David Fisher Fisher Studios
By Sandy Dhesi, Commercial Manager at Ecoveritas
The climate emergency makes the switch to a circular economy ever more urgent. At the same time, we must acknowledge that complex problems do not have easy solutions.
In the six years between headline-grabbing climate conferences, the global economy consumed 70% more than the Earth can safely replenish. An additional half a trillion tonnes of virgin materials.
The circular economy is happening, but not quickly enough.
Our generation has the unique opportunity to reconcile the paradox between progress for all and a sustainable future for our planet, thanks to a step change in efficiency.
We believe that waste will come to be seen as a precious commodity, shaping new business models and defining commercial opportunities. That’s why we are helping business leaders to rethink their propositions and scale up their circular solutions.
Two-thirds of the resources we take from the Earth are discarded. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we have been accelerating a linear take-make-waste model that assumes an infinite supply of resources. Now, a new circular economy proposes something more regenerative.
The circular economy is much more than recycling or just redesigning our products. It’s about transforming the way our economy works - moving from taking, making, and wasting to eliminating, circulating, and regenerating. The opportunity is clear and sizeable, but ambition alone is not enough, and translating purpose into action will require the unfurling of a series of coordinated efforts.
The circular economy is about new ways of creating value via innovation, new business models, and future-proofing your business models in an increasingly resource-constrained world. It’s about the need to unleash materials' true value and potential, whether in their beginning-of-life, utilisation, or end-of-initial-life phases.
The business case for the circular economy is crystal clear. Whilst many are already realising value from the concept, our world is still only 9.1% circular.
Transferring linear operations into a circular economy is no easy feat. It involves dynamically changing approaches to manufacturing, knocking out planned obsolescence and setting goals to minimise material and energy waste.
We must acknowledge that while materials may inevitably degrade, they do not disappear. Degraded materials can be captured and plugged into our economy in their transmuted forms.
We talk a lot about reducing consumption, buying less and buying better quality products when it is necessary to make a purchase. And a life less throwaway is the holy grail for those prioritising quality over quantity.
Businesses like ours exist as a vital resource for those looking to understand how to connect materials with manufacturing and the means of distribution and consumption. We help companies harness the power of knowing what they don’t know regarding environmental compliance data.
Reduce, reuse, and recycle is the standard cradle-to-grave manufacturing model dating back to the Industrial Revolution that we still follow today. Extended Producer Responsibility proposes that we should strive to create value instead of minimising waste. This is the essence of Cradle to Cradle: waste need not exist at all.
Despite a backdrop of uncertainty, the packaging industry has continued to innovate, create and try things that could impact the future. With brands and retailers showing no signs of relaxing their sustainable targets, it’s been up to packaging specialists to respond – and they have done just that.