Can we align global production and consumption systems with
sustainability? Can business growth actually lead to a healthier planet?
Can companies innovate through the circular economy to create
competitive advantage and genuine impact?
Waste to Wealth proved that the emerging circular economy advantage
exists - now Lacy, Long and Spindler show you how to realize it at speed
and scale in The Circular Economy Handbook.
We stand at a crossroads, with rising geopolitical and geo-economic
tensions, massive technological change and a host of social and
environmental challenges. We are pushing planetary boundaries to their
limits, with climate change and threats to biodiversity and oceans as
just a few examples. Significant impacts are already being felt, and
both people and planet face potentially catastrophic and irreversible
consequences if we don't urgently change our global model and systems.
Our current linear "take, make, waste" models of production and
consumption will not be sustainable in a world of some 9 billion people
by 2050, especially with ever-expanding rates of consumption. Thriving
within these dynamics demands more than incremental adjustments to
business-as-usual.
The circular economy offers a powerful means to decouple growth from use
of scarce and harmful resources, enabling greater production and
consumption with fewer negative environmental impacts--at the same time,
making companies more innovative and competitive. In fact, this book
shows that $4.5 trillion in economic value is at stake.
Delivering on the promise of a circular economy demands impact and
scale, extending through value chains and, ultimately, disrupting the
entire economic system.
In The Circular Economy Handbook, the authors illuminate the path from
insight to action, from linear to circular. With case studies, advice
and practical guidance, they show leaders how to pivot towards a
holistic circular organization, embedding circularity internally and
delivering broad-based system change.
With unique insights across business models, technologies, and
industries - featuring stories and real-world examples from circular
pioneers - this book is the essential guide to help companies become
leaders in the movement to secure the circular economy advantage.
