The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is calling for increased partnership and buy-in from businesses and citizens as Jamaica actively works towards becoming a circular economy. Chief Executive Officer/Government Town Planner at NEPA, Leonard Francis, said that the model, which focuses on safeguarding the environment through reusing, repairing, and recycling, slowing down the use of natural resources, has the potential to unlock tremendous economic, environmental and societal benefits for the country.
“With a circular economy, the environment is better protected through the minimisation of waste and pollution and we use our natural resources more efficiently. It means that we intentionally recover, reuse, recycle, and repurpose materials so that our consumption of resources and materials is circular rather than linear,” he explained.
“Consequently, Jamaica’s precious and limited resources are kept within the economy for a longer period, instead of being discarded, and our reliance on virgin materials is minimised,” he said further.
Mr. Francis was addressing the opening of a national training workshop on Circular Economy Indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at NEPA’s corporate offices in Kingston on July 7. He said that Jamaica has taken some meaningful steps towards transitioning to a circular economy in recent years, through initiatives such as the reduction in the use of single-use plastics.
