More and more businesses are looking for dynamic ways to improve their production processes without breaking the bank. For those unfamiliar, circular economy and closed-loop economy models are the perfect fit for reducing overhead costs and keeping environmental impact low. Despite knowing their purpose, do many business owners and managers understand how these models can be integrated into their current strategies to improve their business? Rest assured, all of the information a business hoping to transition into these production models will be included within this post.
A closed-loop economy is occasionally referred to as a closed-loop supply chain as a result of the lack of waste produced throughout the process. Every input is either reused, recycled, shared, or repaired in a way that makes it reusable. Rather than producing waste, what other models would consider as unusable, this model welcomes these inputs as a resource that can create a new substance or product.
This approach to creating and consuming materials has swept many industries worldwide. In fact, estimates suggest it will have a nearly $4.5 trillion dollars impact globally by the end of year 2030. Granted there are a great deal of businesses that don’t operate on a global scale, there are still a number of benefits for businesses to integrating this model into their strategy. For example, this approach has been known to increase customer loyalty, promote positive public recognition, and even decrease the need for external suppliers, thus leading to increased savings. As more and more businesses elect to transition to this strategy, environmental implications can be reduced, and more raw material can be saved; thus further benefiting businesses and their customers.
A Look At The Model In Action
For organizations hoping to transition and operate under a closed-loop economy, they’ll first need to work toward establishing a closed-loop supply chain. In most cases, that means the fundamental processes of an organization will have to be rethought and retooled. One of the prime examples of this is typically found in the way that organizations package their products. The design and manufacturing processes for the packaging of their products will have to be completely revitalized in order to conserve the materials used in the process. After these processes are reworked, organizations will have to consider how the sale, refurbishment, and recyclability of their products correlates to their design and manufacturing processes. Ideally, as more and more businesses begin operating under a closed-loop economy, the easier it will be to preserve and reuse the raw materials used in each of these processes.
Its cyclical nature is what truly allows this model to prosper across so many industries. Through a continuous cycle of recycling and repurposing raw materials and inputs, they’re able to be used again throughout any organizations’ creation process. For companies hoping to minimize their their manufacturing costs and create a more sustainable product line for their customers, this is the safest bet. Any organization seeking additional information on how this model could impact their operations, take a moment to check out the resource featured alongside this post. Courtesy of Quincy Recycle.