How a holistic resource-light business model for circular economy can be developed

It is clear that material use in production and consumption globally is high and non-sustainable.

With increasing wealth, the consumption increases. Several international, EU and national initiatives have been made to formulate policies towards more circular economy and as can be seen from different examples, some solutions develop even without any policies, just due to market needs. The global examples of Uber or Airbnb can be used to illustrate this. Market driven solutions are more or less successful and grow more or less fast, but the big change towards a full circular economy in society will most probably not be accomplished only with their help. An obvious flaw in all purely market driven solutions is that those who cannot afford to take part of the markets will not enjoy the benefits of them. Different combinations of circular economy policies for targeted areas of material use can be one way forward. Five golden rules for maximising economic growth while mitigating pressure on the resource base are suggested as:

• Save: take existing opportunities for resource savings wherever possible – some EU economies are 16 times more efficient than others;

• Recycle: increase the recycling of materials and the reuse of elements in products (mobile phones are a recent example);

• Substitute: replace primary resource inputs with alternatives that offer greater efficiency and which have lower environmental impacts throughout their life cycle (by phasing out mercury, for example);

• Reduce: dematerialise how we meet people’s needs, through new business models or goods and services with lower resource inputs. Examples include reducing the weight of vehicles, or downloading music and entertainment legally from the internet rather than buying a solid object like a DVD.

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• Value: policy-makers need to find ways of bringing the proper value of natural resources into consideration in decisions, enabling the improved management of our natural resource base.

Learning to value – and to put a price on – ecosystem services and natural resources will ease the pressure on the environment.

With the aid from Finland, the policy actions toward establishing a circular economy should be nurtured by key projects in focus areas which are flagship projects for the development of a circular economy. It is not enough to talk, decide and write grand plans for implementation of circular economy policies. They need to be done in real life. The plan suggested by SITRA is handy since it both addresses key projects and a large number of pilots which should be developed in a first phase to prove the versatility and usefulness of circular economy solutions. The pedagogical concept lead by doing is highly relevant for these solutions. Policy actions should be enforced by managers in public and private sectors. It is very clear from the given examples that policies can be useful in all sectors and at all levels.

But sometimes the policies can be inspired by national and international documents which clarify the usefulness and need for the change in pathways, should this not be inherently understood. To summon the efforts such as suggested in the Swedish Circular Economy inquiry, a delegation is suggested to be formed for outlining the process needed to launch a broad and active national cooperation, including proposals for objectives, priorities and action plans. Such a delegation should have a temporary mandate and act as the contact point for government, industry, academia, regional and local level of government and all other key stakeholders in civil society. It should facilitate effective cooperation between initiatives related to circular economy, not least liaise innovation and policy partners. It could offer knowledge of other countries and parties action within the circular economy field and assist in developing strategic management by objectives for a country's sustainability efforts and how the continued work on circular economy should be organised in the long run.

• Cost reductions for re-use will facilitate circular economy

Hyber deduction – which facilitates increased repairing and reduce the price gap between new and re-used products can be implemented with positive effects for the labour market, integration and the environment.

• Waste must not be wasted

Each municipality or the corresponding responsible party for solid waste management should be given the obligation to inform inhabitants about how they can take measures to prevent waste and to take measures themselves to make it easier for households to reduce their waste by enabling the collection of recyclable products.

• The public sector can lead by example

Measures and criteria for circular economy procurement should be applied as often as possible.

Public sector actor’ must prevent waste generation in their own activities.

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• Products should last longer

The seller of products should take a bigger responsibility for offering products that have a longer technical duration time. The national Government should also work to strengthen confidence and legal rights in the trade of second-hand products and the sharing of products.

• Environmental taxes can be used more actively

Costs are important and one direct to increase the cost of new materials and reduce the cost of re-used material is to impose environmental taxes. Green taxes should be further developed to favour work and counteracts excess consumption.

• Car pools – less parking, more transport

To increase the usage of the total transport capacity of the cars in a society, car pools should be supported legally and practically. Clear statutory criteria for what is to be considered a publicly available car pool vehicle should be developed and car pool vehicles should be given favours in the traffic to make them the first hand choice for private transportation.

• Water in the circular economy

Water should be reused to prevent water shortages and facilitate material, nutritional and modern water management and the price of water should correspond to its actual value.

• Uberization and 3C: internet platforms for circular economy

Embrace the technical development and utilise technical support for more data management, more information sharing, and more availability of shared resources.

4. Conclusion

A well-known quote from the Chinese chairman Mao Zedong is “Let a thousand flowers bloom”.

This should be the final summary of the paper. When implementing circular economy policies and business models, it is clear that there is no single silver bullet that solves everything. Instead, there is a need for many flowers, many different attempts and pilot tests, implementation of simple or advanced material recovery schemes and proofs of several good ideas on how to practice the solutions. Politically, it can be important to argue for the need to develop new solutions in a country, but the largest number of circular economy business solutions will be developed in other countries. Therefore, is an active market intelligence and active participation in international and regional meetings and projects also central to support a circular economy for all. Good ideas should be regarded as resources and be shared and recycled as much as suitable for the needs of the society. The solutions are only valuable when they are implemented. It’s time for the next spadesful.

5. References

A resource-efficient Europe – Flagship initiative of the Europe 2020 Strategy:

http://ec.europa.eu/resource-efficient-europe/

David, B., Chalin, R and Chuantao Yin )2016). Collaborative systems & shared economy

(Uberization): principles & case study. 2016 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems (CTS). Orlando, FL, USA, 57-63

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http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Environmental_tax_statistics (accessed 2017-05-05 at 11.19)

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Water_statistics (accessed 2017-05-05 at 11.19) http://fortune.com/2016/03/13/cars-parked-95-percent-of-time/

Energy initiatives, including the 2050 Roadmap: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/index_en.htm https://www.airbnb.com (accessed 2017-05-04 at 14.11)

https://www.blablacar.co.uk/ (accessed 2017-05-04 at 14.12)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-19/cheapest-solar-on-record-said-to-be-offered-for-abu-dhabi (accessed 2017-05-04 at 14.20)

Liu, S. and Persson K.M. (2013). Situations of water reuse in China. Water Policy 15 705-727 Mekonnen, M.M., Pahlow, M., Aldaya, M.M., Zarate, E. and Hoekstra, A.Y. ( 2015). Sustainability,

efficiency and equitability of water consumption and pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean, Sustainability, 7(2): 2086-2112.

Roadmap for a resource-efficient Europe: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/

The Biodiversity Strategy: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/index_en.htm Roadmap for moving to a low-carbon economy in 2050:

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/roadmap/index_en.htm

SITRA (2016). Leading the cycle. Finnish road map to a circular economy 2016-2025. Sitra Studies 121 SOU 2017:22: (2017) Från värdekedja till värdecykel- så får Sverige en mer cirkulär ekonomi (From value chain to value cycle – so will Sweden get a more circular economy)

https://www.uber.com/sv-SE/cities/ (2017-05-04, at 14.10)

The Raw Materials Initiative: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/raw-materials/index_en.htm Wu, D., Zhao, Y., Pei, Y. S., Geng, H. (2010). Proposals on utilization and management of

reclaimed wastewater in China. Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, 41(10), 10-14. In Chinese.

WWF. (2016). Living Planet Report ,2016. Risk and resilience in a new era. WWF International, Gland, Switzerland

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Chapter 7