We are pleased to feature a guest interview with our wonderful Circular Economy partners in the UK, Catherine Weetman, from ReThink Global & award winning author

Catherine has just launched a new edition of her book “A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business”, and we have the opportunity of talking about the book, how she sees the current situation with the pandemic and how the circular economy could be a solution for many of the challenges we are facing.

Catherine Weetman

LUP: Hi Catherine, thanks for your time once again, it´s always a pleasure to talk to you and reflect on the transition towards a circular economy, especially now after almost one year living with a pandemic. What is your first analysis of this: are we as society closer to what we are looking for? Is the pandemic contributing to a shift or what´s the real impact?

Catherine: Hi Noreen, it’s great to catch up, and good to see that you and the LUP Global team are getting the circular message out, helping businesses work towards circular approaches to get them through to the other side of the pandemic with a more resilient and cost-efficient approach to asset management. I sense that despite its awful effect on humanity – the loss of loved ones, impact on our communities and social networks, effect on our economies, businesses and jobs – the pandemic has opened up a whole range of possibilities. Many of us have made big changes to our daily lives: we’re more in touch with nature and the great outdoors and realising what really matters. For many of us, that’s healthy, seasonal food, meaningful conversations and being true to our values.

People have found purpose and meaning – perhaps by volunteering to help their community, by raising funds for charity or local causes, donating to food banks and so on. We’ve realised that plenty of our old habits were pointless. We’d been sucked into the ‘waste economy’ through fast fashion, fast food, the latest ‘must-have’ watch/shoes/ technology etc. Instead, we’ve developed passions for baking, arts and crafts, learnt a new skill or become a newbie/improving gardener.

For businesses and policymakers the pandemic was a sharp jolt, reminding us about the vulnerabilities of long-distance, cost-focused, opaque, just-in-time supply chains, in which one disruption could mean the entire downstream flow grinds to a halt. In my blog back in February 2020: Worried about supply-chain disruption? Why circular economy approaches are more resilient, I highlighted these risks, suggesting ways to use circular approaches to mitigate or avoid them.

The subsequent impact of lockdown means the closure or slowdown of arts, entertainment, sports and foodservice sectors. This, combined with the different ways we are living and working, mean many businesses have had to pivot, or even reinvent themselves to survive. As we move into 2021, I’m noticing an increasing interest in circular approaches, with more businesses talking about their projects and pilot schemes, and more people contacting me about the Circular Economy Podcast.

LUP: Now more focused on your book, can you tell us more about the updates in this new edition? What are the main changes and trends you see, and which industries are leading them (compared to the first edition of the book in 2016)?

Catherine: I hadn’t envisaged how big a project the new edition would be, turning out to have lots of updates and additions. The circular economy has moved on in leaps and bounds since 2016! Then, the book was `furloughed´ last summer as the publishing industry went into lockdown, but finally went on sale last November through Kogan Page and all good booksellers. With over 300 real examples from around the world, it´s described by one of the reviewers as a `must-read for businesses, students and policymakers; and explains the what, why and how of the circular economy. The new edition includes extensive updates, builds on the latest research on circular business models, has a new chapter on packaging and over 100 new examples´.

I have good news for your readers: they can save 20 per cent if they buy the book from Kogan Page (shipping worldwide) by using code CIRCL20 at the checkout. (Click HERE to buy it)

LUP: Ohh that´s great, we appreciate a lot! To sum up, any final idea you want to share with us? Expectations for 2021 and the near future? Thanks so much once again.

Catherine: The changes triggered by the pandemic have encouraged a sense of new beginnings and possibilities, with a realisation that transformational change is easier than we thought. That’s why I’m thinking of this decade as the ‘transformational twenties’ – the decade when we switch our mindset. We’re realising (as many indigenous people have always known) we can create a better world, with enough, for all of us, forever. That feels like an amazing, enriching and exciting vision – for a fair world, with abundance, diversity and honesty, where we care for people and our planet, and regenerate resources, living systems and our communities.

Alongside this, governments and businesses are seeing the importance of access to resources and the value of local supply chains and distributed manufacturing. The upsides of low-cost imports are now less important than developing future-fit economies, investing in clean, green, regenerative sectors. However, I believe we’ll undermine this if we don’t consider and embed the changes needed to deal with the other existing crises – of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and social inequality. We must focus on the bigger picture and use systems-scale thinking to plan and deliver what we need. It’s critical that we regenerate soil, seas, nature and our communities, and that we design strategies to ensure a just transition.

We need to build the skills for that new world, where we understand how to work with nature instead of to exploit it, where we understand how to circulate resources and slow the flow of consumption and waste, and how to replace fossil inputs with sustainable ones. We can design a vision of a world where we’re regenerating everything we need, where waste and pollution don’t exist: a world with enough, for all of us, for ever.

This quote seems to sum up what we need to do: “To rid yourself of old patterns, focus all your energy not on struggling with the old, but on building the new.” Sometimes, this is attributed to Socrates, but is more likely to be from a fictional Socrates in The Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives by Dan Millman (1984).

For more information or to contact Catherine, refer to:  https://www.rethinkglobal.info/

Our first podcast with ReThink Global was released!

We are so excited to announce the release of our first podcast with our amazing Circular Economy partners in the UK ReThink Global, and the award winning CE author Catherine Weetman. Catherine is a circular economy business advisor, workshop facilitator, speaker and writer.  Her award-winning book A Circular Economy Handbook for Business and Supply Chains, includes a wealth of wide-ranging examples and tips on getting started.  She founded Rethink Global in 2013, to help businesses use circular, sustainable approaches to make a better business (and a better world).

In this incredibly inspiring podcast, our CEO Noreen Kam and Chairman Michael Brown talk about the circular asset management solution we`ve developed for LUP Global’s customers.

Listen an extract of the interview by clicking on the picture!

Benefits of circular strategies

Noreen explains the massive opportunities that exist for companies to reduce their Capex (capital expenditure) by up to 60%, improve the performance and lifetime cost of equipment by 40%, and to recover value from the equipment at the end of its service period. She gives excellent examples to show how organizations can work jointly with LUP as buyers or sellers, and enhance the value of their assets considerably.

Michael talks about the mindset shift that is required to understand the importance of circular strategies, and mentions how this approach is normal in the airline industry, where often the airline doesn´t own anything – the plane, the engines, even the seats. Under this model, everything is owned, provided and maintained by the suppliers – you may have heard of the Rolls Royce example, selling power by the hour so you purchase the performance of the engine, instead of buying the engine itself. He highlights our vision that promotes the utilisation of assets to the fullest of their life, which demands discipline to have an appropriate register to record and manage the use of it.

Noreen and Michael mention to Catherine that this approach isn’t used in many other industry sectors, and this is one of our greatest motivations for developing our business model, to help companies to get benefits from this circular asset management approach, starting with laboratory equipment.

Check Catherine´s Circular Economy Podcast clicking on the picture!

It was so inspiring having this conversation with partners that are as passionate as us when talking about these life-changing topics! We are extremely happy for this great achievement and we hope this was just the first one of many more.

Thanks Catherine and the whole team of ReThink Global, let´s keep showing the world that there is a better way to do things 🙂

Written By: Michael Brown, LUP Global Chairman, and former Group General Manager of Supply Chain at Qantas.

What is Circular Procurement – how can it create value from both an environment and commercial perspective?

The Procurement community is great at engaging in the purchase of NEW – more and more we as a Community need to focus on the increasing opportunity for under-utilised Assets that have not reached their FULL lifecycle potential.

Not many industries proactively engage in ensuring their assets are used to their maximum useable life – Heavy Industry Mining and Aerospace maybe possible exceptions. These Industries with exceptional High Value assets do focus on their MRO (Maintain, Repair, Overhaul) cycle to extract the maximum value from the asset and where possible on sell the assets to other operators for continued use or parts tear down. A mindset shift is required to appreciate the importance of Reuse, Repurpose and then Recycle – this should be the Mantra that Procurement leaders live by in the purchase of Capital Assets.

Why shouldn’t this model apply to other sectors – Health, Food & Beverage and other industries…?? It requires both a structured approach to recording assets throughout their lifecycle and then a mandate within a business to consider USED assets during the Procurement process. What actions do businesses need to engage to increase the potential for on sale of under-utilised equipment?

Fundamentals of Creating an Asset Register

Not to overly state the requirements – depending on the type of asset the following basics ideally need to be observed:

1. Purchase Date and Price, Supplier, OEM
2. Warranty Provision and any extended warranty arising from a Maintenance action
3. Depreciation Schedule
4. Maintenance Cycle
5. Maintenance Events – activity record
6. Machine Usage – hours, events, actions completed

This level of information can be easily loaded into an Excel file. The discipline needed to maintain the register needs accountability within an organization. The quality of the data recorded will enhance the on sale potential and realizable value. To use the example of maximising value on the sale of your car – if you are to on-sell your vehicle a buyer will want to know how it has been maintained and good record keeping of these actions will enhance the sales potential.

Looking Forward

To create more Circularity with Assets we need to open our minds to the fundamentals of reducing both waste and the demand for new resources.

Business leaders need to champion the philosophy of Circular Asset Management and adopt internal policy to encourage processes that can maximise the potential for assets to be Reused, Repurposed and then Recycled. Consideration of the commercial value and risk balance needs to gain appreciation in the importance to use Assets to their life fullness.

With today’s Supply Chains being so badly disrupted we are in a position where all available assets that are under-utilised need to be visible to support the strained needs of our markets – whether that be in the Health field or across industries that need support. With the disruption of COVID-19, new assets and spare parts supply have suffered significant shortages. Under-utilised assets can, if managed appropriatly, be a valuable source to avoid supply disruptions.   

As a community we need to collaborate and offer our assets to support areas that might be in need – more and more we believe that LUP Global can assist in the reallocation of critical assets to relieve shortages in Australia and across other countries.