For organizations hoping to ‘go green’ without negatively impacting their production, one method in particular has seen a massive rise in popularity: the closed-loop economy. Most business owners or managers are already aware of the closed-loop economy model and the many benefits that stem from it. The hardest part isn’t identifying the benefits, but rather integrating it into a tenured production process with little to no issues. This is no easy task, but with the help of the information shared within this post, in collaboration with the infographic featured alongside it, any organization should be able to feel more comfortable when operating under a closed-loop model.
For the sake of clarification, a breakdown of the naming conventions of these production models seems necessary. To clarify, a closed-loop economy is synonymous with a circular economy and a closed-loop supply chain. Meaning these models all prioritize reducing the amount of waste that is created throughout a product’s life cycle. In these models, every input and output is reused, recycled, shared or repaired. Rather than wasting inputs and outputs that might be considered no good, they are utilized in some shape or form to create value in the form of a substance or product in a closed-loop model.
As more and more businesses are opting into green initiatives, this model has seen a number of businesses adopting it recently. Businesses are interested in the ability to obtain, create, and consume these materials without producing excess waste. So interested, in fact, that estimates indicate this model will be responsible for nearly $4.5 trillion in expenditures globally by 2030. Regardless of the scope in which your business operates, it can still benefit greatly from the adoption of a closed-loop economy model. Aside from the environmentally conscious benefits, this model can help improve a company’s public relations and perception efforts in addition to reducing the amount of reliance placed on external suppliers to accomplish a production cycle.
How It All Ties Together
In order to truly establish a closed-loop economy, businesses must work together to cultivate a closed-loop supply chain. Meaning more organizations have to consider how their products and packaging are designed and manufactured, in addition to how those same products are sold, refurbished, and recycled. As more businesses collaborate and participate within a closed-loop supply chain, more raw material is able to be saved and thus the benefits to organizations and consumers can increase.
Now more than ever, it’s important for organizations to take a step in the right direction regarding their green initiatives. Unfortunately, through linear economy models, what most production processes operate under today, a great deal of raw materials used in production processes are often wasted. Unable to be reused, these processes are required to begin fresh with new raw materials. Under a closed-loop economy, on the other hand, these organizations would have no endpoint or waste to consider. This cyclical dynamic is what allows the closed-loop economy model to reuse the consumed raw materials by collecting them and reprocessing them in order to begin the process anew. This in turn creates the most sustainable product for consumers. If you’re still wondering just how this model truly operates, take a minute to review the infographic accompanying this post. Courtesy of Quincy Recycle.