Students. [File Photo]

The importance of a shift to a circular economy needs to be taught in schools and tertiary institutions.

The University of Fiji Vice-Chancellor Shaista Shameem says this model of reusing and recycling products is more sustainable than the current linear model of use and discard.

“If you put it in the education curriculum, that a circular economy actually looks after the environment so that there is an environment for you to grow up in 20 or 30 years from now, whereas a linear economy makes it much more difficult because the air is more polluted, if you’ve got asthma you suffer a lot more, so we really need to have at the policy level. It’s not possible for just the individuals and parents to tell their children don’t do that, or do that.”

The University of Fiji Vice-Chancellor Shaista Shameem.

Shameem says this is the solution to address the issue of pollution climate change and biodiversity loss.