What impact will the Circularity in Practice project have? Inspired by King Charles III’s lifelong commitment to the environment, Circular Online examines this new initiative and its potential to reshape sustainable practice.
Circularity in Practice is a voluntary initiative inspired by His Majesty The King’s life-long interest in environmental stewardship.
Signatories commit to collaborate and adopt practical, circular approaches in their everyday operations.
There are 86 official signatories so far, with around 150 businesses attending the launch event at SUEZ’s repair hub in Greater Manchester.
Dr Adam Read MBE, Chief Sustainability & External Affairs Officer at SUEZ UK, told Circular Online the initiative is about building momentum.
“We have been seeing a growing trend in the last 12 months in our commercial customers wanting to donate unused or good quality but unwanted items from their supply chain to good causes to not only improve their environmental KPIs but to demonstrate their commitment to community engagement and social benefit,” he explained.
Dr Read continued that the private sector has significant influence over its own supply chain and competitors, so can make substantial in-roads into developing more circular solutions.
Circular Economy Institute: Why is the initiative important
Amongst the signatories is the Circular Economy Institute (CEI), which provides expert training and certification to equip professionals and entrepreneurs with knowledge to integrate circular principles in their organisations.
Katie Cockburn, Senior Director of Policy Media and Education at CEI, said they were proud to be signing up to the initiative.
“It reinforces our commitment to supporting our members in translating circular principles into practical, measurable outcomes,” Cockburn told Circular Online.
“At CEI, we recognise that the transition to a circular economy depends not only on ambition, but on the capability, leadership and collaboration of skilled professionals working across sectors.”
“By signing, we are underlining our role in setting standards, sharing best practice, and enabling our community to drive meaningful change in their organisations and beyond.”
“We believe that putting circularity into practice is essential to delivering lasting environmental and economic value, and we are committed to equipping our members with the tools, knowledge and networks they need to lead this transition with confidence and impact.”
Dispelling myths around the circular economy
SUEZ have been involved in discussions around the initiative from the beginning and helped to plan how to share examples of best practice.
Sharing these examples, along with toolkits and guidance, is part of a strategy to get more businesses on board and dispel myths around the circular economy.
Dr Read explained that some of the most common barriers to businesses adopting circular principles are the perception of cost, such as thinking pre-loved items and reclaimed materials are more expensive to handle and use.
“For other businesses it is the time needed to investigate alternative solutions to their traditional ones they have been set up to access over many years, and a lack of resources (staff and time) to dedicate to investigating the options out there,” he continued.
“There may have been some experiences with early adopters of more circular solutions that didn’t work or produced an inferior product or service, just like the early days of recycled paper.”
“We need time to work through these experiences and to demonstrate that the current examples are not only fit for purpose but bring huge additional benefits too.”
“And that’s why the Circularity in Practice initiative is so necessary right now, to dispel these myths, showcase great examples and build a new positive dynamic around design for reuse, refurb and upcycling.”
Why does the initiative focus on the built environment?
A key focus of the initiative is on the built environment, which Dr Read explained can often be an ‘untapped mine of value and materials’.
He explained that ‘given the right nudge, profile and support could make significant progress on reducing carbon, reducing resource consumption and delivering green jobs and economic benefits’.
“As a group of founding partners we all felt this was the sweet spot that we could shine a light on, draw attention to and make real progress on outside of any legislative reform or whilst waiting for the Circular Economy Growth Plan – and the initial responses by businesses of all shapes and sizes up and down the country is really positive, so I guess we picked the right materials to focus on!”
There are many examples of circularity being applied in practice that demonstrate how it is commercially viable, many of which are from companies operating in the built environment.
“The refitting of office buildings is a great example of how secondary or reclaimed materials can be utilised to bring character and style to the work environment at the right price point, whilst recognising the obvious environmental benefits and the local social value impacts, like jobs and training, etc.”
“The more we can build sustainable design into new buildings the easier it will be to deconstruct, dismantle, harvest, capture and reuse the materials, such as piping, building materials, and flooring.”
“We have been developing unique offers and services in this space and believe that the Circularity in Practice Initiative will open up many more productive conversations about specific materials and situations that collaboratively we could solve.”
