This morning, the Ministry of Environment officially began the work of the Strategic Committee for the preparation of the Circular Economy Roadmap, a work led by the Eurochile Business Foundation and whose main objective is to build a joint and consensual agreement between all the actors to define the main guidelines for the implementation of this mega-trend in the country between now and 2040.

“Promoting and boosting the circular economy will be one of the best ways to ensure that the economic recovery, after the Coronavirus health crisis, is green and sustainable. After the pandemic, countries will need to grow, but we must do it through this new paradigm, transforming our ways of producing and consuming, but it is also an opportunity for the generation of a large number of green jobs, “said the Minister of Environment, Carolina Schmidt, who led the event with the Minister of Economy, Lucas Palacios.

In this sense, a first proposal that will be put on the table in the work of preparing the Road Map is to set an ambitious goal: that by 2040 only 10% of waste will reach the sanitary landfill and that at least 65% of household waste generated in the country is recycled.

“The transition from the end-of –life concept to a circular economy means a paradigm shift, and requires a huge transformation in our ways of producing and also consuming. That is why we decided to lead the construction of a road map, inviting a cross-sector group of organizations to help us define concrete goals and objectives to make Chile a circular country, “said Minister Schmidt.

Beginning of work

From now on, the Strategic Committee will meet at least once a month, and will focus on working during the vision definition and roadmap design phases, actively participating in the workshops that will be held in these phases, and serving in the role of validation of the results obtained.

“Its role will be, basically, the construction of the Road Map. Based on the inputs, we will be developing the initiatives and strategies of the road map. It will be a process that we will be guiding, but it should not be forgotten that they are – as well as experts in the field – the stakeholders and the most interested parties in this work, since after the preparation of this document they will have to participate in its implementation,”said Linnet Solway, director of Eurochile’s Technology Transfer and Circular Economy Area.

The Road Map will be structured in four main pillars, each of which will have concrete goals, objectives, in the short, medium and long term. These axes are: obtaining raw materials; production; consumption and services; and waste management. To this end, a cross-sector group of organizations was invited to the Strategic Committee, which will help define the specific goals and objectives of the Road Map. The members of the Strategic Committee are:

Public sector

Ministry of Environment

Ministry of Economy

Ministry of Social Development

Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Health

Ministry of energy

Ministry of State (Subdere)

Ministry of Agriculture (Odepa)

Ministry of Science

Corfo

Agency for Sustainability and Climate Change

 

Municipalities

AMUSA

MSUR

 

Civil society

Asociación Nacional de Recicladores de Base

AVINA Foundation

Basura Foundation

AdC Circular

ODECU

 

Academy

Universidad de Chile

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

Private sector

SOFOFA

SONAMI

CChC

CCS

Mining Council

ANIR

ASIPLA

ACERA

Acción Empresas

 

Experts

Gonzalo Muñoz

Petar Ostojic