The Circular Economy Explained:

In November, members of the blueprint4 team attended the Gippsland Circular Futures Workshop, facilitated by the Gippsland Climate Change Network - with a view to becoming a more environmentally sustainable business. The concept of a ‘circular economy’ was raised, with the team taking valuable learnings away from the session.

In a nutshell, the circular economy aims to highlight the advantages of changing the way we look at and utilise waste. Rather than disposing of waste products that arise from the production process (as often happens in a linear economy), finding ways to re-implement these as inputs can provide huge value.

While the first things that generally come to mind for most people when they hear circular economy are the environment and sustainability, the economic benefits that introducing these strategies can provide to a small business are also significant – and this is the element that is often overlooked.

Take the example of a residential or commercial construction site, and the amount of “waste” byproducts that end up around the site – timber offcuts, excess concrete and steel offcuts among others. Now think about the extra profit that could be made here, by creating new products (and with them new revenue streams) out of these materials (think furniture, landscaping products, firepits etc), or by finding a way to re-use these byproducts as new inputs - reducing costs in the production process. Other benefits include:

- Improving brand image and consumer loyalty

- Promoting innovation and creative thinking, which can lead to opportunities to generate gains in areas that wouldn’t have been discovered otherwise.

All while benefiting the environment.

Tying it in with creating competitive advantage:

The strategy of a business should always boil down to creating a competitive advantage of which there are 3 types:

1. A greater quality product or service than competitors

2. A lower-priced product or service than competitors

3. A stronger corporate image than competitors - being seen as the “good guys”

Introducing circular economy thinking and strategies can help your business gain an advantage in all 3 facets so we encourage you as small business owners to start thinking about how you can re-shape your waste to generate extra profits.

We’ve started to do so in our own business here at blueprint4, so if you’re not sure where to start, pick up the phone and get in touch with your advisor.