Technology and Circular Economy

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In a previous article, we have explained what a Circular Economy is. Today we are going to take a very brief overview of Technology for Circular Economy. We are going to answer the following question: how can Technology benefit the Circular Economy? Keep reading and find out how Technology and Circular Economy can help you to #ONEUPYOURBUSINESS!

HOW CAN TECHNOLOGY BENEFIT THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY?

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As we explained in an earlier article, the Circular Economy supports a system to reduce waste and promote reusing and recycling. Technology is a fast-developing industry and innovative technologies can help other industries and sectors transition into a Circular Economy more quickly and more efficiently. Below we talk about how Technology can benefit the Circular Economy:

• Provides infrastructures and platforms:: the Technology sector already provides Circular Economy approaches for instance, retail and services such as eBay and Gumtree already promote the reuse of products. This provides companies infrastructures and platforms to collaborate with and learn from
• More insightful data:: the Circular Economy model is beneficial for business-to-business customers (B2B) and consumers because they have the capability to purchase more sustainable products and understand the process and suitable materials. Technology can support this for example with traceable applications and understanding of product experience for companies to gain insights on needs and values to develop product designs
• Monitoring of products and production:: Companies may face challenges with collecting data due to their data being stored in silos which can make it difficult to create a thorough map of: what they make, where they sell and if the materials get recycled after consumption. Technology will be able help the monitoring of upstream suppliers and the product when it leaves the factory. Real-time tracking technologies will be able to pinpoint where the product ends up and how it will be recycled or reused. It will able be able to monitor, calculate, and adjust for material bans and tax liabilities
• Product renting and cloud based service delivery:: companies can adopt a product renting service allowing the provider ownership of the product and the customer being able to enjoy it’s usage period, and when that period is over the product can be recycled instead of disposed of. As well as, if content on devices is stored and accessed through cloud based services, the access and log-in will be more valuable than what type of device is being used which is expected to encourage longevity on a device as it could break the upgrade cycle
• Improving sourcing and the marketplace:: Technology will be able to improve challenges companies may face when replacing materials with recyclable options like sourcing and multi-supply strategies. Technology can help by collecting information on local marketplaces and waste collectors whilst ensuring there is no exploitation

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