by Fabrizio Cinque, Tondo Associate L’ambiente costituisce una fonte di risorse essenziale per il funzionamento del sistema economico, questo perché, come ogni attività umana, l’attività economica si svolge all’interno dell’ambiente naturale. L’ambiente fornisce risorse economiche: le materie prime. Esse sono un bene economico in forma grezza, che l’uomo, attraverso cicli produttivi, può trasformare in beni di consumo pronti a soddisfare i bisogni umani. Ciò però impoverisce l’ambiente, perché nonostante la natura sia una riserva di beni materiali molto grande, non è illimitata, di conseguenza, le materie prime sono risorse scarse. Quando si parla di scarsità di una risorsa naturale questa può essere assoluta (stock) e in tal caso si parla di risorse esauribili (non rinnovabili) oppure relativa, è il caso di risorse rigenerabili (rinnovabili). Ambiente ed Economia sono quindi due sistemi inseparabili e in continua relazione. Ci sono pertanto due distinti metabolismi sul nostro pianeta: il metabolismo biologico, o della Biosfera, cioè i cicli della natura e il metabolismo tecnico, detto anche Tecnosfera, cioè i cicli dell’industria. Biosfera e Tecnosfera: definizioni e funzionamento La Terra viene divisa da alcuni studiosi in varie «sfere»: Litosfera, Idrosfera, Atmosfera e, da pochi anni, è stata introdotta anche la Tecnosfera. Il sistema che comprende Litosfera (l’insieme delle terre emerse), Idrosfera (insieme delle acque) e Atmosfera è chiamato Biosfera. Quest’ultima comprende tutti gli ecosistemi della Terra e si può quindi considerare formata dall’insieme degli ambienti fisici del pianeta che possono ospitare organismi viventi. Caratteristica fondamentale della Biosfera è la diversità biologica (o biodiversità), cioè, la varietà di organismi viventi nelle loro diverse forme, e nei rispettivi ecosistemi. La parola Tecnosfera è stata coniata dal professore di geologia e ingegneria civile della Duke University Peter Haff, che afferma: «La tecnosfera è fatta dalle strutture che l’uomo ha costruito nel tempo: centrali elettriche, linee di trasmissione, strade, edifici, mezzi di trasporto, templi, aziende agricole,...
productasaservice
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30 September 2020English Version ZEROBARRACENTO is a gender-neutral zero-waste brand envisioning outerwear as a service. The fundamental values of the company are 0% waste and gender on the one side, and 100% traceability, transparency and inclusiveness on the other side. In addition, the hundred percent stand for 100% sustainability, an issue that has been at the core of the brand since the beginning. Following the product principles of the brand, the clothing lines need to be clean, essential and sourced locally. Therefore, the company is exclusively using materials coming from certified suppliers. To guarantee short transportation ways, every step of the design, product development and manufacturing takes place in Italy and factories are chosen in such a way that they are close to the place where the raw materials have been sourced. Moreover, the selected suppliers operate in the cities/regions which show the highest level of expertise in working with sustainable materials. For the organic and recycled wools, Biella and Prato have been chosen as supplier districts for instance. All material inputs are certified, of high quality and flow through a production/consumption chain that is circular. In addition, every product is self-complementary, designed to last and fully traceable throughout the value chain. One of the materials is Newlife™, a certified yarn, made from 100% post-consumer bottles. The patterns of the textiles are developed with a zero-waste design technique that eliminates textile waste at the design stage, an approach that contributes to reduce the use of natural resources. Usually, around 15% of textiles go wasted in the production process of fashion clothes. The technique involves eliminating waste by removing accessories (no buttons, no zippers, no hooks and eyes) and included the selvedge when sewing the garments. This way the final products are finished up with just a few seams. The packaging is made...
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27 July 2020By Alexandra Kekkonen – Tondo’s associate English Version What have we learned about Circular Economy from COVID crisis? The massive disruption of the global value chains in the result of the measures taken by the governments to address the Covid-19 crisis has revealed the fragility of our lineal global economy model and productive arrangements linked to a single geographic location and a single supplier, high degree of dissolution of our innovation, production, supply and consumption systems. (Serada, 2020) It has raised the concerns about the resilience of our economies and led to intensification of such trends as diversification of sourcing and supplies, reshoring, developing strategic autonomy in the critical sectors, intensifying automation, transforming supply chains into more simple, digital, regional more transparent, facilitated by the new delivery modes and contactless innovations. The experiences obtained during the COVID 19 crisis have reaffirmed – there is a need of the great reset and building a more resilient, just, responsive and sustainable economies. Circular Economy is increasingly considered a valuable option allowing to collectively reimagine and redesign our systems to ensure an ecologically safe and socially just space for all. The circular economy also now has the opportunity and duty to further incorporate equality and resilience into this model. Product design and product policy factors such as repairability, reusability and potential for remanufacturing offer considerable opportunities to enhance stock availability and, therefore, resilience. Rethinking business models in terms of the circular economy presents many opportunities to improve competitiveness, efficiency, innovation and sustainability including through facilitating an access to and shared use of underutilized products. Circular supplies represent a model for developing components that are reusable and recyclable at the end of a product’s life. Product life extension prolongs the useful life of a product through improved product design and long-term maintenance. Resource recovery...