Circular Economy: How to move away from linear thinking
The 20th MIBAS Debates on CSR focused on the topic of Circular Economy addressing the question How to move away from linear thinking? The debate started with a short introduction to the topic and welcoming guest speakers. Three experts representing different sectors joined us for the discussion: Karoline Habt from Cradle-to-Cradle e.V. Hamburg, Volkan Bilici, Co-founder & CTO at Cirplus, and finally Dr. Marcel Richert, Lead Manager Sustainability at Tchibo.
Firstly, as there is no universal definition of the circular economy, the speakers were asked to define the concept in their own words. This expanded the scope of debate as guests highlighted important issues to address. The participants’ diverse backgrounds - textile, construction, digitalisation - and representation of businesses and an NGO enriched the discussion from different perspectives.
The speakers emphasised that there are complexities in implementation of the circular economy such as accessing high-quality materials and producing quality products, ease of use of products for consumers, and also lack of necessary regulations. Also, the lack of knowledge and awareness of consumers and organisational inertias are the main challenges that impede shift from linear to circular thinking and understanding the benefits of creating biomimicry. Unsurprisingly, high costs and insufficient infrastructure viewed as hindering forces for the private sector where consumer demand and government can have a huge impact in changing the business behaviour. In such a case, the collaboration between these parties - the circular network of private sectors, consumers, governments, and NGOs can be very powerful, and innovations and startups can accelerate the expansion of the concept of circularity.
The debate finalised with Q&A session and the guest speakers were presented special waterless and zero plastic gifts sponsored by Stop the water while using me! that perfectly fitted the topic of discussion.