Machinery Update September \ October 2017

102 MACHINERY UPDATE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Feature: Sustainability
Championing
the circular
economy aims
The ‘circular economy’ concept is challenging organisations to
re-think how their resources are managed for social good…
W
hen the world’s largest
food and drinks brand
puts out its first ever
advert made out of 100%
recyclable packaging
which is designed to encourage recycling,
you know that environmental issues are
taking centre stage.
Indeed, this sustainability focused ad
came in the same month as Coca-Cola
European Partners (CCEP) set out its
plans to double the recycled plastic in
all of its bottles to 50% by 2020 as part of
its GB sustainable packaging strategy.
To achieve this target CCEP will continue
its long term partnership with Clean Tech,
which operates Europe’s largest and most
advanced plastic bottle reprocessing
facility, supporting the circular economy
in Great Britain and allowing recycled
bottles to return to shops as part of new
packs in as little as six weeks.
And you also know that an issue is
permeating business when a new standard
is devised. This happened earlier this
summer when the business standards
company BSI launched a new standard
for the ‘circular economy’ called
BS 8001: 2017: Framework for implementing
the principles of the circular economy in
organisations – guide.
The circular economy is a concept
which challenges organisations to
re-think how their resources are managed
to create financial, environmental and
social benefits. BS 8001 was developed
to meet these mutually beneficial goals,
by providing guiding principles
for organisations to consider and
implement more sustainable practices.
RESTORATIVE AND REGENERATIVE
One of the key aims of the circular
economy is to keep products, components
and materials at their highest utility and
value at all times, in keeping with the
mantra of the circular economy as being
restorative and regenerative by design.
BS 8001 outlines what the circular
economy is and how an organisation can
transition from a linear to a circular, and
more sustainable, day-to-day operation.
Practical implementation of the six
principles of the circular economy –
innovation; stewardship; collaboration;
value optimisations; transparency and
‘systems thinking’ – is the bedrock
of the standard, and step-by-step
guidance on how an organisation can
navigate through the different stages of
implementation is provided.
Systems thinking is defined in the
standard as an understanding of how
organisations, individual decisions
and activities interact within the wider
systems they are part of.
BSI believes the move to a circular
economy is a significant opportunity for
businesses as by contributing to a resource
efficient and low-carbon economy, costs
and supply chain risks are reduced.
Further benefits for businesses which
choose to implement BS 8001 include
improved resilience, new revenue streams,
and enhanced corporate sustainability
credentials. “Resource productivity is
at the heart of the government’s new
Industrial Strategy and demonstrates
how standards can be considered
business improvement tools which help
organisations to take practical actions to
realise the economic and social benefits
of the circular economy,” says David
Fatscher, head of sustainability at BSI.
It is clear, that it is often baby steps
that are taken at the start of the
sustainability journey, but each one of
these accrues to make a legitimate impact.
Work on reducing energy, developing
One of the key aims of the circular economy
is to keep products, components and materials
at their highest utility and value at all times