LAWR

BRIEFING The talking is over – it's time to act Welcome to our newly launched Blueprint – a practical guide for organisations looking to join the circular economy. t is very rare that you will hear the resource management industry using the phrase linear economy these days. Some will say R.I.P. to the latter and cheer the concept that is on everybody's lips – the circular economy. Thus it is timely that the latest output of our Resource Revolution campaign, 'Making circular relevant: a business blueprint', offers a valuable steer on how the circular economy agenda can be made relevant to organisations, regardless of its size or function. The Blueprint has been informed by extensive research undertaken by LAWR together with sister title edie. net where we surveyed 226 businesses and an exemplar steering group comprised of 25 circular economy experts to find out firstly, what they thought the key barriers were in terms of engagement and delivery with this agenda and secondly, how these barriers could be overcome in a practical way. The research identified that language, particularly in terms of staff engagement, is one of the most significant obstacles for organisations in shifting from a linear to a circular economy. The problem is a challenge, in particular, for local authorities. According to our research, 73% of public sector respondents describe the language of the circular economy as "aspirational", followed by "challenging" (68%) and "theoretical" (48%). This would indicate that there are confidence issues among them in communicating circular economy terminology to their peers. To address this, the Blueprint sets out a series of steps that organisations can take. It recommends that an organisation first determines what employee-facing language it requires, and uses staff as a sounding board to test understanding. It may be helpful to consider the waste hierarchy itself as a useful starting point in terms of language. For example, there is broad understanding of terms such as "recycling", "reuse" and "waste prevention". Some of these terms can be dovetailed with more circular phrases such as "designing out waste" (which links to waste prevention), "product durability" (which links to reuse) and "material optimisation" (which links to disassembly at end of life). Another key stumbling block highlighted in our research was procurement. In fact, across the data set, our respondents found that procurement was the biggest challenge. This may in part be due to a deep behavioural change issue in procurement departments, where entrenched methodology and mindsets exist. Local authorities may do well to recognise how influential they are in terms of procurement and then look at how they can maximise their significant purchasing power, perhaps through collective tendering and service contracts. This should be coupled with a deeper level of dialogue with suppliers on traceability and certification standards. When asked what practical tools would help organisations make a better case for engaging with the circular economy, support from waste contractors was rated highly by respondents. However, there was a general feeling that most waste contractors are not currently set up to offer customers much more than basic waste and recycling services. In light of this, waste service providers must examine how they can add value to their business proposition. In terms of the waste management industry contributing to the mix, our research suggests bringing in a wider range of skills and expertise around issues such as product design, detailed waste auditing, lightweighting of materials and raw material selection. All these would be of great benefit to both business and local authorities to help to work towards circularity. The top level findings of our Blueprint will be debated in the form of a live webinar due to be held this month. Make sure you get involved – the revolution will not be televised. To download our report go to edie.net where you also can register for the webinar (Squaring the circle: making it work for my business) and listen to our panel of experts (Wrap's Richard Swannell, FCC Environment's Paul Dumpleton, Kingfisher Group's James Walker and edie.net's Maxine Perella) debate how the circular economy can be made more relevant to business. January 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 7

• Cover