CIRCULÉIRE is delighted to announce the launch of Towards a Circular Economy of Water in Ireland at the All Ireland Waste Water Expo in Leopardstown Race Course. This Best Practice Sectoral guide is the ninth in a series of reports produced by CIRCULÉIRE, Ireland’s National Platform for Circular Manufacturing targeted at Irish industry players in sectors deemed strategically important to supporting Ireland’s transition to a circular economy.
Why Water ?
The figures from the United Nations World Water Development report, demonstrates that due to increasing population, economic development and shifting consumption patterns, global water use has increased by a factor of six over the past hundred years and it keeps steadily growing at a rate of around 1% per annum.
Future estimations predict global demand for freshwater will exceed viable resources by 40% by 2030 if we continue as we are today. Some regions are already classified as water-stressed, and climate change will aggravate this situation further by creating water stress in regions where today water is seemingly abundant. We have already seen a global increase in the frequency of extreme water events due to climate change. These figures are stark and more than ever society must be made aware of the National Geographic assertion that “All the water that will ever be, is right now.”
Industry is a major water user, and forecasts mention water demand from it is projected to grow by 400% by 2050. However what if we could reduce Industrial consumption by up to 50%, through the application of systems thinking to identify CEW strategies to support this reduction?
Circular Economy of Water ( CEW )
Co authored by Ana Santos, Geraldine Brennan and Paul Mc Cormack Cooney, The Circular Economy of Water Sectoral Guide is intended for all industrial sectors, potential project funders and policymakers involved with utilisation of water in Ireland. It aims to provide industry stakeholders with an overview of Circular Economy of Water (CEW) strategies to encourage their replication and adoption across industry.
For policymakers, the Guide is intended to both draw attention to some of the key policy enablers which are supporting the advancement of a CEW in Europe and Ireland and to highlight the necessity for industry to participate in the policy process through sharing their insight, research results, and the challenges of implementing a CE.
Highlighting Best Practice
In this report we examine the Circular Economy of Water in Ireland and abroad and highlight best practise innovations on the use of Water with a focus on the five high impact sectors in Food, Automotive Industry, pharmaceuticals and Chemicals, Cosmetics and Microelectronics through case studies from Nestle, Wyeth, Mercedes, Nissan, Astra Zeneca, L’oreal P & G and Intel.
From these Irish and International case studies, we draw out the barriers and lessons learned to determine what is needed to Circularise the use of water and delivers five key recommendations aimed at advancing a CEW in Ireland.
For further discussions about this report, get in touch with Geraldine Brennan Head of Circular Economy at Irish Manufacturing Research or Paul Mc Cormack Cooney Best practise and Toolkits Lead CIRCULÉIRE.
All our Sectoral Guides are available for FREE download at the CIRCULÉIRE Open Access Knowledge Library at the links below:
About CIRCULÉIRE
CIRCULÉIRE is a public-private partnership co-created by Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) and Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), together with industry partners, CIRCULÉIRE aims to assist manufacturers and their supply chains to switch from linear to circular business models. In November 2022, DECC announced €1.5m continuation funding for CIRCULÉIRE in 2023.
Read more about CIRCULÉIRE here.
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