CIRCULAR REVOLUTION – SIMPLICITY IS GOLDEN

I once stumbled upon a video of a guy making fun of a friend who had been eating rice and beans for nine days in a row.

Well, probably he had been enjoying the best burgers or pizza or fine dining.

So that made him quite surprised about the friend’s predicament.

Of late, I have been enjoying rice and beans for several days and that has been deliberate. 

You see, I could choose to buy French fries or a pizza or a beef sandwich but I chose rice and beans over all these sumptuous choices.

Reason: as I grow older, I realize that the less processed the food, the healthier it is for my gut – and by extension, my health.

So today, I’ve set aside bread and wheat (at least for the most part) and substituted it with arrow roots and sweet potatoes…

I’m on the path towards zero sugar…

I’ve reduced my intake of sausages and other processed foods…

I’ve chosen to exercise not because I want to be muscular but because my body is giviing me health signals to go back to the basics.

I take more water than before…

I have chosen to reduce soft drink intake…

Why do I bother with forcing my body to take in food that doesn’t seem tasty as roasted beef and French fries?

Well, it’s because going back to the basics is key if you desire to be healthy.

But what has all this to do with the circular economy?

MAKE IT SIMPLE

Circular economy is about innovating.

It’s about absconding a linear product path we’re so used to – source, produce, use, discard – and substituting it with a circular product path – produce, use, recycle, repeat.

Too often do we equate the circular economy to complex systems.

Infact, the word ‘economy’ seems to confused us even more.

But it doesn’t have to.

A circular system involves reclaiming life out of what is considered waste.

It’s about developing a product life cycle that allows reintroduction of what was considered waste into the economy – I guess that’s why the word is used.

This process need not be complex.

Infact I dare say that the more you complicate it, the more likely you’ll miss the mark.

Now, given, some recycling processes require the use of sophisticated scientific knowledge but this is not always necessary.

Picture a mound of food waste.

MARIKITI

Now, marikiti is a corrupted version of the word ‘market’ coined by urban market traders in Kenya.

Now marikiti is in many ways synonymous to a mound of rotting garbage made up of fruit and veg waste.

If in denial, visit any market in Kenya…start with Wakulima market at the centre of Nairobi or even Muthurwa.

This waste is an eyesore like no other…

It attracts flies, rodents and releases a stinky sulfurous odour – a result of mixing up all sorts of agrowastes together.

Now, we can use these wastes to produce biogas or even compost.

However, some of these fruits and veg are in pristine condition probably with a little deformity that makes them unfit for the market.

So what if we pick waste tomatoes, for instance, and use them to produce and package tomato paste?

What if we pick the dented avocados and use them to extract avocado oil? The seeds could be ground and used in livestock feed mixes?

What if we get the citrus fruit peels, extract essential oils for sale? The remaining portion of the rind could be ground to make lemon/ orange rind powder useful in baking?

What if we are to extract vitamins and minerals from colorful fruits and vegetables wastes like that of beetroots, plums, kale, carrots etc.

It is scientifically proven that colored fruits and veg contain antioxidants potent in preventing a range of lifestyle diseases.

These agents could be packaged in a health bar or supplement tablets.

What if we extract glucose and other sugars from banana, mango, sugarcane and pineapple peels.

The sugar could then be converted to ethanol which is a green fuel used in cooking…

Mind you, some of these conversion processes need no sophistication.

Sugar could be left to sit in a mixture of yeast (available in shops) converting into ethanol.

Citrus peels could just be squeezed or allowed to sit in an organix solvent like ethanol to extract essential oils.

Later, the ethanol could be evaporated to obtain pure oils.

Waste tomatoes could be blended into a paste and refrigerated.

These are just a few ideas of circularizing food wastes.

They need not be complicated.

They only need the use of basic knowledge with value addition happening along the way.

So let’s not be stopped because we have the basics.

Infact, the basics might be the only thing you need to get a break-through. 

So ignore the sophistication talk all around, roll up your sleeves and get going even if it’s in your bedroom or backyard.

Remember, rice and beans are healthier than the hyper processed pizza.

Your simple idea will make waves even if it is just basic in nature.

Just start.

Once you start, you’ll be differentiated from millions of others who kept waiting to process their ideas to perfection.

Originally posted on Cleannovate blog