Waste
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development predicts there will be $4.5 trillion in commercial opportunities from the circular economy over the next decade. To spot opportunities, businesses must understand waste, design with waste in mind, adopt novel processes and technologies and collaborate across sectors.
As consumption continues to grow, brands urgently need to transform to tackle waste. While the technologies exist to reduce waste, infrastructure, policies, financing and business processes are impairing rapid and scaled deployment. A systematic change is needed across the value chain and broader ecosystems.
Address waste systemically across the value chain – collaborate across industries, regulators, and infrastructures
Understand which waste can be valuable to you or be used as an input elsewhere
Label, track and monitor waste flows to drive insights and measure success
Design with waste in mind from the onset, designing out waste where possible
Decide which business model to adopt to deliver the value and scale you need
Take responsibility for waste and influence up- and downstream in your industry, including competitors (your new “cooperators”)
Find new technologies and innovators to drive carbon, heat, water, and product waste out across the supply chain
Use decarbonization or dewaterisation as a way to reduce waste
Create solutions and innovate locally where possible to limit the export of waste
We can help you capture value and opportunity from waste. Our end-to-end innovation capabilities and unique breadth of expertise in sustainability and the circular economy include transformational business redesigns, landscaping, strategies, design and partnerships and collaborations.
Enabling an innovative circular economy business model in retail
We helped Stuffstr, an innovative technology start-up that collects, recycles, refurbishes and resells used clothing on behalf of brands, develop the backend systems it needed to grow its business and operations.
Delivering sustainable products and packaging at scale
Pulpac is a patented solution that uses renewable pulp and cellulose to produce low cost, high performance, fiber-based packaging and single-use products. It offers up to an 80% lower CO2 footprint and is a low-cost alternative to plastics.
Developing a seaweed packaging solution to replace plastics
We worked with Notpla, a London-based start-up using a material made from seaweed to develop an alternative to single-use plastic packaging. We worked with the business to design, build and test the machine that makes containers from the seaweed-based material.
Finding new uses for old plastic and creating a sustainable business
Ecobooth, a sustainable events company, wanted to reduce the huge amount of plastic waste produced by the events industry. We partnered with them to transform an innovative idea into a successful business.
AMERICAN RECYCLER
High growth rate projected for the waste to energy industry
PA Consulting’s sustainable materials expert Tony Perrotta discusses the waste to energy (WtE) industry.
HEALTH BUSINESS
Viewing health by-products as resources rather than waste
PA Consulting’s healthcare expert, David Rakowski, discusses how the healthcare sector must reconsider health by-products as resources instead of waste.
ARTICLE
How can all organisations bring the circular economy to life by design?
The circular economy is a unique opportunity for business – one where cost savings and economic productivity go hand in hand with reducing environmental impact. The key to unlocking these benefits is designing and implementing successful circular business models.
BLOG
Consumers are confused about plastics recycling, and are holding brands responsible
Consumers are increasingly holding brands and retailers responsible for the full breadth of sustainability, from the sourcing of ingredients through to end of life and beyond. The brands that take radical ownership of the entire process and make it easy for consumers to make sustainable choices.
Sustainability
Businesses have the power and opportunity to transform for commercial and environmental success.
Water
Don’t treat water as a consequence. Understand your ecosystem and footprint to uncover the hidden value.
Carbon
Carbon equals revenue, not cost – embrace innovation, technologies and new business models to generate revenue.
Products
Businesses that design sustainability into their product lines are seeing increased revenues and greater consumer loyalty.
Packaging
Stop tackling packaging in isolation, collaborate across the lifecycle to reduce confusion and wasted effort.
