Sanitation and Wastewater Atlas of Africa - Circular Economy
Circular economy approaches to sanitation services in
Africa focus mainly on wastewater management. Their
goal is to not only enhance sanitation services’ delivery
across the continent, but also to create an environment
for healthy living. The main objective of the circular
economic model is to eliminate waste “systematically,
throughout the life cycles and uses of products and
their components” (Zils 2014). The principle of circular
economy is zero-waste, based on three rules:
• All durables, which are products with a long
or infinite lifespan, must retain their value and
be reused but never discarded or downcycled
(broken down into parts and repurposed into new
products of lesser value)
• All consumables, which are products with a short
lifespan, should be used as often as possible
before safely returning to the biosphere
• Natural resources may only be used to the extent
that they can be regenerated (Stuchtey 2015)
Year: 2021