Operationalizing the Circular Economy

Session #6

Building Blocks for the Circular Economy

Session #6

Objective: Understand the critical facets of making a circular economy work

Agenda:1.  Assess importance of stakeholder engagement throughout the process2.  Address challenges of regulatory-based sustainability vs. sustainability-

based regulations3.  Discuss challenges and pitfalls to avoid when executing a plan focused on

a circular economy4.  Explain ways to integrate concepts into a company’s business plan

Session Objective & Agenda

Session #6

Panelists

Dr. Atalay AtasuGeorgia Inst. of Technology

Jeffrey KeatonConsultant Fellow - ASCE

Dr. Linda BattaloraTeaching Professor Petroleum Engr. Dept.Colorado School of Mines

Flora Moon Sustainability Practice DirectorExpressworks

Slide 4

Session #6: Building Blocks for the Circular Economy

Importance of Stakeholder Engagement

Dr. Linda Battalora – Colorado School of Mines

Session #6

Slide Title

Slide 6


Regulatory-Ready Sustainability vs.

Sustainability-Ready Regulators

Jeff Fergus – AMEC

Session #6

Slide Title

Slide 8


4 Obstacles on the Way to a Circular Economy

Dr. Atalay Atasu – Georgia Institute of Technology

(with VishalAgrawalandLukVanWassenhove)

Session #6

Outline of a Circular Economy

Slide 10

Session #6

Building Blocks of a Circular Economy

Slide 11

1. Circular Economy Design…circular design to facilitate product reuse, recycling and cascading…designed-to-last products, design for easy end-of-life sorting, separation or reuse of products and materials…

2. New Business Models…innovative business models that either replace existing ones or seize new opportunities… selling services instead of products… performance economy…

Session #6Slide 12

Building Blocks of a Circular Economy

3. Reverse Cycles …cascades and the final return of materials to the soil or back into the industrial production system…

4. Enablers and Favorable System Conditions….market mechanisms…support of policy makers, educational institutions and popular opinion leaders… such as collaboration, rethinking incentives, rules, access financing…

Session #6Slide 13

Approach to Circular Economy: Ellen Macarthur Foundation

How? Education, working with business and government, providing insight and analysis, communication

Session #6Slide 14

4 Obstacles to a Circular Economy

1. Customers Demand Freedom of Choice

Session #6Slide 15


2. Technology Wants to Bound Forward

Session #6Slide 16


3. Implementation Challengesa)  Open-loop recycling may be better than closed-loop

recycling in some situations (Scale Economies)

b)  Lack of economies of scale in first-reverse-mile logistics can increase the costs. (Scale Diseconomies)

c)  Business models such as leasing can be challenging to implement, e.g., Interface.

Session #6Slide 17


4. Environmental Benefits Are Uncertaina)  Are circular business models (e.g., leasing) greener?

b)  Are circular product designs (e.g., modular product designs) greener?

c)  Do these approaches have complementarity?

Session #6

What Can We Do?

Slide 18

An anecdote:•  Modular product design as the holy grail•  What is the right supply chain for your product?•  JIE article pointing out the challenges with modular

electronics.•  Google ARA project suspended.•  https://www.facebook.com/Journal.Industrial.Ecology/?fref=ts

Your Anecdotes?


Integration into a Company’s Business Plan

Flora Moon – Expressworks

Session #6

Remembering the Bear in the Woods

Slide 20

Imagine:

•  You’re in the woods

•  There is a house

•  Oh and there’s a bear…

What did you imagine?

Session #6Slide 21

Session #6

Operating in a VUCA World

Slide 22

•  What is the goal?

•  Do we know enough to guide decisions?

•  Do we know the risks?

•  What are the chances of

success?

ComplexMul@plevariables

Vola+leRateofChange

AmbiguousLackofclarity

Uncertainunpredictable

Pred

ictability

Howmuchisknown?

Session #6Slide 23

Butterflies in a Box

Session #6

Picture the Circular Economy

Slide 24

•  What does it look like??

•  Where do you fit?

•  What is your role?

•  Who are your stakeholders and

partners?

•  What does success look like?

Imagesource:hOp://www.techitaly.eu

Session #6

Operationalizing the Circular Economy

Slide 25

•  What do we want to do?•  How will get we there?•  What does the roadmap look

like?•  What will our outcomes tell us?

•  How will we measure impact?

Objec+ves

Strategy

BusinessPlan

Outcome

Impact

Session #6

Operational Maturity Model

Slide 26

•  What level is involved?

•  Are processes in place?

•  Is governance in place?

•  How will you work together?

•  How will you measure

success?

Integrated

Func@onal

Departmental

Project

AdHoc

Session #6Slide 27

Remember the Butterflies

Session #6Slide 28

Oh and then there’s the bear…

Is this what you imagined?

Session #6Slide 31

Questions & Discussion

Session #6Slide 32

Operationalizing the Circular Economy

Business

Transcript of Operationalizing the Circular Economy