1st Edition

The Guide to the Circular Economy Capturing Value and Managing Material Risk

By Dustin Benton, Jonny Hazell, Julie Hill Copyright 2014

    The term "Circular Economy" is becoming familiar to an increasing number of businesses. It expresses an aspiration to get more value from resources and waste less, especially as resources come under a variety of pressures – price-driven, political and environmental.Delivering the circular economy can bring direct costs savings to businesses, reduce risk and offer reputational advantages, and can therefore be a market differentiator – but working out what counts as "circular" activity for an individual business, as against the entire economy or individual products, is not straightforward.This guide to the circular economy gives examples of what this new business model looks like in practice, and showcases businesses opportunities around circular activity. It also: explores the debate around circular economy metrics and indicators and helps you assess your current level of circularity, set priorities and measure success; equips readers to make the links between their own company’s initiatives and those of others, making those activities count by influencing actors across the supply chain; outlines the conditions that have enabled other companies to change the system in which they operate. Finally, this expert short work sets the circular economy in a political and business context, so you understand where it has come from and where it is going.

    Preface: Who this is book is for and what you should get out of reading it. Introduction: A new model for business and society 1. Getting hold of key concepts 2. Seeing the benefits and interpreting the idea to colleagues 3. Reviewing your organization’s potential for implementing more circular approaches 4. Identifying priorities and measuring success 5. Making full use of the brokering organizations Conclusion Bibliography

    Biography

    Benton, Dustin; Hazell, Jonny; Hill, Julie