Are we going in circles? Good! The shift to a Circular Economy and how Asset Finance is aiding.
Given the most basic economic problem of limited resources and unlimited wants, it is astounding how much we throw away. A quick tour over the last 100 years shows us that we went from being a highly resourceful circular economy to a wasteful disposable linear economy.
Mass production brought rapid improvements to quality of life, products become cheaper and more accessible, which in general was considered a good thing. What wasn't considered however was the environmental consequences. In the Victorian era, you would buy a piece of furniture to have for the rest of your life, the linear economy has been taken so far that today you buy a piece to then throw it out a year later when fashion changes. When multiplied by all the products we buy day in day out, multiplied then by the population, we can see why we have reached breaking point.
At the beginning of 2018, China stopped importing other countries waste, which Western countries relied on to clear the sheer amount of rubbish that was being produced. Reuse, Reduce and Recycle has been widely publicised motto over the last ten years, but it only seems that it is really gaining traction now. With stricter regulation and heightened public pressure, companies are becoming more circular economy minded.
Having mentioned furniture above, we can’t avoid Ikea, for decades they have been churning out furniture for the masses at affordable prices. But a trip to your local dump will see that it is mainly their and other flat pack companies furniture being discarded. Looking to buck this trend Ikea CEO Torbjörn Lööf released this statement last year:
"Our ambition is to become people and planet-positive by 2030 while growing the IKEA business. Through our size and reach, we have the opportunity to inspire and enable more than one billion people to live better lives, within the limits of the planet".
With the following very admirable aims, which if delivered will have a phenomenally positive effect on the environment.
Increasing the proportion of plant-based choices in the IKEA food offer, like the veggie hot dog launching globally in August 2018
Becoming climate positive** and reducing the total IKEA climate footprint by an average of 70% per product
Achieving zero emissions home deliveries by 2025*
Expanding the offer of affordable home solar solutions to 29 IKEA markets* by 2025