DEVELOPING EMERGING NATIONS have landlines and there was no telephone communication , or it was very limited . Then mobile phones came along , they were cheap and accessible , so the landlines and that infrastructure never really developed . The hypothesis is that maybe they could skip over some of that linear infrastructure to something that ’ s inherently more circular .” One of the places where there is a real opportunity for circular economy to have a big impact is India , where there are far fewer car owners than in the west . Iles explains : “ If the Indian population followed the linear model we have , in the next few years we ’ d see more and more people buying cars . Why would we do that ? Let ’ s go straight for an on-demand , shared multimodal transport system that works out better for the customer , better for cities and the urban environment , and is a way better use of resources and energy .”
Development initiatives This form of transport Iles talks about is currently being created by LG
Electronics and Volkswagen . “ A group of neighbours , friends or family will share ownership of one car ,” Iles says . “ The idea would be that you save on the financial burden of owning , maintaining and running a car , by accessing it rather owning it outright .”
The motor industry is a particular focus . “ The average car in the EU is sat in the driveway doing nothing for 95 % of the time , which isn ’ t a good investment ,” Iles continues . “ Then when we ’ re using it , 3 % of the time we ’ re just sat in traffic or looking for parking .”
Other initiatives embedding this new model include companies renting out top-of-the-range gadgets like Apple watches , iPads and virtual reality headsets , retailers selling make-up cases that can be refilled with beauty products , and manufacturers refurbishing medical equipment making it available at a lower cost to hospitals . These are all designed for customers to avoid buying brand new equipment and discarding them when the latest models are released . Large organisations are also implementing telemedicine services for patients to be treated remotely
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