These micro-organisations appear to have extremely high levels of engagement with, and understanding of, the closed loop agenda.
Their small size means they are ideally placed to not only react quicker to customer or consumer demands, but swiftly adapt their business model to changing market requirements. This is despite them having little influence over their supply chains.
The surprising finding is revealed in our circular economy blueprint for action, launched last month in association with sponsor FCC Environment.
The White Paper Making circular relevant: a business blueprint outlines a step-by-step guidance to help businesses build a clearer business case for joining circular economy.
Interestingly our research found that the larger the company, the more disengaged it appears to be with the circular economy. This could be due to the fact that there is a greater perceived risk to the business model in working towards circularity among large corporations.
Larger companies also operate more complex operational and management structures, which makes board level buy-in and staff engagement more challenging.
However they are also more likely to be able to free up the resources needed to pioneer innovation in its field. Brand leaders such as Kingfisher, BT and Marks & Spencer are all experimenting – at least on an R&D level – with different models to commercialise more closed loop processes.
Maxine Perella