The circular economy can drive your business growth

By David Darcy, Greenlight Training CEO

The circular economy is becoming an increasingly important tool to drive economic growth in a sustainable manner. The Ellen Macarthur Foundation defines the circular economy as ‘seeking to rebuild capital, whether this is financial, manufactured, human, social or natural. This ensures enhanced flows of goods and services.’

This system diagram illustrates the continuous flow of technical and biological materials through the ‘value circle’.

Ian Cheshire, the CEO of Kingfisher – a multinational company with over 1000 stores across Asia and Europe – has identified the importance of the circular economy. Speaking to The Guardian, Cheshire remarked: “The audience is now more interested in solutions that promote genuine business growth with real sustainable models built into them.”

Further, a report by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation found that the adoption of the circular economy by companies in the consumer goods sector could be worth as much as USD $700 billion in consumer goods material savings alone, and also highlights added benefits in terms of land productivity and supply chain stability.

The evidence is out there, by learning about the circular economy and using it to drive your business growth, you can save money and improve sustainability. So, you need to be aware of resource management opportunities in your business and across your supply chain.

Our training courses can help you identify important information sources and work through how a business case can be developed to implement cost effective projects around energy and water management, packaging compliance and transport planning.

Further, the non-financial reporting course can help you to prepare accurate, verifiable data for your organisation’s environmental and sustainability reporting requirements.

The circular economy will continue to become a crucial driving force in sustainable growth. Having a good understanding of it can help make your business, and those you do business with, more sustainable into the future.