In manufacturing, especially metal products, the circular economy concept attracts increasing interest among businesses, governments, and consumers. This trend can be attributed to several factors, including environmental pressures, resource scarcity, and potential cost savings. The goal of the circular economy is to keep resources in use as possible and avoid waste, with continuous production and a material use and reuse cycle.
One of the main benefits of the circular economy in metalworking is to achieve increased efficiency. Companies can lower production costs by using fewer resources and reducing waste while producing more with fewer resources. This efficiency can translate into improved product quality and reduced maintenance and energy savings resources.
In addition, a circular approach in the metalworking sector can help conserve natural resources such as steel and aluminum. This can help reduce environmental impact and promote sustainability. Finally, a circular approach can reduce air, water, and soil pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
However, some challenges are associated with applying circular strategies in the industry, such as establishing effective recycling processes, which requires the configuration of a value chain in which third parties specialized in logistics and technology to move these materials participate. Another issue is that for many companies, it has yet to be a priority to implement manufacturing processes with a more sustainable approach. Finally, internally, companies may need help to track the flow of materials through their supply chain to ensure that all material is effectively reused or recycled.
But more is needed for companies to become increasingly aware of the potential benefits; it will be necessary for the government to offer support in the form of policy guidance, financial incentives, and other measures that can help facilitate a successful transition. Metalworking and sustainability must be gathered since the transition to a circular economy are necessary to protect the environment.
The best-known standard is the international ISO 14001, which provides a clear path towards environmental care and implementing a circular economy. But beyond that, in Mexico, regulations have been developed according to global trends in ecological care to provide companies with a guide to reduce the environmental impact of their operations. Such is the case of Semarnat’s General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection, which defines concepts related to pollution, pollutants, polluting processes, and the efficient use of renewable and non-renewable resources.
Government regulations should generally be geared towards offering financial incentives for companies adopting circular economy practices in the industry, such as recycling and component reuse. In the same way, it should consider supporting research into new materials and processes that help reduce waste and, in this way, conserve resources to limit any negative impact on the industry.
In addition, there is the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) that created a national strategy for the transition to a circular economy in the industry. This includes plans to develop new technologies and establish international partnerships that allow companies to access the funds and knowledge needed to implement sustainable practices.
The most recent is the General Law of Circular Economy, which was approved in the Senate on November 18, 2021, and aims to "promote efficiency in the use of products, services, materials, secondary raw materials, by-products through reuse, recycling, and redesign." However, this new law only considers the manufacture of plastic containers and packaging and focuses mainly on managing natural resources and environmental pollution.
Unfortunately, today there are no incentives that promote the creation of infrastructure around the use and reuse of materials and components of a product, much less to encourage design efforts considering circular economy initiatives from the conception of a product. Although it may seem complicated, the transition would be facilitated by political guidance, financial incentives, and other appropriate measures.
Organizations such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation carry out permanent studies to understand the changes that must be made in companies to implement a circular economy; In manufacturing, there is a need to implement various changes, such as increasing the use of materials used, generating more local production schemes with a greater distributed capacity, as well as expanding the use of information systems that simplify the management of production processes.
Today, the primary attention around environmental care in the industry is focused on producing plastics, reducing polluting gases and fumes, and using clean energy. However, sustainability programs will be increasingly mandatory in companies and will be as crucial as an ISO 9000 certification is now to ensure belonging to any supply chain.
Industrial shows dedicated to the metalworking industry, such as FABTECH Mexico, are vital in helping companies structure their circular economy initiatives through the implementation of state-of-the-art technology and the incorporation of best practices in producing and designing metal products that increase the level of material recovered for reuse or recycling.
One of the benefits of metals is their ability to recycle whenever they are contaminated as little as possible. This facilitates the structuring of scrap recovery models in production and product in their final stage of use to be brought back to the beginning of the processes, which could give birth to collaborative efforts in the industry that facilitate logistics between companies. To recover materials or even, as is already happening in some fields, to develop business models that allow new companies to be inserted in the supply and production chains, either by buying back used materials from other operators for reuse, to supply secondary markets with reusable materials and by-products of the metalworking industry, or only by offering logistics services.
A circular economy focuses on keeping resources in use for as long as possible and avoiding waste through a continuous production cycle to conserve natural resources, reduce pollution, and harness energy savings. By working together with industry and other stakeholders, Mexico has the potential to create a more sustainable metalworking sector and provide a model to add to other countries seeking the transition to a circular economy. The game's rules in the life cycle of metal products could change faster than we think.