanced with the help of digital technologies, with the introduction of robots and automation, which improve industrial processes and recycling, or for example the process of exploring materials before making products.
Serbia could, he added, improve the situation by using various instruments such as tax breaks, VAT refunds for products made in accordance with circular economy standards, further improving the manufacturer’s extended liability clause for the product being marketed or introduce labels for products and services that respect the postulates of the circular economy.
Then, as stated by Sipka, public procurement could be more acceptable for these products or products could be designed in accordance with environmental standards, which not only imply energy efficiency, but also that a circular economy model was applied in their production, that is, recyclable.
