Circular economy is about changing the way we design, produce, sell and use products to avoid waste and reduce the impact on our environment.
Since 2007 Sustainability Advantage has assisted a range of circular economy projects and helped to develop the business case for investment in smarter technologies and processes.
Sustainability Advantage proactively brings together business, government and innovators that are enabling change and supports projects that look to recover resources as renewable inputs in production and manufacturing. Through these collaborative projects we help address resource scarcity and supports keeping valuable materials in the productive cycle.
Initiatives to enable a circular economy include:
- Product Stewardship Cluster – a network of 23 product stewardship organisations (PSO) working together and in collaboration with Sustainability Advantage members to share knowledge and resources to address problematic wastes like electronics, mattresses, nappies, textiles, carpets, cigarette butts, tyres, paint, crushed glass and soft plastics and turn them to inputs for other production processes. PSOs are organisations jointly funded by product creators to deal with products at the end of their useful life, e.g. Mobile Muster, Tyre Stewardship Australia and TechCollect.
- CLEAN Cowra – an ambitious plan to turn a regional town’s biomass waste to energy, that involved collaboration with local industry and government
How Sustainability Advantage members are embracing the circular economy
Many members are leading the way on circular economy projects. To find out more about their achievements, go to the member case studies page.
Delta Electricity and Crucible
A joint biomass co-firing project, where wood fibre was added to the coal stream to save greenhouse gas emissions. Find out how Sustainability Advantage helped get this project to commercial ready stage.
Sustainability Advantage has twice received international recognition for enabling the circular economy in NSW: