LIFE

LIFE ENVIRONMENT |
LIFE and the circular economy
CHEP’s circular business
CHEP provides pallet and container pooling services for a
number of industries, including aerospace, automotive and
fresh food. “Our company pays great attention to the circular
economy, and most importantly to being able to scientifically
understand the circularity of our products and services,” explains
CHEP’s sustainability director, Iñigo Canalejo Lasarte.
“This was one of the reasons why we participated in the LIFE+
CEMs project.”
For the project, CHEP tested the circularity of its main products,
such as its wooden pallets, which achieved an MCI score
of 0.87 out of 1. Mr Canalejo says that while the company’s
business model, which is based on the sharing and reuse
of assets, shows that it is embracing the main drivers of
the circular economy, there are, “ways to increase that circularity,
such as increasing timber reuse ratios at our repair
process for CHEP pallets.” Other initiatives include the IFCO
returnable plastic crate, which is used for fresh produce. This
crate is made from broken returnable plastic crates, “taking
product life extension and upcycling to a new level,” says Mr
Canalejo. “Higher recycling rates will also improve product
circularity,” he says.
CHEP believes that the CEM project’s indicators now need to
become a recognised global standard, in the same way that
life-cycle assessment has become a standard for calculating
a product’s environmental impact. “That will allow us to also
compare our results to those of other less circular alternatives
in the market, further demonstrating the sustainable
value we bring to our customers,” concludes Mr Canalejo.
production
Wider use
One useful unanticipated outcome of the project’s
real-world trials was the discovery that there is
a shortage of appropriate secondary raw materials
in some segments of the economy. “There is a
problem having enough feedstock for the circular
economy to become a reality,” explains Mr Herrmann.
“We either have a situation in which the
feedstock is present in low quantities or a situation
in which it is readily available but low quality.”
Whilst the MCI and MI: Product Intelligence web
tool can help identify such barriers to circularity,
the remedy requires cooperation along the value
chain. “There is a need for more collaboration between
the end-user of a product and the manufacturer...sectors
and stakeholders need to work
together to develop circularity,” says Mr Herrmann.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is now using the
MCI methodology to define standards for the circular
economy in partnership with the British Standards
Institution (BSI). “We view it as a baseline for
organisations to take forward. The methodology
is open and can be adapted to more businesses,”
says Mr Whitman.
Granta Design is continuing to develop and promote
the MI: Product Intelligence web tool, which
can also be used for procurement and investment
decisions. Variants or extensions of the circularity
indicators developed by this LIFE project could
be used in education, research, rating or policymaking.
For instance, one future use could be as a
means to help policy-makers measure the circularity
of a region or nation state, or to set targets for
whole industries.
Project number: LIFE12 ENV/UK/000966
Title: LIFE+ CEMs - Circular Economy Metrics
Beneficiary: Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Contact: Stuart Whitman
Email: stuart.whitman@ellenmacarthurfoundation.org
Website: www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/
programmes/insight/circularity-indicators
Period: 01-Jul-2013 to 30-Jun-2015
Total budget: €382 000
LIFE contribution: €191 000
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