Levers for a corporate transition to a plastics circular economy

Abstract

With the global economy not yet 10% circular, businesses are key stakeholders in designing new forms of resource use, especially large multinationals. However, compared with the wealth of studies on 'born sustainable' start-ups, there is minimal case study or interview based research into how incumbent companies are approaching this transition. Focusing on plastics, we ask: how does one incumbent multinational company approach the circular economy transition? This paper presents a case study of the incumbent multinational chemical company Dow, a leading plastics manufacturer. Varied external stressors and drivers for the circular economy act upon a company (which also has its own imperatives), resulting in tentative steps towards circular economy. To date, these steps have tweaked the existing system rather than radically altering the business model. For companies, like for the entire global economy, this transition has only just begun. This paper identifies key drivers, enablers and barriers of the circular economy, none of which are fixed or immutable. Knowing which levers for change are available and effective could help policy makers to shift gear to enable quicker progress towards circularity. Overall, broad based support and engagement is needed to progress the circular economy, hence all stakeholders have roles to play in demanding and enacting circular practices.

Sustainability and Circular Economy Business Development

“…As a result, the paradigm shift towards circular business models requires companies to adjust their strategies and operations. CE also encourages innovation in business models, such as product-as-a-service and sharing platforms, which further support sustainable consumption and production patterns [28]. Ultimately, CE contributes to environmental sustainability, economic resilience, and social well-being by creating a regenerative system that benefits businesses, consumers, and the planet.…”

Drivers and barriers for circular business model innovation

“…Guldmann and Huulgaard (2020), differentiating by company size, identified novel barriers for CBMI from the study of 12 cases. More recently, a few articles have searched for not only drivers and barriers but also on enablers and means of overcoming the barriers, such as von Kolpinski et al (2022), who studied 12 circular start‐ups, Barford and Ahmad (2022) on an in‐depth study of a large incumbent and Galvão et al (2022) who studied 40 firms. However, research on drivers and barriers to CE implementation is still prominently theoretical or based on a small number of cases.…”

Business model innovation in circular start-ups: Overcoming barriers in the circular plastics economy

“…However, this transition cannot be achieved through technical approaches alone since business models determine the viability of such solutions. Hence, businesses, no matter their size or goals, play a vital role in the transition to a circular (plastics) economy by innovating their business model (Barford and Ahmad, 2023; Henry et al, 2023; van Opstal and Borms, 2023). Circular business model innovation (CBMI) is ‘the conceptualisation and implementation of circular business models (CBMs), comprising the creation of circular start-ups (CSUs), the diversification into CBMs, the acquisition of CBMs or the transformation of a business model into a circular one’ (Geissdoerfer et al, 2020: 8).…”