For a very long time, the circular economy has been sold to us as the panacea to fix the environmental disaster and, at the same time, keep the economic machine running. The idea is simple on paper: stop throwing things away, extend shelf life of products and redesign everything so that materials return to the cycle. These proposals have deeply influenced European Union regulations, becoming the heart of the Green Deal and the new industrial roadmap, based on the essential terminology on circular economy and its keys.
However, there's a question that often gets left unanswered, and it's fundamental: does this circularity benefit everyone or just a few? So far, the approach has been very technical, focusing on efficiency and processes, but forgetting that Circularity is not synonymous with fairnessIf we are not careful, we risk the green transition perpetuating the same old inequalities or, worse still, shifting the problems to the most vulnerable areas.
The shift towards social justice in circularity
For this change to be real, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has suggested that social justice should not be a band-aid solution, but rather the central focus. This means moving beyond simply looking at the numbers and starting to analyze who gets the benefits And who gets the short end of the stick? To better understand this, three essential dimensions are proposed that should guide any policy.
First, distributive justice analyzes how burdens and benefits are shared. It cannot be that the Global North enjoys clean technologies while the Global South bears the brunt of them. mining pollutionThen there is procedural justice, which basically demands transparency and genuine public participation in decision-making. And finally, there is recognition justice, which seeks to give visibility to groups that have always been ignored, such as informal harvesters or indigenous communities.
We cannot forget that the circular economy doesn't happen in a vacuum; it is linked to factors such as social class, gender or immigration status. This is where intersectionality comes in, as barriers accumulate and make it much harder for some people to access the opportunities of the so-called green jobs and their real impact at work.
Analysis of critical sectors: Batteries, Plastics and Textiles
If we want to see where the pressure is being applied, we need to look at the value chains. The case of batteries is very illuminating. With the rise of electric cars, the demand for lithium and cobalt has skyrocketed. Although the EU has strict regulations to ensure sustainability, the reality in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo or Chile is quite different. child labor and exploitation of lands.
In the plastics sector, the problem is what is known as "waste colonialism." Many developed countries export their waste to regions with poor infrastructure, transferring toxicity to marginalized communities. Furthermore, informal recyclersThose who actually do the dirty work are often stigmatized and excluded from the new formal systems of plastic recycling in Spain and the world.
The textile industry, for its part, is the perfect example of excess. fast fashion It has created a cycle of frenetic consumption where clothing ends up in landfills like the Atacama Desert. The circular transition here cannot be just about creating new fabrics, but change the production model, addressing the challenges and regulations of textile waste so that workers in the Global South receive decent wages and entire ecosystems are no longer destroyed.
Tools for real and equitable change
To ensure this doesn't remain merely good intentions, strong political levers are needed. On the one hand, there are mandatory measures, such as prohibiting the destruction of unsold clothing, or limit the import of wasteThese rules are vital to curbing abusive business practices that externalize environmental costs.
On the other hand, there are non-mandatory incentives, such as subsidies for ecodesign or aid to promote repairs. But beware, if these subsidies are not managed properly, they will end up in the pockets of companies that already have power, leaving out the rest. small workshops and entrepreneurs local.
It is essential to create social indicators that measure the success of these policies. It is not enough to know how many tons of plastic have been recycled; we need to know if workplace health has improved or if the number of accidents has been reduced. gender gap in the sector. Total transparency of the value chain is the only way to guarantee that no one is being exploited on the path to sustainability.
Making circularity fair requires us to stop viewing it as a purely technological challenge and start treating it as an ethical commitment. Only by integrating human rights, respect for ancestral knowledge, and a genuine redistribution of wealth can we truly say we are building a model that regenerates the planet without leaving anyone behind.
