Our sustainability working group meets regularly online and in person to work together in smaller project groups on the key topics of digital product passports, management systems, sustainable procurement with a focus on risk analysis and the creation and implementation of a (sustainability) strategy.
As always, the individual project groups gave short status reports. At our meeting on January 31, 2024, around 20 managers from NIRO member companies also took a closer look at the topic of the circular economy. At the beginning, a team from the Efficiency Agency NRW (EFA ) gave a thematic introduction to the circular economy and circular design and brought along examples of good practice.
The circular economy is basically about preserving value for as long as possible and recognizing the economic potential in this approach. The circular economy offers companies new business opportunities, secures their existence in the long term, represents a part of the new EU reporting obligations that should not be underestimated and is one of the strongest levers for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the overall material footprint in the coming years.
The implementation of circular design can be identified as an important adjusting screw, as around 80 percent of the environmental impact of a product is predetermined by its design. If a company pursues circular product design and business model strategies with its products, this can open up numerous opportunities for success.
To support the implementation of such strategies, the EFA offers a CIRCO workshop series for our member companies. On this morning, our sustainability working group had an intensive exchange about the possibilities of circular strategies in their own company.
Many thanks at this point to the speakers Linda Dierke, Ilona Dierschke and Nadine Tiedemann from the EFA for their competent and lively introduction to circular economy and circular design.
