The Forum for Sustainability through Life Cycle Innovaton (FSCLI) published a report which summarizes the discussions and conclusions from the workshop “Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency, Life Cycle Innovation: Same objectives, same impacts?”, which was organized at the beginning of this year in Berlin, Germany.
The industry-focused workshop brought together representatives from various companies such as BASF, Evonik, Henkel, and Steelcase to discuss, to what extent the Circular Economy vision is compatible with existing life cycle and resource efficiency based approaches.
One of the most important outcomes of the workshop was the need for a clear and internationally accepted definition of what constitutes a Circular Economy approach. Furthermore it was suggested that any such definition needs to be accompanied with a quantifiable measurement approach that could guide the implementation efforts and help track the implementation progress.
During the workshop it was also highlighted that a purely on material circularity focussed approach would face a number of environmental, thermodynamic, technologic, and economic challenges. Hence any definition should focus on a comprehensive vision and understanding that is compatible to the principle of taking a systems and life cycle perspective and thus integrates also efficiency and overall sustainability considerations.
The workshop report has been developed by the FSLCI and revised based on feedback from the workshop participants to ensure an accurate summary of the discussions that took place.