Yesterday, on 29th of July 2021, was ” Earth Overshoot Day” – that is the day when the available raw materials, calculated over one year, are used up worldwide. “In other words, we live and operate as if we had two planets at our disposal. It is obvious that this cannot be effective in the long run,” says Brigitte Reich, Managing Director of SECONTRADE, referring to the fact that Austria’s situation as a raw material importing country is even worse. “Therefore,” Reich continues, “we have to work consistently on sustainable solutions in order to achieve a reversal of this trend in the medium term.”
The principle of the “circular economy” plays an essential role in easing the global shortage of raw materials. This involves ensuring that the production, disposal and recycling of raw materials is as closely connected as possible, so that high-quality secondary raw materials can be returned to the production cycle.
The B2B online platform SECONTRADE helps to increase the efficiency of distribution and logistics. Certified raw material traders and the processing industry are offered a large selection of qualitatively valuable processed secondary raw materials in-time, which considerably simplifies access to them.
In this way, raw materials such as aluminium, iron, copper and various plastic components flow back into the production cycle and existing resources of primary materials are protected. “With this,” Brigitte Reich is certain, “we are making a significant contribution to significantly reducing the consumption of valuable resources!”
