“How can research conceptualize and model the circular economy in order to make it a real engine of change? “. This is the question that more than 600 multidisciplinary researchers, who contributed to the work presented on June 26 and 27 in Montpellier, are trying to answer during the first scientific congress on the circular economy (CIEC), organized by the The French Interdisciplinary Association for Research in the Circular Economy (AIFREC) and the Circulades consortium of researchers.
“Meeting the challenge of the circular economy necessarily requires research, assures Ligia Barna, university professor, researcher at Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI) and co-president of AIFREC. The idea of this congress is to bring together, for the first time, researchers from different scientific backgrounds to study the levers of a circular economy. »
“The circular economy is a totally systemic economic approach” (Yannick Gomez, CEA)
No “circular-washing”
From 2017, Ligia Barna and Pascal Guiraud, also a university professor and researcher at TBI, formed a multidisciplinary research center on the circular economy in Occitanie and collaborated on the action plan launched by the Region as part of the Défis program. Keys Occitanie. From there was born the Circulades consortium, bringing together 36 laboratories and 180 researchers belonging to all the territory’s research organizations, then in its continuity, AIFREC.
Pascal Guiraud advocates “ so that politicians, local authorities, entrepreneurs and even startups do not have a “circular-washing” posture but on the contrary solid foundations.”
In the four scenarios developed by ADEME in order to choose a common path to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and respect the Paris agreements, none has a real impact on reducing the materials footprint: it remains between 14.4 and 18.6 tonnes per inhabitant per year, compared to 19.7 tonnes in 2015. However, scientific experts estimate that the planetary balance is at 5 tonnes.
“We take three to four times more materials than nature is able to generate, alerts former MP François-Michel, founding president of the National Institute of the Circular Economy (INEC). Faced with this impossible objective, ADEME recommends defining new scenarios to aim for 10 tonnes in France, but to date, none exist. We absolutely must move away from this hyperconsumption of resources and in this sense, interdisciplinary research is fundamental. Who other than scientists in economics, human and social sciences, technology, systems organization, etc.? to provide answers? »
Cleantech Vallée promotes a certain idea of the circular economy
Become part of territorial realities
The CIEC 2024 presents 116 contributions around the different pillars of the solidarity economy: decision support indicators, optimization of waste electrical and electronic equipment (notably through AI), sustainability and obsolescence in the textile sector, upcycling , biosourced food, territorial resilience methods, decarbonization strategy, sustainable supply, construction in public spaces, intelligent use of biomass… The work is colossal (650 pages of research documents) and the session schedule is busy.
“Developing a territory like the Cévennes using the chestnut tree as a value chain, moving towards non-purchase or sharing of uses,… The work is part of a territorial reality and the numerous paths to take indicated by the researchers are profound, philosophical revolutions », analyzes Pascal Guiraud.
Ligia Barna hopes, for her part, “that the results of this work will be taken into account and will give rise to solid actions and that this first CIEC will create a real collective dynamic “. A second congress is already planned for next year, in another city.
Circular economy: the battle between recycling and biosourced materials
