Circular Economy is An Attitude
When consumers demand systemic change, circular economy becomes an attitude. An attitude of governments implementing policy changes, an attitude of how companies work towards sustainable business models and an attitude of consumers turning towards circular products and systems.
In our latest Impact Shakers Talk with Ana Espada, we examined how you can rewire your business, services or products into circular business models by design followed by an interactive Q&A about the dilemmas of local vs global, plastic vs alternatives and costs vs profit.
Today’s global economy is linear following the model of “take-make-use-dispose” which is no longer sustainable. Consumers demand a change to circular and sustainable. Recent climate demonstrations by students, policy agendas like the European Green Deal of the European Union and more conscious consumer choices are all signs of a paradigm shift.
Trends signalling the changing attitudes towards circularity:
- Value to waste or zero-waste
The first-movers of the zero-waste movement were the food and textile industries. An exciting example is a Portuguese retailer transforming food waste into energy which they can later use to power the fridges in the store.
A Belgian footwear company is also working to achieve zero-waste by repurposing the waste from old footwear and manufacturing machines to mould it into new materials. With this solution, it is possible that you will discover your old shoes as the sole of a new one.
Circular doesn’t only mean production, but also the way how the product is transported to the users with the least waste possible. Vivaia is another shoe producer using 6 plastic bottles to create shoes to be shipped directly to consumers reducing the intermediary costs.
2. Smart attitude: Including the user in the transition to circular
To close the loop we need to engage the user. Design has gone through an evolution and has a history being the mediator between producers and consumers. Think of the principles of design for all, human-centred design, user-centred design, activity-centred design and nowadays planet-centred design. But design also bears responsibility to stir consumer behaviour to the less destructive option to the environment.
Plastic is not always the enemy
We are conditioned to think that plastic packaging is bad for the environment, and we shouldn’t use plastic to cover vegetables, e.g. cucumber on the shelves. However, research shows that the CO2 emission mainly derives from the food production itself and only 10% is related to the packaging. With plastic packaging, the shelf-life of cucumbers is 11 days longer in contrast to the fact that without packaging 5x more food waste would follow.
“The anti-plastic sentiment is distracting us from the net environmental benefits of plastic.” (Selke, 2018)
3. Design for transportation and logistics optimization
Design has the power to transform entire value chains and business models. Without thoughtful design, it is possible that packaging filled with air would travel across countries causing unnecessary air pollution. A great example of how to tackle the problem is a plastic bottle producer who instead of transporting empty bottles created a collapsible design for the bottles which takes up 10x less space while being transported.
Rewiring our current economic thinking starts with a mindset change and with small steps in the right direction. Closing the loop is our common challenge and survival strategy for the future.
If you want to redesign your business model to be more circular, get in touch with Ana: ana@utop.be
About Ana Espada: Ana is an engineering designer with an entrepreneurial spirit who has worked for more than 20 years with companies, universities and government agencies. She is passionate about innovation, new technologies and leading businesses through innovative processes, providing guidance and support for new projects. Her career led Ana to specialize in the circular economy processes, a field in which she currently works as a consultant under the Utop.be brand. She is practising an international and cross-cultural approach to support companies and designers in the transition from a linear to a circular economy, mapping design strategies and circular business models.
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