The Blue Economy

The blue economy is a concept developed by the Belgian economist Gunter Pauli, in which he proposes imitating Nature's way of working, so as to make the best use of all available resources, including waste. It is therefore a circular, local and sustainable economic model.

Coffee would be a good example of a blue economy application, since from the same plant from which the beans are extracted, the leaves can be used to make coffee-tea. The by-products of the crop are used as animal feed, fuel or compost. Once the coffee has passed the human consumption cycle, the coffee grounds are highly valued as a fertiliser and can also be used to grow diverse mushrooms such as the shitake variety The residual substrate from mushroom cultivation in coffee grounds can also be used as chicken feed. The various uses of by-products from coffee cultivation and consumption can be converted into enterprises that benefit the local people without harming the environment. Some of the key elements of the blue economy model are:

Use of available resources: it is about making use, fundamentally, of the resources that exist in our immediate environment, thus reducing pollution and the price war due to the production and movement of goods from distant geographical areas. In this sense, priority is always given to local products and local communities.

Making use of waste: waste from one product should be used as the raw material for another.

Imitating nature: work systems should imitate natural ecological cycles, making work more viable, efficient and sustainable. Precisely one of the most important characteristics of natural models is that they do not generate waste, but what is not used in one part of the chain is vital in another. It is the perfect "zero waste" model.

Innovation: the idea of innovation in the blue economy is not based on technology or on modifying existing processes, but on the development of "natural" models capable of making the most of products with the minimum negative impact.

There is also an important difference between the blue and the green economy. For Pauli, the green economy is based on a series of policies that have a high economic cost for companies, which have to make great efforts to adapt to environmental regulations without these actually bringing about a positive change in production. Thus, while the green economy is costly for companies and, therefore, for consumers, the blue economy tends to lower costs, generate profits and boost the development of companies and local communities.

Fátima Gordillo