MJ Keynote FINAL 211015

A CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOR
DENMARK IN A GLOBAL
CONTEXT
WASTE-TO-ENERGY IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
21ST OCTOBER 2015
Dr Mervyn Jones
Sustainable Global Resources
United Kingdom

CURRENT
PRACTICES
Waste & Resource
Management
SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL RESOURCES LTD

COMPOSITION BY INCOME
SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL RESOURCES LTD 3

DENMARK V THE WORLD
Good
Bad
Source: Waste - Investing in energy and resource efficiency. UNEP 2011

CRUDE COMPARISONS
2.05kg
Waste per capita per day
Tokyo
Metro
Taipei
City
Seoul
City
Hong
Kong
Denmark

DANISH RESOURCE STRATEGY
Published November 2013
The goal is that over the
next 10 years Denmark is
to recycle more than
twice as much household
waste as 2013.
This is a marked change in
waste policy.

EUROPEAN CONTEXT
MSW disposal strategies across Europe

CIRCULAR
ECONOMY
A shift in thinking?

WHY A CIRCULAR ECONOMY?
Carbon
Recovery
Recycling
Repair
Re-use
Material
extraction
Disposal
Design &
Production
Use
Retail &
Distribution
Resource
Minimisation
Waste
Prevention
Water Materials
Stability Resilience Competition

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRINCIPLES

WHY A CIRCULAR ECONOMY?
World Economic Forum (2014) Towards the Circular Economy: Accelerating the scale-up across global supply
chains

80
100
120
140
160
180
200
1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Input prices Output prices
UK manufacturing input (energy & commodities) and output prices
2000 = 100
Source: ONS
90%
ADDRESSING PRODUCTION COSTS
30%

RESILIENCE
• Decoupling waste from growth for all OECDs
• Denmark is increasing waste through consumption in a
period of economic downturn

EU CIRCULAR ECONOMY
2015 consultation due to report imminently
Global competition for resources is increasing. Supply
concentration of resources, e.g. CRMs outside the EU
markets dependent on imports, vulnerable to high prices &
volatility
Can promote competitiveness, innovation, greater
protection for humans and the environment, and major
economic benefits including growth and job creation
Requires action at all stages of the life cycle of products
Requires demand-side measures
Barriers to the circular economy includes market failures
and also governance and regulatory failures
Denmark provided 90 (7%) of over 1400 responses

CONSULTATION SUMMARY
89% were well or fairly informed about the CE
89% felt (very) important to minimise lifecycle environmental
impacts
84% want impact on consumers (e.g. durability & reparability)
>75% want to encourage the consumption of green products
73% want to promote collaboration between and among
private and public sectors, including end-users
>72% want to promote and/or enable the use of economic
incentives for eco-innovation &sustainable product design
>70% want to encourage industry-led initiatives
67% want to impact on EU imports and exports
64% want to establish binding rules on product design

VIEWS ON PRODUCT FEATURES
 Recyclability – 86% felt (very) important
 Durability - 83%
 Resource use in the use phase (e.g. water efficiency) – 83%
 Reusability -78%
 Increase in reused parts or RC – 76%
 Reparability: Product design & parts availability facilitating
maintenance and repair activities – 74%
 Reparability: Availability of information on product repair -
73%
 Upgradability and modularity – 71%
 Biodegradability and compostability – 60%
 Packaging & Small EE were the clear priorities identified
(followed by construction, textiles & large white goods)

CIRCULARITY IN THE EU ECONOMIES
Source: ETC SCP/WRAP unpublished, 2013

TRENDS
AND FUTURE
PRACTICE
Waste & Resource
Management

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
“Growth in the circular
economy can be expected
to have lasting beneficial
effects on the labour
market.”
Employment and the circular economy, WRAP
& Green Alliance, 2015
Between 2000 and
2010, sales turnover
in the waste and
recycling sector had
nearly tripled, to
over £18 billion.

CLOTHING CLOSED LOOP

ELECTRICALS LOOP

CIRCULAR
ECONOMY
OPTIONS
A shift in thinking?

DECOUPLING CONSUMPTION & GROWTH

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION
Source: EVA128 WRAP, 2009
Production strategies

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION
Consumption strategies
Source: EVA128 WRAP, 2009

BARRIERS TO VALUING WASTE

PROCUREMENT & CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Sustainable Public Procurement + Circular Economy = Circular Procurement
Circular
business
models
Circular
design
Circular
procurement
Circular thinking

Resource
Efficiency
Models
Investment
Alternative
ownership
models
Service
provision
Reuse of
goods
Service
provision
CIRCULAR PROCUREMENT OPTIONS
Reduce use of
Consumables
Use Less Resources
Longer Lifetimes
Recover end-of-life
Materials

PROMOTING A CIRCULAR APPROACH
Waste prevention has
greatest impact
Ensuring the circular design
of products
Optimising lifetimes of
products
Ensuring right collection
routes
Developing the right
markets
Implementing a balanced
approach
Using closed loop
approaches

THANK YOU
Dr Mervyn Jones
mervyn@sustainableglobalresources.co.uk
?any questions?

MJ Keynote FINAL 211015

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