Circular economy strategies are increasingly entering boardroom discussions. We wrote this blog post to summarize the essential building blocks that every holistic circular economy strategy should follow.
Integrating a circular economy strategy into a business model can require a company to refocus and consider one primary question: “How can we reduce our inputs and source materials to optimize for resilience and reuse?”.
A circular economy refers to a system focused on restorative and regenerative processes, ensuring each resource is used and maintained for as long as possible. The north star of the circular economy is to design waste out of the system.
Accelerating the transition to a circular economy has become a new economic imperative. Yet, in 2020, only 8.6% of our global economy was circular, missing out on a $4.5 trillion opportunity. At the same time, the transition to a circular economy is one of the most important cornerstones for climate response.
Consequently, circular economy strategies are increasingly entering boardroom discussions. The need for action is clear. But, designing a practical approach to accelerate the circular transition can be difficult due to various frameworks, concepts, and opinions.
We wrote this blog post to summarize the essential building blocks that every holistic circular economy strategy should follow. As attentive readers will guess, the building blocks should not be viewed as a list but as a business cycle iterating to hopefully one day close the loop.a ensuring
1. Measure Your Baseline
Start by measuring and analyzing your baseline. A clear understanding of your company’s current environmental performance will uncover your resource usage and help identify improvements.
Fortunately, creating a well structured measurement and reporting framework is an investment in your future. Comparing your performance to previous activity periods will surface opportunities for improvement and anticipate critical developments.
2. Form Your Circular Economy Strategy
Next, identify and implement initiatives to improve your company’s circular performance. The baseline assessment offers the ideal starting point to form your circular economy strategy. Use these insights to set short- and long-term targets.
It is also crucial to transform sustainability objectives into actionable initiatives. Once the targets and strategy are in place, implement your circular economy initiatives across three vertices:
- First, reduce the use of resources to release pressure from waste management systems.
- Second, optimize the use of resources to fuel a circular transition.
- Third, support systemic change with finance and engagement to amplify your positive impact.
3. Communicate Your Progress
Lastly, transparently communicate and engage with your stakeholders to demonstrate thought leadership. Most businesses regularly report on their regulatory compliance. However, in today’s economic environment, it is wise to move beyond compliance and publicly report and engage for your sustainability initiatives.
Clearly communicate the purpose, vision, and strategy, and make sure that the principles of your circular economy strategy are incorporated into daily operations.
Start Today, Learn on the Go
Digital tools can help develop circular economy strategies that drive positive outcomes. Thanks to intelligent software solutions, sustainability managers, supply chain specialists, and marketers can save time measuring their baseline and focus on deriving value from the analytics.
At Ampliphi, we help your company accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Starting with a focus on plastics, we help you seamlessly establish a baseline and then easily create a tailored footprint reduction strategy.
Unleash the potential of a circular economy strategy today: schedule a demo or register for free on our platform today.