When an idea saves you money and the planet at the same time it should be an easy sell.
So when Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham last week announced £8.4m to Zero Waste Scotland for further work with SMEs on developing a circular economy, the team at Glasgow Chamber applauded.
The idea behind the circular economy is as old as it gets. Instead of extracting resources, making a product and sending it off to landfill when its life is over – the ‘take, make and dispose’ model – the aim is to design products so that every component can be reused. Hence the name Zero Waste Scotland.
My grandmother would have taken the principle for granted; a Ministry of War pamphlet from 1943 explains how to unpick a worn old jumper so you can reuse the wool in a new one. So we have been here before.
There are several reasons why Glasgow Chamber has taken up the challenge laid down by the Scottish Government with enthusiasm.
Obviously an effective circular economy saves resources and contributes to our sustainability goals. Also, companies that are good at it are likely to save money either by finding value in waste that can be used by another company, or in reducing the cost of inputs to the next batch of products through recycling of components.
We are especially interested in the link between the circular economy and cities. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a charity set up by round the world sailor Ellen Macarthur to rethink a future based on the circular economy.
The Foundation explains how you can rethink cities as systems that make circularity work through good construction design, better food waste management, improved transport options - and digital information systems that help you track how the system is working, enabling the connections that keep resources from ending up in landfill or in the atmosphere.
Making connections is our business at the Chamber, and so we signed up to help carry out the UK’s very first Circle City Scan in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, the Netherlands social enterprise Circle Economy and the University of Strathclyde’s Institute for Future Cities.
This is the collaboration between businesses and institutions that will make circularity work.
One of the first practical results was the launch by Jawbrew of its Hardtack blonde ale, using surplus morning rolls from Aulds. But there is much more to come.
Stuart Patrick is chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
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