EU and other legislators are pushing towards a reduction of waste and increased reuse of materials in the circular economy (cf. Ghisellini, Cialani & Ulgiati, 2016; Stahel, 2016). Many industrial waste products have properties that could make them valuable construction materials, but are not being reused due to lack of sufficiently attractive circular business models (cf. Elkington, 1998). Traditional linear business models (cf. Teece, 2010) are insufficient to capture the economic potentials that may be inherent in circular resource flows. Yet, the basic economic principle to economize remains the same: revenues must cover costs. The aim of this paper is to present insights into how to integrate ecologically sustainable circular material flows with economically sustainable circular business models, contributing to knowledge about sustainable circular business models.
Problems include lack of knowledge among producers of the needs of potential users of their materials, difficulties in identifying and evaluating additional costs (e.g. insuring material quality), alternative costs and potential revenues, and lack of knowledge among problem owners about availability and quality of these materials. Collaboration to foster mutual learning between producers and problem owners is therefore an important key to create attractive circular business models in which waste materials become by-products, allowing all actors involved to share the benefits of increased reuse of waste products.
The empirical data consists of interviews, field observations and laboratory results from a project that matches the need of one industry-actor; Zinkgruvan Mining with the potential use of a by-product from another industry actor; the paper and pulp producer Ahlstrom-Munksjö Aspa Bruk with the aim to produce a viable business case. The technical innovation involves finding a way to control dust from Zinkgruvan Mining’s tailings dam by covering it with green liquor sludge (GLS), which is a waste product from the paper and pulp process of Ahlstrom-Munksjö Aspa Bruk.
To produce a viable business case, the needs of each industry must be understood, so that the logistics, certification of GLS quality, technical method of spreading the GLS, and environmental controls can be integrated into a circular economy business model that benefit both Zinkgruvan Mining, any intermediaries and Ahlstrom-Munksjö Aspa Bruk.
To make the method long-term sustainable, the project follows three avenues of development when investigating the research issue:
- Technical development of the method of covering tailings with GLS
- Environmental evaluation of the method, with laboratory and field testing of properties
- Developing a circular business model that allows both industries to gain from this activity
The project is done in collaboration among industry and academia to make lessons learned available to a wider community of companies and researchers. This also allows evaluating how the development of the technical method and a circular business model can be applied to other cases of collaboration between waste material producers and problem owners.
References
Elkington, J. (1998). Cannibals with Forks: The Triple-bottom-line of 21st Century. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C., & Ulgiati, S. (2016). A review on circular economy: The expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 114, 11-32.
Stahel, W. R. (2016). The circular economy. Nature, 531(7595), 435-438.) Teece, D. J. (2010). Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 172-194.
