Survey finds many firms identifying as “green” do not understand what a circular economy could bring to the business and how to implement it.
Business Green reported that a survey conducted by the FUSION Observatory on almost 300 SMEs from France, Belgium and the UK claiming to be “environmentally aware” found that many businesses are unaware of how to implement the circular economy model through their business processes, with just 40 percent indicating that the term “circular economy” was “meaningful, inspirational or accessible”.
While over half of those surveyed had heard of the term, a quarter of those were unsure of what it could mean for their company and less than 10 percent felt that they fully understood the term.
The article defines “circular economy” as when “materials are repeatedly reused, and products are designed to maximise resource efficiency”, and when “resources are kept in circulation for as long as possible through reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling, in sharp contrast with the traditional linear economy where products are made, used, and then discarded”.
The results of the survey suggest that many businesses are missing out on savings due to “perceived complexity” of the concept, with the UK government estimating that it could save businesses up to £23 billion ($38 billion/€27.5 billion) each year through “low cost or no cost improvements in resource efficiency”.
Looking at how things could be improved, one sixth of businesses surveyed suggested incentives to encourage them to adopt circular economy processes, while one quarter suggested that more research should be done to “quantify the practical economic benefits of designing out waste”.
The Recycler reported last month that the World Economic Forum met to discuss remanufacturing and the circular economy and how it could address “unnecessary resource losses” at a conference in January, with an initiative set up by the McArthur Foundation called Project Mainstream launched alongside the conference to “promote collaboration in pursuit of the circular economy”.