Making a success of the circular economy
What was once ‘take-make-waste’ is now becoming ‘reduce-reuse-recycle’.
In this month’s newsletter, we’re exploring how organisations are turning to the circular economy - not only to support sustainability goals, but also to deliver compelling economic opportunities.
As you’ll see, transitioning from a linear to a circular business model challenges a lot of traditional business thinking. But it’s worth it.
Where can circularity have the biggest impact?
Eight supply chains account for more than half of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Food alone accounts for around a quarter – the most of any supply chain in the world. Construction has the next-biggest footprint, at 10% of global emissions, followed by fashion.
Rethinking waste across food and drink
Food and drinks packaging was under scrutiny in our Earth Day LinkedIn Live special, where we were joined by M&S Food’s Head of Sustainability, Lucinda Langton, and Donald McCalman, a drinks packaging expert, to discuss what they’ve learned from introducing circular economy thinking.
Listen to the full discussion to hear more on how M&S is rethinking waste from packaging to avocado stones, the need to keep it simple for your customers, and the importance of working together - with suppliers, policy makers and logistics - to find new solutions and embed change at scale.
The potential to halve construction emissions
The construction industry faces a critical challenge: how to build more while emitting less. Efforts to deliver the sector’s net zero ambitions have mostly focused on reducing operational emissions, such as phasing out fossil fuel boilers and adopting more efficient appliances.
But to truly make a difference, the sector needs to focus on tackling ‘embodied emissions’, generated during the extraction and manufacturing of materials such as steel and cement.
In our Circular Construction report, we explore some of the regulatory and commercial barriers and set out three priorities to accelerate decarbonisation in the built environment.
Clothing reuse can deliver ten times the impact of recycling in carbon reduction
The average consumer buys 60% more items of clothing today compared to 15 years ago, and we’re only keeping items for half as long, research has revealed.
Given 70% of the emissions in this sector come from raw material extraction and production, the industry is increasingly turning to the circular economy to mitigate its impact.
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Our Circular Fashion report delves into the environmental impact of different circular models and highlights three important actions fashion can take to support the profitable growth of resale.
Three steps to kick-start circularity
From returnable coffee cups, cars on subscription and sustainable manufacturing, there are many more examples of industries embracing circular economy thinking and meeting consumer demand for more sustainable products.
While the benefits of moving to a circular business model are clear, it can be difficult knowing where to start. We’ve outlined three priority actions every organisation can take to get going on its circular journey.
How we’ve applied circular solutions
For over 15 years, we’ve focused on transforming our own use of materials. We’ve made significant progress in reducing consumption, such as cutting paper usage by 77% and water usage by 19% from 2019 to 2023. Since 2012, we’ve achieved zero waste to landfill, with any unrecoverable materials being sent to generate energy through incineration.
Sustainability is a key consideration in our office design and refurbishment. Additionally, we partner with environmentally conscious catering suppliers and have switched to reusable food packaging, mugs and glasses in our offices.
We’ve made a worldwide commitment to net zero and set near term science-based targets. Acting on Carbon: Lessons Learnt shares the story of our carbon journey, with practical tips and hints that may help in your own journey. As a firm, we measure and report against these targets, and more, in our Integrated Reporting Hub.
Join us in building a sustainable future
If you’d like to be part of a culture committed to building a sustainable future, why not consider a career with PwC? Recycle your skills in new ways to make lasting change, powered by the latest technology and human ingenuity. Sign up to our Talent Community to hear more about our latest opportunities.
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