The business cluster based in Ibi (Spain), IBIAE, continues to organize its popular business trainings that kicked off after the great recession. Companies that participated in this business training include, Bornay, Deinpro, Àrea Oberta, Caixa Popular, Actiu, Label Diez and Puertas Castalla.
On this occasion, IBIAE wanted to learn about the circular economy in order to know in detail what it consists of and the policies that are being carried out in this regard, as well as the paths it will take in the future. For this, the Association of Entrepreneurs of Ibi and Comarca had the great luck of having an expert voice of great prestige worldwide, Anna Tari. The young woman from Elche who founded the Circular Economy Club (CEC) six years ago. This entity has become a network of 7,000 members from more than 120 countries in which content is shared among individuals and companies. It is the international network of circular economy engineers, strategists, investors and business leaders. The Circular Economy Institute emerged as an organization to provide training and certification in the circular economy field, and Anna is the Founder and President of such accreditation agency. She is currently researching about consumer behavior and the circular economy at the University of Boston in the United States.
The circular economy was introduced as an economic concept interrelated with sustainability, and whose objective is that the value of products, materials and resources are maintained in the economy for as long as possible. It is a generic term for a restorative industrial economic model. Our systems must interact as organisms, processing nutrients that can be fed back into the cycle, hence the term restorer.
Anna Tari discussed the importance to apply the circular economy to plastic to alleviate the social problem of the image of this sector. She clearly and succinctly explained how it works as a vehicle to improve the company in scenarios such as costs or structure and can now be another alternative to European legislative changes.
There was particular emphasis in the fact that, when designing it, you have to consider how to recover it or where it goes at the end of its useful life. The first step for companies is to analyze where the waste goes and how they can act with it, although the business model must also be seen.
Many case studies and examples were discussed. An example is the change of business in which you go from selling to renting a washing machine. In this way, when they manufacture the appliance they put chips that warn of deterioration to get ahead.