The Circular Economy Opportunity
Pavithra Mohanraj
Founder & Director, Infinitive
First…..
infinitive
What we do
Capacity Building
Equip professionals to engage with circular models
Business Advisory
Help businesses derive value from circularity hotspots
Ecosystem Development
Map how CE implementation works beyond single businesses
Accelerate the transition to a circular economy
What we’re going to talk about today…
• What is the Circular Economy
• Why Circular Economy
• How the Circular Economy works
• How can you leverage the Circular opportunity?
We’re in the linear economy now…
Take Make Dispose
Materials Useable form
Bauxite Semi-finished aluminium:
80% of energy
67% of costs
80% of $3.2 trillion of
consumer goods sector is
lost annually!
Resource demand:
2014: 50 billion tonnes
2050: 130 billion tones
400% overuse!
INEFFICIENT!
If we do slightly better,
Technological improvementsResource efficiency
Overuse of 40 billion tonnes of natural resources
every year by 2050
Take Make Dispose
GDP and Resource Usage
1 % GDP0.4 %
Resource usage
The linear economy creates
a two-fold problem
Resource availability
Waste generation
We need a fundamental re-think of
how our economy works!
An economic system in which…
GDP growth
Resource usage
Decoupling
Take Make Dispose
Flow of Resources
Flow of Resources
Designing out Waste
Renewable Energy
Consumables
vs
Durables
Materials loop
at highest value
Restorative
&
Regenerative
System
Overview of the Circular Economy
Disruptions:
-Performance Economy
-Ownership Models
Digital / Physical
TechnologySystems Thinking
Biological NutrientsTechnical Nutrients
-Manage flows
-Return to
biosphere safely
-Circulate at
high value
-Keep out of
biosphere
Production & Distribution Systems
Why move to a circular economy?
Circular Economy is a $4.5 trillion opportunity!
Capitalize on opportunities
• Increase resource security
• Reduce energy consumption
• Reduce GHG emissions
• Job creation
• Innovation Driver
• Policy readiness
Mitigate risks
• Resource scarcity
• Commodity price volatility
• Waste generation
• Negative environmental impacts
• Earth overuse
Global headwinds – Individual and
Concerted Action
Import bans:
Plastic waste - China
e-waste - by Thailand
Used clothing –
East African nations
Others:
Plastic ban in Maharashtra
Regulations on
carbon emissions
EU Circular Economy Action
Package Law
UN Sustainable
Development Goals
Paris Climate Agreement
Why Malaysia?
Resource
Productivity
Innovation
Target: High income country by 2020
Circular Economy
Framework
Why CE for Malaysia
• Space for landfills ?
• Rapid urbanization and industrialization
So, how do we go circular?
Everyone agrees on the ‘why’ of the
circular economy,
but we’re still figuring out the ‘how’
5 business models of the circular economy
infinitive
Linear
Open Cascade
Partially open local /
regional loop
Closed global / local /
regional loop
Point of use
Point of use
Manufacturing
Point of use
Manufacturing
We need to move towards fully closed
loops to realize maximum value
Point of use
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Point of use
Point of use
End-of-use products are discarded in landfills or incinerators
of countries where consumption takes place.
-Relevant for 80% of materials used in FMCGs
Linear
For some valuable products, end-of-use materials are
collected and sold to secondary markets, where
material flows/end-of-use are not regulated, resulting in
significant leakages.
e.g.: Brightstar, I:CO
Open Cascade
Point of use
Manufacturing
End-of-use products or components are collected and
returned to manufacturing facilities in the same regions
to be used in the production of the same or similar
products.
e.g.: Renault, B&Q
Partially open local / regional loop
Point of use
Manufacturing
Global closed loops
• End-of-use products or components are collected and returned to the countries where they
were manufactured to be used in production of the same or similar products, largely at
recycled material level. e.g: Ricoh, H&M, Airplane jet engines.
Regional closed loop
• Products are mostly maintained in countries where usage takes place.
• Some end-of-use/pre-owned products are collected, re-engineered/remanufactured
regionally, and sold into local markets. e.g.: SAB Miller, Desso.
Closed global / local / regional loopPoint of use
Manufacturing
Design is an important “how” of
achieving circularity
Biomimicry
Biomimicry Design for
disassembly
Multiple use
cycles and
durability Standardize
Design for
recyclability
Case Study:
Collaboration for a closed-loop value chainJaguar Land Rover & Novelis
Case Study:
Collaboration for a closed-loop value chain
RealCar and RealCar2
• Increased use of recycled Aluminium in vehicle manufacturing to 75%
• Helped Novelis reduce GHG emissions by 13%
• JLR Reclaimed more than 75,000 tonnes of Aluminium scrap in 2016/17
Pushing the envelope….
• JLR: RivAlloy can tolerate higher levels of impurities from aluminium scrap castings that were
previously disregarded
Case Study: Product as a Service
Philips: ‘Pay-per-lux’ model
Intelligent lighting system
• Designed by Philips
35%• Post
installation energy reduction
20%
• Further energy reduction through Optimisation
Industry 4.0 can translate the
Circular Economy to reality at scale and rapidly
Mobile
M2M
Cloud
Social
Big Data
Analytics
Trace & return
systems
3D Printing
Modular Design
& Technology
Advanced
recycled tech
Life & material
sciences
Digital
Hybrid
Engineering
Circular
Supplies
Resource
Recovery
Product Life
Extension
Sharing
platforms
Product as
a service
The circular economy needs…
Development
of entire
ecosystems
Emergence of
new players
Acceleration
of innovative
technology
Pre-
competitive
collaboration
So, how can you tap the circular opportunity?
Map linear risks and
opportunities
Identify solutions through
circular business models
Understand shifts in
the industry
Identify your role as a
circular solutions provider
Build strategic
collaborations
Bridge leadership and
skills gap
Pilot,
reconfigure,
scale!
Circular economy is a framework to
hedge risks and future-proof your business
Case Study 2 – Construction / Digital
Passport of materials that go into a building– start up
(also Maersk teams up with Korean company to do this in the
shipping industry)
Case Study 1 – Automotive / Product Life
Extension
(consider JLR /Novelis instead with numbers)
Tata Prolife, a pioneering after-market product support strategy for Tata Motors' customers.
Use of Tata Motors Prolife aggregate ensures original equipment-like-performance of the
vehicle even after the first life cycle. Tata Motors’ conducts its reconditioning at Prolife
plants in Lucknow and Coimbatore. The ambition is to minimize the product life cycle cost,
allowing the company to offer high quality products at a reduced price.
Tata Motors’ Prolife business has a wide variety of reconditioned products, from engine
long blocks, gear boxes, turbo chargers and air compressors to electrical components such
as starter motors and alternators. Tata prolife business reconditions about 23,000
equivalent engines in a year.
With such positive results, it is not surprising that Tata Motors’ Prolife is expanding into new
facilities at Surat and Hyderabad, India.
Bumper to bumper recycling –Banyan Nation
Renault + Synovate :
More obvious examples like Zoomcar – sharing platform + car subscription