Future-Proofing your Supply Chain: Materials Efficiency for a Post-Pandemic World

By Adrienna Zsakay, Circular Economy Asia

There is no definitive beginning or starting point for the circular economy. When people ask “Where do we begin?”, there may not always be an easy answer, and if you ask ten different circular economy practitioners, you could end up with ten different options.

There are, however, several opportunities that are usually presented to companies, governments, NGO’s and other interested groups in any given timeframe. The current pandemic has provided an incredibly unique occasion to offer sustainable solutions that position the circular economy into mainstream business practices.

The Blueprint outlined in this article yields a viable strategy based on sound research and analysis. Yet it is not without some risk. The amount of risk is subject to how well the Blueprint is executed, by whom and for how long. It is not a short-term fix for political expediency but a long-haul policy solution.

Materials Efficiency

For a more resilient supply chain the focus will be on only one of the three options outlined in The Club of Rome’s study “The Circular Economy and Benefits for Society Jobs and Climate - Clear Winners in an Economy Based on Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency” – a materials efficiency scenario.

It is also important to note that most of the evidence to encourage Asian policymakers to support the transition to the circular economy using material efficiencies as the starting point comes from the EU and the UK. For many years now, most primary raw material resources have been consumed and traded from and across the globe via the Asian region, it is surprising more evaluation has not been generated.

Finally, materials efficiency is NOT a waste management solution. The argument here is not the review of the top ten waste streams, such as electronics and plastics due to the ubiquitous problem these products present. To work from this perspective, only reinforces the circular economy hierarchy as presented in the Butterfly diagram with ‘recycling’ as the least valued stage in a circular system.

Setting up for materials efficiency and using secondary raw materials means collaborating with local industries to map out a resilient economy that future-proof’s local businesses and reduces the risk of supply chain shocks, price volatility and raw material reserves, creating jobs along the way. In a circular system, there is no ‘least valued’ stage if material selection and design work in tandem. Of course, we are nowhere close to achieving that kind of equilibrium yet; however, by working directly with industry, we can push these specific issues now.

Everything, eventually, reaches an end of use-cycle stage and it is this we must plan around. As we do require a starting point electronics is well known to have significant resource value if extraction processes are done efficiently, and placing plastics on the ‘list’ due to consumer and environmental concerns is a high priority. However, we are leaving it up to individual companies to map out their own long-term raw material resource requirements, and this will create dysfunctional and inefficient dynamics.

Nor does this suggest state controlled resource management. In order to achieve a high level of circular goals requires the participation of many different actors. In the early stages there are simply too many moving parts to factor in before a well-oiled functioning apparatus can emerge that balances supply/demand free market economics, consumption patterns, resource usage and biodiversity.

A strategy similar to Indonesia’s “National Plastic Action Partnership” based on a System’s Change Scenario “that encompasses priority actions” built around five system changes is an ideal model; instead tailored to suit a defined set of economic goals rather than addressing environmental problems.

Once policymakers decide to embrace materials efficiency as a legitimate process to circularity, the circular economy can move from its current place in the Ministry of Environment to the Ministry of Economic Development where it belongs.

A Note on Language

The term ‘recycling’ is inadequate here as it does not fully convey the underlying circularity of the system. More appropriate terms are ‘recyclable resource recovery’,‘resource recovery’ or ‘reprocessing’. These terms are the circular actions we want in a circular system on an industrial scale; we are recovering resources as inputs for reprocessing into outputs to benefit society.

If we want change we need to start with language.

This article first appeared in Circular Asia magazine, edition 7, 30 April 2020. Circular Economy Asia (CEA) area of expertise is in Resource Recovery, Asian Plastics & Packaging Agreement and The Nine Steps Towards a Circular Business. In addition also provides Circular Skills training via their online education platform and in-house upon request.

Originally from Australia, Ms Adrienna Zsakay first visited Asia when she was 18 for a holiday to Bali. That four week trip changed her life forever, resulting in residences in India, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia as well as travels to other parts of the region. Over the last 40 years Adrienna has witnessed tremendous development and change. For more than 15 years Adrienna worked in the food industry, setting up a food import company in South Korea and later built the world’s largest free database of Asian food regulations while living in Thailand. Adrienna has a BA(Asian Studies & Politics) from the University of Western Australia and has studied International and Asian food law from Michigan State University. For more information please refer to her Linkedin profile. She became interested in the design, efficiencies and convenience of recycling collection systems, within the Asian context, when she moved to Thailand after living in South Korea. What started as a serious hobby morphed into a full-time role after she was introduced to the circular economy and its values and principles, founding Circular Economy Asia in 2016.

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