M4E #15: Explaining the Circular Economy and How Society Can Re-think Progress
In recent years, the demand for sustainable and green manufacturing has greatly increased. End-customers are more and more aware of environmental issues and have included “greenness” as one of their main priorities when choosing a product. Also, you may have heard something about circular economy but, how does this concept impact manufacturing? See the next video from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Time for Insights
How do you think that key enabler technologies for Industry 4.0 will impact circular economy and more specifically manufacturing? Think about IoT, Data Analytics, Additive Manufacturing…
Take into account that at the moment companies typically analyze only one product lifecycle, but circular economy will introduce new challenges, as components or materials may be used through several lifecycles. Also, they may not return to the same company where they were introduced first in a new product.
Explaining the concept in a video is always easy, but real life is tough. The implementation of circular economy has many barriers and difficulties, such as lack of recycling technologies or infrastructure for waste treatment (more about these obstacles here). Hence why good R&D policies and investments are needed in order to advance towards a more circular model.