The circular economy has played a crucial role for years in Tunisia to make it a more economically prosperous, socially inclusive and ecologically responsible country. Its development is a key factor in addressing concerns regarding the depletion of natural resources.
Several countries have moved towards the model of the circular economy where we think, from the start, of the final products to allow their reuse, or even their reproduction, their circularization and their availability instead of the model of the linear economy where one starts from the extraction to the production, to the use.
The progress of society and the development of the economy have been accompanied by enormous pressure on the extraction of natural resources. In this context, the circular economy stands out as a promising alternative that can meet environmental challenges while creating wealth and employment.
The circular economy is a process that allows the reuse of waste by transforming it into goods, with a view to reducing its impact on the environment and avoiding the depletion of raw materials as well as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
This process is developing in Tunisia. He will soon subject to reform, says Leila Chikhaoui, Minister of the Environment. Her anchoring in other areas remains dependent on better coordination between the various stakeholders.
The supervisory ministry aims, among other things, to achieve the objective of zero waste by 2050. A challenge that will only be achieved with the benefit of effective collaboration between all stakeholders, namely public companies, government departments, components of civil society and citizens.
The circular economy is in fact part of the framework of sustainable development and is inspired in particular by the notions of the green economy, the economy of use or the economy of functionality, performance and industrial ecology. In a circular economy, all the materials used in the manufacture of a product are recovered, treated, recycled as much as possible in the production cycle in the form of secondary raw materials and/or energy. In this way, it is possible to prevent the excessive use of exhaustible natural resources. The objective is to produce goods and services while strongly limiting the consumption and waste of raw materials and non-renewable energy sources.
It is in this context that the Ministry of the Environment ensures that citizens are made aware of the imperative to adopt rational behavior and to encourage investors to launch projects in the ecological and sustainable economy fields, including waste recycling, reiterating the need to encourage selective sorting at source, to facilitate the recycling process.