Growing evidence shows that the efficacy of a circular economy will play a key role in helping companies and countries carry out the commitments outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement, maintain competitive economies, and reduce waste and consumption of natural resources.

Libby MacCarthy, an editorial assistant at Sustainable Brands who has a background in urban planning, said that the journey to a circular economy will be a long one and will require co-operation between businesses, local governments, investors and individuals around the world.

“It’s a tall order, yes, but as the list of finalists for this year’s Circulars — an awards scheme recognising innovators in the area, by the World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders — proves, there are individuals and organisations that are already pushing the circular agenda forward and paving the way for others,” MacCarthy said.

The 2017 Circulars cover six distinct categories including leadership, multinational, SME, government, cities & regions, investor, and digital disruptor.

Below is a look at each category and the nominees being recognised for their work to drive forward the circular economy:

The Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership

MacCarthy said that there are huge economic, social and environmental benefits to be reaped from the adoption of a circular economy, however strong leadership is required to inspire more companies, governments and individuals to take up the banner for the cause.

She cites the case of William McDonough, who is nominated for his consultation work through McDonough Innovation, his architecture firm, McDonough + Partners, as well as MBDC, a Cradle to Cradle consulting firm.

Other nominees include:

• Susan Chong Suk Shien, founder and CEO of Greenpac, a knowledge-based company that specialise in re-engineering, designing and distributing environmentally friendly packaging products and solutions.

MacCarthy  said that under the leadership of Shien, the company had placed significant focus on partnering with customers to re-engineer its industrial packaging processes. This was done by creating circular packaging solutions to achieve bottom-line savings, clean the supply chain and reducing tonnes of packaging waste.

• Frans Timmermans, a Dutch politician and diplomat is being recognised for bringing the circular economy to the forefront of the agenda in Europe.
• Guido Braam is a social entrepreneur whose work currently focused on the development of circular business development hubs.
• John C. Warner who is the founder of the ‘green chemistry’ field is being recognised for inventing several circular-enabling chemistry technologies for a variety of industry sectors.
• Nate Morris, CEO of Rubicon Global, is being recognised as a leader in cloud-based waste/recycling solutions.

The Accenture Strategy Award for Circular Economy Multinational

“To spur change on a large scale, the participation of multinational corporations is critical,” MacCarthy said. “Their influence and reach can help drive the adoption of circular practices across a variety of different industries, and have far-reaching impacts.”

She said that Johnson Controls, a global diversified technology company, was a prime example.

“It’s one of the world’s most successful examples of a circular economy, designing, making, transporting, recycling and recovering vehicle batteries using more sustainable methods,” she said. “The company currently boasts a 99% recycling rate for conventional batteries in North America, Europe and Brazil, enabling them to produce new batteries containing more than 80% recycled material, a process that ultimately reduces greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and transportation miles.”

Work being done by Enel SpA, an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas, is also being recognised.

MacCarthy said that the company’s new strategy included reducing its investment in coal and nuclear power to focus on smaller, decentralised projects, as well as developing renewable generation capacity and adopting a shared value and stakeholder focus approach, and an ambitious overall commitment to decarbonisation.

Nike and Patagonia are also being recognised. It was previously reported that Nike currently produces 71% of all of its products with recycled materials, and designers use 29 high-performance materials made from factory scrap.

Patagonia has extended the life of its products by starting with a high quality design, and has made parts accessible and repairs easy. MacCarthy said this was an important way that both companies used to reduce their carbon, waste and water footprints.

According to a WRAP report, the practice reduced impacts by 20-30% per person because there was less to throw away.

Other nominees for the Multinational category include Cisco Systems and BASF SE.

MacCarthy said Cisco has been rolling out initiatives to address everything from product return and remanufacture to teaming up with suppliers, customers, employees and communities to develop, pilot and implement circular economy principles.

She said BASF received recognition for developing the “Biomass Balance method,” which enabled it to produce any chemical or material by using renewable raw materials within existing, interlinked production plants.

The Young Global Leaders Award for Circular Economy SME

Multinationals aren’t the only ones who have an important role to play, MacCarthy said. “Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are key for filling in the gaps — and can do so quickly and efficiently.”

The nominations for Circular Economy SME include nominees spanning an array of industries. Fairphone, which is a Dutch social enterprise building a movement for fairer electronics, is changing the way we interact with electronics.

MacCarthy said the company has amassed a dedicated following for its transparent supply chain and products that put ethic values first. “While their first-generation product focused largely on a conflict-free supply chain, the second also boasts a unique modular design for its second smartphone, which allows owners to open and repair their phones without any technical skills,” she said.

MacCarthy explained that I:Collect had been working towards addressing issues in the apparel industry apparel with the development of a global take-bake system for the reuse and recycling of used clothing, footwear and other textiles. I:CO offers a global logistics, sorting and recycling infrastructure which empowers retailers and consumers to be active participants in managing a product’s lifecycle and maximising the retained value in valuable materials.

Other nominees, such as MBA Polymers, were working on finding new ways to recycle plastics through the mining of plastics and other materials from complex waste streams.

Park 24 Co is leading the sharing economy in Japan with a car-sharing service, SAFECHEM Europe GmbH, a subsidiary of Dow, developed a holistic and sustainable risk-management concept in which used cleaning solvent is taken back from consumers and put back into a reuse loop system to create new products, and Unusual Rigging found a way to reuse 50 tonnes of ‘technical’ nutrients over the past year and reduce its CO2 emissions by more than 60% with a shift to renewable energy generation.

The AB InBev Award for Circular Economy Governments, Cities and Regions

“Kickstarting the circular economy isn’t just something left to the private sector — governments, policy-makers, cities and organizations are helping lead the shift with infrastructure improvements, recovery projects, research, action plans and funding,” MacCarthy said.

Nominees include Canada’s Simon Fraser University, South-Africa’s USE-IT, the UK’s WRAP program, the Scottish Government, social enterprise Circle Economy and the China Association of Circular Economy (CACE).

The CNBC Award for Circular Economy Investor

MacCarthy explained that an increasing number of investors were placing their support behind companies and brands making the shift towards more sustainable practices, with circular economy initiatives being particularly attractive as they clearly indicate a business’s ability to continue on into the future.

“The award for Circular Economy Investor is aimed at venture capital and private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, pension plans and investment banks investing over $1m into circular businesses or firms to boost the circular economy,” MacCarthy said.

The nominees include ArcTern Ventures, Circularity Capital, ING Bank, NY Green Bank, Sitra: the Finnish Innovation Fund and SJF Ventures.

The Ecolab Award for Circular Economy Digital Disruptor

MacCarthy considered this the “ones-to-watch category” as it covers companies changing the economic landscape through the development of inventive sharing-economy-geared digital platforms that are fast-tracking the circular economy in way larger, more established entities can’t.

She said Peerby was taking an Airbnb-inspired approach to everyday necessities, with its online sharing community that enables people to borrow and rent, rather than buy the things they need.

“Hello Tractor has created a low-cost ‘Smart Tractor’ that pairs the tractor owner with labour-constrained farmers willing to pay for tractor services through its Loop Rocks platform,” McCarthy said.

She explained that NCC Industry had created an open ecosystem platform for the construction industry which worked to reduce time, costs and environmental impact by using less virgin masses and unnecessary transportation. Rubicon Global, whose founder Nate Morris is up for a Leadership award, has built a cloud-based technology and big data platform that provides waste and recycling solutions, and UPMADE is a design and production system developed by designer Reet Aus PhD that allows garment brands to commercialise industrial-scale upcycling at the product stage.

Source: Sustainable Brands