Lessons learned from practice when developing a circular business model

Abstract

A circular business model (CBM) does not emerge in a vacuum. The company Plasto started its CBM journey in May 2014 and has encountered some key challenges, the most important being quality standards of products made from recycled materials. Ensuring quality is crucial to establish trust in the market, and this entails technical testing and competence development among employees. Plasto has realized that working with circular material streams must be seen in a larger context, and it has chosen the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as a facilitating framework. By June 2017, the company is committed at the top-management level, and has started a strategy process based on the needs of a Circular Economy and sustainable development. The case of Plasto shows that developing a CBM occurs in close interaction with external actors, and, essentially is created through a process of learning and experimentation.