Andorra, pioneer in the circular economy

Today, the useful life of products is very short. When we buy them, we do it from the viewpoint of what we need at the moment and, when their usefulness is over, we simply throw them away. The circular economy concept has arisen with the aim of breaking down this dynamic, of closing the lifecycle of the products and services, prioritising criteria of reuse and optimisation.

In this race to transform the economic model, Andorra has the opportunity to become an international benchmark and has already detected those spaces and processes in which it can begin working jointly, with the public administrations, economic and social agents and the citizenry.

Changing to a circular economy model in Andorra

Changing to a circular economy model in Andorra requires passing through the development of policies to tackle aspects such as:

• Reducing food waste.
• Lessening the excessive consumption of plastics and prohibiting single-use plastics.
• Encouraging the reuse of materials and recycling, above all in the construction sector.

At other levels, more sustainable practices can be applied in contracting, limiting the use of paper in administration and encouraging enterprises to use practices and processes directed towards sustainability.

The role of the tourism sector

In this sense, sectors driving the country’s activity, such as tourism, are already adopting practices directed to this objective, working so that the role of tourism contributes to economic development through practising and disseminating values of sustainability and social inclusion such as environmental protection and the efficient use of resources in all activities. Andorra is already in line with the policies that Europe has been promoting for some time in order to achieve the objective that will see all this effort resulting in the recycling of 50% of the waste that we generate, on a horizon fixed on the coming year.

Integral Serveis 21 celebrates Andorra’s position in the face of this economic and social challenge and will contribute by advising enterprises that wish to adopt the necessary processes and measures to achieve this model of sustainable growth.