- As an organisation, EEC has identified areas where they can potentially be polluting the environment
Mbabane – As Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) launched its earth hour yesterday, the discussions were centred around tackling the climate change phenomenon through circular economy.
Different stakeholders made their presentations on how each sector can play its part in the circular economy in tackling the issue of climate change and the issue that stood out was waste management and how businesses and individuals can be incentivised in re-cycling and re-using initiatives.
A circular economy entails markets that give incentives to re-using products, rather than scrapping them and then extracting new resources. In such an economy, all forms of waste, such as clothes, scrap metal and obsolete electronics, are returned to the economy or used more efficiently.
During the launch of the earth hour, whose theme was “A circular economy and adaptive solutions for Eswatini,” EEC Managing Director Ernest Mkhonta said the circular economy, which has gained traction in first world countries, was a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution in the environment and it could benefit the country to integrate it as a way of our lives.
He said the circular economy is an approach to maximize value and eliminate waste by improving (and in some cases transforming) how goods and services are designed, manufactured and used.
“The circular economy decouples economic activity from the consumption of finite resources and facilitates the re-use of the same resource over and over in different forms. As a developing country, the circular economy presents an opportunity to adopt the tools necessary to tackle climate change and loss of biodiversity, while addressing important social needs and building a resilient economy,” he said.
Mkhonta said as an organisation, they have identified areas where they could potentially be polluting the environment, generating loads of waste, and they have put various initiatives in line with the circular economy framework to fight climate change.
It includes implementing ISO14001 system where they have retained certification for the past six years and DSM strategy and initiative (efficient use of resources, awareness rising), waste recycling in all our sites (general waste and hazardous waste), 10MW solar PV and an off-grid solution at Sigcineni (green energy solutions) and tree planting camping where over 200 trees were planted in November 2021
“The momentum behind the circular economy is building and opportunities for new and better growth that not only help safeguard and rebuild biodiversity but also provide other society-wide benefits are emerging. As a country and as different industry players, we must not miss out,” he added.
The earth hour is on March 26, between 8.30pm and 9.30pm.
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