The document discusses the circular economy and provides several examples of circular economy initiatives and statistics. It summarizes Accenture's view that the circular economy represents a $4.5 trillion global business opportunity over the next 15 years. It also outlines five circular business models companies can adopt, including product as a service, resource recovery, and sharing platforms. Finally, it notes that while companies may find starting points for adopting circular practices, fully transitioning the economy will require widespread changes across society.

1. Sponsor
Circulareconomy
Newbusinessmodelsthatgenerate
revenueandcreatesustainablegrowth
Management briefing
Summer 2015

2. INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING 2
Contents
This report is produced by Innovation Forum
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Editor: Design: Images:
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About Innovation Forum
Innovation Forum was founded in 2014 by Toby Webb. Making up the team are Oliver Bamford, Natasha Bodnar, Charlenne Ordonez, Boris Petrovic and Ian Welsh.
Welcome to Innovation Forum’s
new report on business and the
circular economy.
This is the latest in our series of focused
management briefings on the key
business issues.
In this report we have insight from
some of the companies that are pushing
the development of circular economy
concepts and from commentators and
NGOs. These companies are leading
the way in utilising circularity to make
savings in existing business models, and
also to develop entirely new revenue
streams from under-used resources.
Our sincere thanks to Accenture
Strategy for sponsoring this report and
our recent conference in London.
Toby Webb Ian Welsh
Founder Editor
3 The circular economy revolution
Peter Lacy, Accenture
4 Valuing resources and growing economies
Circularity’s market forces
6 Circular economy data digest
Innovation Forum’s guide to the key facts and stats
8 The collaborative approach
Risks and rewards of working with partners
10 How to grab the circular advantage
Q+A with Peter Lacy
12 The EU’s new approach
Ambition can lead to success
13 Upcoming Innovation Forum events
COVERIMAGE:LNZYX

3. INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING
Aradical departure from the old linear
“take, make, waste” production
and consumption models, the circular
economy instead decouples growth from
the constraints of natural resources and
environmental impact. Better yet, it’s a
virtuous circle prompting companies
to double down on innovation and
customer value.
As business today moves away from
a mindset of doing “less bad” in terms of
their sustainability practices, the question
becomes, what does “good” look like?
For us at Accenture Strategy, on
environment, the answer lies in the
circular economy. We think of it as the
ultimate virtuous circle that isn’t just
the right thing to do for the planet, it
also serves as an engine for growth and
innovation for business.
Waste to wealth
Just how much potential does the circular
economy hold? According to our own
research, turning waste into wealth will
be worth $4.5tn in the next 15 years for
businesses globally.
That’s not just waste in the tradi-
tional sense of rubbish, but the enormous
underutilisation of natural resources,
products and assets. It’s about eliminating
the very concept of “waste” and recog-
nising everything has a value. While not a
panacea for sustainable development, it is
a major opportunity for transformation.
In our extensive research over the last
two years and across hundreds of comp-
anies, we uncovered five business models
that not only drive profit through mitigating
waste, they also drive profit by fuelling new
sources of innovation, and by bringing
businesses much closer to customers.
Product as a service is one such
model. By putting sensors in products, a
dishwasher for instance, companies can
better analyse and understand performance,
wear and tear and maintenance issues.
Information flows again and again
back to where the most can be made of it.
It’s a shift in the usual company-to-cus-
tomer dynamic that brings the end
consumer into much closer contact. And
it allows companies to discover exactly
what buyers care about and how exactly
they’re using products and services –
which becomes a source for improvement
and innovation.
Digital: edge of the circle
Just as the steam engine powered the
industrial revolution, digital is powering
the circular revolution. Across every
link of the value chain from the backend
(providing the technical platforms that
allow data gathering and sharing) to the
front end, (payment, customer service,
etc) cloud, mobile, social, machine-to-
machine communication and big data
analytics allow for new levels of automa-
tion and coordination.
Adopting the virtuous circle of
circular practices is about gaining
competitive advantage by doing away
with the broad concept of waste. Yes. But
as important – or perhaps more – it’s
about gaining unprecedented insight into
consumers by adopting business models
engaged in every link of the value chain.
Along the way, gaining an edge from the
circle means getting much more agile,
adaptive and aligned to customer need. ★
3
Circular economy benefits
Thevirtuouscircle
The circular economy may be the biggest revolution in the global economy since traditional production and
consumption models were forged in the industrial revolution, says Peter Lacy
Turningwaste
intowealth
willbeworth
$4.5tninthe
next15years
Peter Lacy is global managing director of sustainability services at Accenture and a member of the Accenture Strategy leadership team.
He is co-author of Waste to Wealth: Creating Advantage in a Circular Economy, published in 2015 by Palgrave Macmillan.
Accenture Strategy is a sponsor of this report and of Innovation Forum’s June 2015 circular economy conference.
Peter Lacy

4. First the easy part: the concept of
the circular economy is now well
understood. Its basic principles have been
taken onboard by many large companies
thanks to the work of organisations such
as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
and its Circular 100 network, which is
spreading the word to senior corporate
management.
Also, market forces are providing a
strong following wind that is pushing
companies in the direction of the circular
economy. Global competition means
resource scarcity, and in some key
strategic areas, such as energy, there are
supply security concerns.
This means that even the least
sustainability-focused companies are
having to consider their options. It
makes sense for all companies to think
about how they can get more value from
the resources at their disposal, rather
than allowing that value to end up in an
incinerator or landfill site.
Dustin Benton, head of energy and
resources at think-tank Green Alliance
and co-author of a recent study on
the circular economy in the context of
smartphones and other devices, says that
moving to a more circular approach is a
“classic change problem”, and for some
companies, “change is going to feel scary”.
But “the market signals are scary
already”, he says. The main obstacle
companies face in going circular is “simply
thinking that you can continue doing
business the way you did in the past”.
Help at hand
To help companies, there are established
circular economy business models that
they can opt for, depending on their
particular circumstances and what suits
them best. Moreover, there are plenty of
examples, pilot projects and case studies
to inspire executives. “There are lots of
evolutionary, relatively easy things to do,”
Benton says.
Some sectors have been doing
the circular economy for years. Many
businesses, from photocopier suppliers
to shipping, are based on leasing,
meaning that the owner of the asset
has an incentive to reuse it continually.
Michelin, for example, has leased tyres
on a “pay per mile” basis since the 1920s,
giving the company a reason to make
tyres that are as durable as possible.
Jakob Rutqvist, sustainability
manager at Accenture Strategy, says
that “one of the key arguments in favour
of the circular economy is that it’s easy
to get started. Not only that, often you
are doing something already.”
Rutqvist, along with Accenture
Strategy’s global managing director
of sustainability services Peter Lacy,
is author of a forthcoming book on
the circular economy that details five
business models companies can look at.
Model approach
The first of these is circular supplies, or
the use only of recyclable, renewable and
biodegradable inputs in the production
system. The second is resource recovery,
under which end-of-life products are
collected and returned to the value
chain. This may involve cradle-to-cradle
processes with, for example, old carpets
being reused to make new carpets,
or may imply use of waste in other
processes, such as the conversion of
food waste to energy through anaerobic
digestion.
Third, companies could focus on
product-life extension, or generating
value from repair or remanufacturing
of products, rather than simply their
replacement. This could evolve into the
fourth model of product as a service –
the classic leasing model in which the
company does not give up ownership
of the product in the first place.
Finally, companies could investigate
sharing platforms, or use of under-
utilised capacity. This is being done
currently with car-sharing schemes, and
by new businesses such as Airbnb, which
uses the underutilised capacity of people’s
spare rooms to provide accommodation.
There may be sub-models and subtly
different models in different sectors.
For example, Dustin Benton highlights
six models being used for smartphones,
tablets and laptops. For these products,
a variation on the product-life extension
model would be “software-led longevity”,
or better contracts for provision of
software updates to devices to prolong
their useful lives.
However, the starting point, Rutqvist
4
Thethoughtfulroute
tocircularity
By Stephen Gardner
Moving to a circular-economy model of business could be both easier
and harder than many companies think
Marketforces
arepushing
companiesin
thedirection
ofthecircular
economy
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING

5. says, should be to “do an overview of
activities that you are currently doing
and the performance of those” in the
context of the possible business models.
This can help companies “understand
where the focus should be in terms of
wasted capacity and identify what to do”.
Companies might be surprised what
they find.
Challenge ahead
So far, so straightforward. Most
companies should be able to find
starting points that at least lead to some
improvements. But now comes the
difficult bit.
Moving to a circular economy
implies major change. Stephane Arditi,
products and waste policy manager with
campaigners European Environmental
Bureau, says that the circular economy
will be a society-wide undertaking. “In
the perspective of the systemic changes
required by the circular economy, we all
have to cooperate,” he says.
There will need to be “education
and awareness at local level to challenge
consumption patterns, development
of innovative and creative business
models, fiscal and financial incentives
to support them, regulatory and
economic framework conditions to
secure investment and create legal
drivers [and] enforcement of those, and
forward-looking research and academic
development for technical and social
innovations,” Arditi says.
It will be the scaling up to this new
model of the broader economy that will
be the really challenging part. Huge
multinational companies will need to
implement changes across their entire
operations. “We now have a narrative that
works,” says Rutqvist.
But it is yet to be seen if the circular
economy will really work at scale.
There will be losers of course.
Companies that rely on selling hard-to-
recycle low-value products with little
reuse value could be particularly
vulnerable. “Much more value will be
created in the market working with the
installed base of products, rather than
selling new products,” Rutqvist says.
Pick the right path
And companies must also be careful that
adoption of circular economy business
models actually does lead them along
the path of greater environmental and
business sustainability. Shifting value
creation from new products to servicing
and managing the lifecycle of existing
products does not necessarily mean a
lower environmental footprint.
Companies “want to grow resource-
lite or asset-lite,” Rutqvist says. They
should seek “ways to grow the business
that do not increase the footprint, and
should do it in a way that does not just
lead to another exposure to risk”. ★
5
Scaling
upwillbe
thereally
challenging
part
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING
Ý Wasted
revenue
streams
KLICKMR/DREAMSTIME.COM

6. A group of over 50 UK-based retailers, IT
companies and TV manufacturers is hoping
to reduce the collective carbon footprint of
electronic and electrical products by 15%.
Members of the recently launched electrical
and electronic sustainability action plan also
hope to generate an additional £800m to the
UK economy by applying circular economy
principles to five main product areas: televi-
sions, laptop computers, vacuum cleaners,
refrigeration products and washing machines.
Over £21bn of electrical and electronic
products are sold annually in the UK each
year, using around 1.4m tonnes of materials
in over 180m products. Consumers discard
a similar amount of products every year,
with only 7% being re-used. Adherents to
the new plan, which is coordinated by waste
charity Waste and Resources Action Programme
(Wrap) and includes the likes of Sainsbury’s,
Dell, Samsung and Sky, repre-sented two-thirds
(66%) of television sales in the UK.
The circular economy could help generate
over 200,000 new jobs in the UK over the
next decade and a half, according to the
influential non-profit Waste and Resources
Action Programme (Wrap). Fresh employment
opportunities would be presented in potential
fast-growth sectors such as recycling, reuse,
remanufacturing and biorefining, according to
research by Wrap.
Published in association with the Green
Alliance, the report indicates that regions of
relatively high unemployment, such as the
English northeast and west midlands, are best
placed to benefit. Furthermore, it is anticipated
that the greatest impact on job creation will
be low to mid skilled occupations where job
losses are projected for the future. In the most
optimistic scenario, the research projects the
creation of 517,000 jobs by 2030.
According to previous research by the UK’s
Department for Environment, Food & Rural
Affairs, UK businesses could benefit by up to
£23bn per year through the implementation of
circular economy principles. The UK govern-
ment department has a vision of reducing
material inputs into the UK economy by 30m
tonnes by 2020. It also hopes to reduce waste
by 20% (equivalent to around 50m tonne less
waste) and recycle 20m tonnes of additional
materials back into the economy.
6
Circulareconomy
datadigest
Innovation Forum’s guide to some circular economy facts and stats
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING
Ambitious electronics plan
200,000circulareconomyjobsinUK
ElectricalandelectronicproductssoldannuallyintheUKusearound1.4mtonnes
ofmaterialsinover180mproducts.Consumersdiscardasimilaramountof
productseveryyear,withonly7%beingre-used
Thecirculareconomycouldhelp
generateover200,000newjobsinthe
UKoverthenextdecadeandahalf
HAYWIREMEDIA/DREAMSTIME.COM

7. Plastic packaging ‘roadmap’
The development of an authoritative, 20-year
roadmap for the transition of packaging to a
more circular system forms one of the main
objectives of a programme by the World
Economic Forum (WEF).
Annual material demand for polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) and polyester, which is
used in plastic bottles and the textile industry,
totals about 54m tonnes, of which roughly
86% leaks out of the system. It is estimated
that $4bn (£2.66bn) could be created from the
better use of PET alone.
Establishing a set of simple design rules to
govern the chemical additives and inks used
in paper-based product packaging represents
another new focus of the WEF’s MainStream
project. Of the 480m tonnes of paper and
paperboard that is expected to be produced by
2020, it is estimated that 130m will be wasted,
representing an economic value of $10bn.
The third stream of the project will focus
on so-called “asset tracking”. This is designed
to resolve the information gaps that currently
prevent better decision making on what to do
with a product when a (first) user is finished with
it. The three initiatives were unveiled at Davos in
January and will be overseen by a steering board
of 11 chief executives, including those of Suez
Environmental, Philips and Kingfisher.
US technology giant Dell is 2015’s Circular
Economy Pioneer of the year. Awarded the
prize at the Circular Economy Awards in
January 2015, the Texas-based firm was
commended for its rollout of the world’s first
computer – the OptiPlex 3030 – made using
certified closed-loop recycled plastics.
Other winners at The Circulars included
the Danish Business Authority (Economy
Cities), Danish Cloud-based invoicing
firm Tradeshift (Digital Disrupter) and US
home and fabric care manufacturer Method
(Entrepreneurship).
The awards are run by the Forum of
Young Global Leaders in collaboration with
global consultancy firm Accenture. In June
2014, Accenture published a joint paper with
the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in which it
argued that the global consumer goods indus-
try could save $700bn (£465bn) by adopting
a circular economy. Consumer goods account
for about 60% of total consumer spending
and 35% of material inputs in the economy,
the report found. At present, only about one
fifth (20%) of consumer goods materials are
recovered, largely through recycling.
Novelis, a US-based aluminium rolling and
recycling firm, recently completed an automo-
tive scrap aluminium recycling facility at
its Oswego facility in New York state. The $48m
(£32m) recycling plant will enable the company
to process up to 10,000 tonnes of recycled scrap
per month.
Together with other investments, Atlanta-
based Novelis is on track to have a global
production capacity of 900,000 tonnes of
automotive aluminium sheet by the end of
2015. The company’s products currently feature
in over 180 vehicle models. ★
7INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING
Annual demand for (PET) and
polyester totals about 54m tonnes,
of which roughly 86% leaks out
of the system
Novelis’ new $48m (£32m) recycling plant in Oswego, New York will enable
the company to process up to 10,000 tonnes of recycled scrap per month
Dell was commended for the world’s
first computer made using certified
closed-loop recycled plastics
Circular economy leaders
$48m aluminium recycle centre for Novelis

8. Collaboration will be at the heart of the
transition to a more circular way of
doing business. The implementation of
circular-economy business models is not
an activity for a company in isolation, but
for the whole value chain.
Companies will need to know more
about what happens to the materials that
go into their products at each stage of the
value chain. They will need to extend the
value chain to the collection and reuse
of materials at the post-consumer stage.
Then they can make the necessary adjust-
ments to make the whole operation more
sustainable. For example, companies that
put consumer electronics on the market
might need to work with their suppliers
to modify components so they can be
more easily dismantled after first use.
Simon Hoffmeyer Boas, senior
corporate social responsibility manager
for brewers Carlsberg, says that this
means entering into deeper partnerships
with “people that you previously only
had transactional relationships with, or
never directly worked with at all. Every
single survey on the circular economy
says it is complex and it involves a lot of
stakeholders.”
Carlsberg, for example, analysed
the greenhouse gas emissions from its
operations and found that 45% arises
from the production of packaging. This
finding, along with other work, led to the
establishment of the Carlsberg Circular
Community, a group of partners working
on packaging to make it more recyclable
and, ultimately, indefinitely reusable.
The Carlsberg Circular Community
involves companies that produce drinks
cans and bottles, glass-bottle coatings,
shrink wrap, the card that is used for
multipacks, and PET (polyethylene
terephthalate) beer bottles and kegs.
The work being done by the partners is
underpinned by a cradle-to-cradle design
framework.
Cans to cars
One area where quick wins could
be available for many companies is
lightening the weight of packaging.
Carlsberg worked in 2011-12 with
beverage can-making giant Rexam – one
of the partners in the Carlsberg Circular
Community – to cut the weight of drinks
cans, resulting in an annual saving of 80
tonnes of aluminium, according to the
Carlsberg website.
At the core of the work, Boas says,
is understanding that a more integrated
approach could bring business benefits
all along the value chain. “We need to
find mutual value in investing in the
circular economy,” he says. “The circular
economy is based on the economy and
you shouldn’t forget that.”
Rexam’s group sustainability director
John Revess says that “what the circular
economy and cradle-to-cradle has helped
us to do is think more strategically about
where our resources come from and what
happens to them after they leave our
factory”.
For Rexam, part of this is looking
more widely at the market opportunities
for recycled aluminium. Drinks cans
have a high global recycling rate of 70%,
according to the company.
“Thanks to the circular economy, our
perspective has changed from thinking
about making a can back into a can, to a
much better understanding of the metal-
to-metal loop,” Revess says. One example
that he cites as a potential market
opportunity is use of recycled aluminium
in the car industry. “Many markets need
used cans as a resource,” he says.
Risks of partnership?
But while the application of circu-
lar-economy principles should lead
to efficiencies and benefits for all
participants in a value chain, some issues
could be raised that might cause some
companies to hold back.
From the lower reaches of the supply
chain looking up, the main concern
might be about handing over proprietary
information. Carlsberg analysed its
packaging down to the ninth tier of
suppliers and some were wary, Boas
says. “They were very reluctant in the
beginning to share information. They
were afraid we were just trying to take
their recipes.”
8
Circulareconomy
collaborationconundrums
By Stephen Gardner
The logic of the circular economy is a more collaborative business model.
There are risks in this – but also rewards
Circular
economy
business
modelsare
forthewhole
valuechain
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING
RAWPIXELIMAGES/DREAMSTIME.COM

9. Dutch carpet-makers Desso, which
has a goal to make all of its products
according to cradle-to-cradle principles
by 2020, requires its suppliers to provide
very detailed product declarations.
Desso says that this “goes beyond what
[suppliers] would need to do for any
other compliance requirement”.
It is, Desso says, “quite a lot of work
to pull the information together,” and
some suppliers “might ask why they need
to do it”.
But in most cases, suppliers “end
up being more than happy to provide
the composition details relating to the
chemical ingredients of their materials”.
They “come to agree on our sustainability
and environmental vision,” and they also
realise that the exercise can benefit their
own businesses.
Desso acknowledges that the process
can be tough on suppliers. The company
says that they “depend on their suppliers
as well, further down the value chain
where we lack any control or direct
involvement. However, we hope that this
process has a beneficial and cascading
effect eventually, as more players in the
value chain need to adhere to the cradle-
to-cradle information requirements.”
Where commercial sensitivities
do arise, Desso says that suppliers
“sometimes prefer to have the protection
of non-disclosure agreements and to send
the information to an independent third
party” – in the Desso case, the cradle-to-
cradle consultancy EPEA (Environmental
Protection Encouragement Agency).
Carlsberg also uses third party
assurance, where necessary, to reassure
suppliers that the aim of circular-econ-
omy initiatives is streamlining the value
chain, rather than poaching suppliers’
knowledge.
Looking from the top of the chain
back down, meanwhile, the implication
of the circular economy is that companies
such as Carlsberg, that are prepared to
pay for value-chain analysis and for circu-
lar economy initiatives, will potentially
hand out freebies to their competitors.
Suppliers will be able to share with their
other customers the advantages gained
through initiatives such as the Carlsberg
Circular Community.
Free-rider potential
Boas says that the intention of Carlsberg’s
circular economy work is that “our
partners should take what we’ve learnt
and implement [the findings] in their
businesses”. On the potential for
free-riders to latch on, he says that “this
was of course a discussion we had to have
internally”.
However, Carlsberg considers that
the advantages outweigh the potential
subsidising of competitors. “We get the
benefit from being frontrunners,” Boas
says. “We want the world to know.”
Carlsberg is also looking long term,
taking the view that it is better to upgrade
its operations now, rather than be forced
to in the future.
Because of rising resource and energy
prices, and increasing environmental
regulation around products, “we believe
that in the future the less sustainable
products will be more expensive,” Boas
says. ★
9
Theaim
ofcircular
initiativesis
notpoaching
suppliers’
knowledge
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING
 Handing
out freebies?
KLIMOVIGOR/DREASMTIME.COM

10. In simple terms, why has the linear
business model reached the end of the
road?
For decades supply chains and
products flowed in one direction: from
manufacturing to consumption to landfill
or incineration. In a world with limitless
resources, this model worked and served
as the foundation for business growth.
Today, in a world with increasingly
constrained resources and a host of
environmental challenges, supply chains
need to work in two directions: to take
back valuable resources to be (re)used in
production and consumption loops – a
circular approach instead of a linear one.
In essence, eliminating the concept of
waste.
What are the steps that companies can
take to identify what circular economy
means to their business?
The journey starts by defining a circular
model. There a number of ways to
capitalise on the circular economy from
models that entail sharing resources,
to extending products into services,
creating products from fully recyclable
materials, lengthening the life of a
product or looping materials back into
the production.
Finding which one is best is
determined by looking at the current
product portfolio, and more importantly,
the customer base. What do customers
really value? What can they do without?
How much will they be willing to pay
if a product offers changes through
co-ownership or sharing? Or if products
are 100% recyclable? To what extent
does the approach require take-back of
products? To see some of the companies
getting it right – including Dell, Novelis,
Method and Kingfisher – visit, www.
thecirculars.org.
Are there any typical pitfalls to be
avoided in adapting circular economy
practices? How can these be best
avoided?
There are two big ones that come to
mind. First, when companies focus too
strictly on resource efficiency instead of
building a business case with customer
value in mind. So instead of zooming in
on cost reduction potential (which can
be tantalising), companies need to see the
circular economy as an opportunity to
understand and shape a more attractive
customer proposition.
The second one could be called “pilot
paralysis”. That’s when circular efforts
never get out of the testing phase. Instead
of scaling throughout an organisation,
efforts get stuck in a pilot trap and never
gain commercial viability.
Is developing niche initiatives first and
then scaling circular economy across
the business a good way to go?
Yes and no. The “yes” first. In some cases,
it makes sense for a company to start
small and focused – using a new model
as a pilot in a specific area of the business
and then scaling it opportunistically.
And now for the “no”. While niche
plays reduce risk, they also limit the
extent to which the new model can
positively impact a business. In the worst
case, pilots will suffer underinvestment
and lack of ownership. (See the answer
about pilot paralysis above.) In the best
case, a few high-potential pilots are
identified and scaled with great success.
What are the next generation of
business models that excite you?
What can they achieve and how?
Our research identified five models that
have proved to be successful and scalable:
• Circular supply chain
Provide renewable energy, and
bio-based or fully recyclable
materials in place of traditional
inputs to enable regenerative use of
the same resources again and again.
One example. Natureworks, a joint
venture between Cargill and PTT
Global Chemical, offers commercially
available biopolymers derived from
100% renewable resources.
• Recovery and recycling
Recover useful resources or
energy from disposed products
10
Q&A
Circularadvantagesand
howtoachievethem
Peter Lacy explains why circular economy models are here to stay and
gives some tips on how to implement them
Supplychains
needto
workintwo
directions
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING
BORZAYA/DREAMSTIME.COM

11. or byproducts, effectively turning
waste disposal costs into resource
management revenues for
any business. One of the most
well-known examples comes from
P&G. The consumer goods company
has 45 facilities now operating on a
zero-waste basis – meaning all of the
manufacturing waste at those sites
is recycled, repurposed or converted
into energy.
• Product life extension
Extend the working life of products
and components by repairing,
upgrading or reselling them to
transition from product to lifecycle
revenue generation. Industrial
equipment manufacturer SKF Group
transformed its business from
product- to customer-centric as it
adopted circular principles to focus
on asset efficiency and product life
extension.
• Sharing platform
Enable, for a transaction fee or access
to a similar device, increased product
utilisation by making it possible
for consumers and/or companies
to co-use and exchange goods on a
central service. Uber, which connects
passengers with drivers in hundreds
of cities around the world, is a good
example. The circular economy angle
of Uber is using one of the most
underused assets in the western
world: cars.
• Product as a service
Offer product access rather than
ownership to let customers pay for
performance only, and integrate
incentives to make products that last
and can be effectively upgraded and
serviced. One example: Michelin, the
tyre manufacturer, has embraced this
model by enabling fleet customers
to lease instead of purchase tyres
outright – effectively selling “tyres as
a service”, with customers paying per
miles driven.
Is there evidence that consumers are
becoming engaged about the circular
economy?
Yes. Customers are more interested and
more aware of the circular economy. But
whether they are or aren’t, companies
shouldn’t pursue circularity based on
an expected groundswell of consumer
support. Instead they should focus
on coming up with a better customer
proposition. Better functionality.
More availability. Build people a better
mousetrap and they’ll buy it. Principles
or not. ★
11
Companies
shouldfocus
oncomingup
withabetter
customer
proposition
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING
 Uber utilises
under-used
assets
BIGAPPLESTOCK/DREAMSTIME
Peter Lacy is global managing director of sustainability services at Accenture and is a member of the Accenture Strategy leadership team.
Peter Lacy

12. What will the circular economy look
like in practice? That, in effect, is
what the European commission is asking
in a public consultation published on 28
May. The results will be used in preparing
a European Union circular economy
package of legislation and other measures
that, according to the commission, will be
published by the end of 2015.
These EU-level developments,
which could ultimately include binding
regulations that will apply throughout
the 28-country bloc, will potentially have
wide-ranging effects on many sectors and
companies.
At the very least, companies will need
to look at their production and waste
management processes to ensure they are
not putting themselves at a disadvantage
by ignoring resource efficiency concerns.
Thinking change
The consultation marks a change in
thinking among EU regulators. Until now,
EU proposals related to the idea
of the circular economy have focused
on waste and recycling. In July 2014, the
commission published draft legislation
that would have instituted requirements
for 70% of household waste to be recycled
by 2030, 80% of packaging to be recycled
also by 2030, and sending recyclable waste
to land fill to be prohibited after 2025.
However, those proposals were
subsequently withdrawn. They would
have put the emphasis squarely on the
public and private waste management
industry to more rigorously collect and
manage waste. They would have required
companies to more closely pay attention
to waste materials from production
processes and post-consumer waste.
But they would essentially have been
a tightening up of current practices.
More ambition?
With its new approach, the commission
claims to be more ambitious. The circular
economy package, when it appears in the
second half of 2015, will cover sourcing
of raw materials, product design,
production processes and the lifecycle of
products, as well as waste management.
In this sense, the impact on companies
could be far greater than the original
package of waste targets.
The consultation takes it for granted
that the circular economy is the way to
go. It would “promote competitiveness
and innovation, a high level of protection
for humans and the environment, and
bring major economic benefits, thus
contributing to job creation and growth,”
according to the consultation paper.
What is at stake therefore is not so
much what should be done, but how.
Take product design. Better, more
reusable and recyclable products can
be achieved through regulation, such
as mandatory standards for durability,
reusability and repairability, or companies
can be encouraged and cajoled through
voluntary schemes.
Voluntary vs mandatory
Many companies already understand
the rationale for moving towards more
circular business models. They might
prefer a largely voluntary approach.
Environmental groups, meanwhile,
are sure to call for tougher mandatory
requirements.
One idea put forward by groups such
as the European Environmental Bureau
is that the previously-proposed recycling
targets should be kept and augmented
with a “preparation for reuse” target,
meaning that a minimum proportion of
used products should be repaired and
reconditioned, rather than recycled or
discarded.
This could have implications for
product design, the information that
companies provide about their products
and intellectual property, as well as waste
management.
What looks certain is that the
previous target-based approach will
be supplemented with a broader suite
of measures covering a wider range of
company operations. How intrusive these
measures will be and which sectors will
initially be most effected are yet to be
decided. ★
12
Innovation Forum comment
Definingthecirculareconomy
The new EU proposals on circular economy regulation, if they are properly ambitious, could have real positive
impact on how business operates, and not just on corporate waste targets
Many
companies
already
understand
therationale
forcircular
business
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING

13. UPCOMING EVENTS
Measurement and valuation of corporate sustainability –
does it all add up?
29th-30th June 2015, London
How business can tackle deforestation – Singapore
28th-29th September 2015, Singapore
Ethical trade and human rights forum
19th-20th October 2015, London
How business can tackle deforestation – London
2nd-3rd November 2015, London
Why current consumer engagement on sustainability
fails – and how to fix it
9th-10th November 2015, London
Sustainable seafood – how business can source, manage
and improve fish and marine resource sustainability
25th-26th November 2015, London
Ifyou’reinterestedinanyoftheseevents,pleasedogetintouch:
Oliver Bamford | Tel +44 (0) 20 3780 7431 | oliver.bamford@innovation-forum.co.uk | www.innovation-forum.co.uk
INNOVATION FORUM: CIRCULAR ECONOMY BRIEFING 13