New legislation relating not just to carbon, but materials, waste and more is coming in thick and fast. This tide is not likely to slow down either, as governments around the world have woken up to pressing need for action and ever louder consumer pressure. This will affect your business if it is not already, but it can be an opportunity.
Staying ahead of legislation is critical to keeping your business active, but it's also an opportunity to get in front of your competitors while bringing in more customers.
Young and old, the world is waking up to the fragile nature of our planet and more and more they are demanding that governments and businesses do better. This is once again both a threat and an opportunity.
With a clear circular economy policy and story you can show your customers that you care about the world's environmental challenges and are part of the solution not the problem. This will bring immediate PR value to your business and also secure your long term future.
A circular model will not only protect your business from rising consumer pressure and legislation, it will also improve the long term sustainability of your company.
The current linear economy is a threat to your business. The world only has so much stuff and the more of it we waste the more expensive and scarce these resources become. In a circular economy you control the resources throughout their entire lifecycle. Which means with a closed loop system you can infinitely reuse the same materials while optimizing to continually reduce cost.
The circular economy is not just about building a sustainable business and planet, it's also all about reducing costs through greater and greater efficiency. The more optimized the system, the more you save, and the more you improve your environmental impact.
Your waste has value which is currently being lost from your supply chain. By infinitely reusing / recycling the raw material costs are removed. By owning the material throughout its lifecycle the costs are divorced from market demand. Reduction in energy consumption is another big opportunity with both economic and environmental benefits.