Circular Economy

Translation:

Stop. Don’t worry. This isn’t going to be a lecture on perfection or a wagging finger that makes you think, “Wow, how am I ever going to manage this?”

Quite the opposite.

Here comes exactly what you’ve been searching for all this time: a hassle-free safeguard against the risk of greenwashing. A very manageable vision for moving your company in the right direction. A glimpse of a sustainability strategy you’ve always wanted, but that seemed completely out of reach.

What if it actually exists?

It is no coincidence that the first truly circular glasses on the German market are from a Dutch optician chain. Namely that the Dutch have been thinking and acting in a circular manner for years.

But has Eyes + More spent years pondering how on earth they should collect the old glasses from their customers? No. They took a much simpler and more pragmatic approach. They simply started with pre-consumer waste. With all the leftovers from production, they collected and reprocessed them and used them to create a new material quality. The lessons learned from this will help them to extend the whole thing to post-consumer waste (take-back programmes).

And what if you could have the certainty that you and your team could start today? Because your vision is the first step of the journey. From today, you can say: “We are on the path to circularity and getting better every day.”

Bonus: Once you embark on this journey, you won’t run out of content in the coming years: for your storytelling, employer branding, recruiting, long-form copy, and social media/algorithmic media (like TikTok).

See? That wasn’t so bad. So, let’s go:

Theory: Circular Economy is the global megatrend that makes sustainable and successful business and consumption possible in the future as well. And it does so while preserving the existence of humanity, nature, and the environment.

Practice: Our 12-point charter, backed up by strategic elements from the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

SDG 12, which attempts to harmonise consumption and production globally, is particularly relevant for us.

Furthermore the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, the great and globally recognised work of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Cradle to Cradle has inspired and certified over 17,000 circular products from their inception, from the biodegradable French fries fork to the office tower in Switzerland.

Plus, we receive a great deal of knowledge of the scene on a daily basis, new Sustainability-Tech-Startups popping up everywhere and so on.

The circular economy is no longer experimental. In many countries around the world, it is no longer the future but has long been a reality, for example in the Netherlands, Spain and Singapore, to name just a few.

You can see from this charter that it’s not about closing perfect cycles. Although that is of course the ideal goal. The circular economy is much more than that. But at the same time, and this is the great thing: there is the opportunity to start at a very low threshold.

Let us help.

Firstly, by working with you to weigh up your ideas, your starting position and the framework conditions specific to your sector and company size. You don’t have to change your agency for this. No need to spend huge sums on consultancy. We’re talking about a single workshop here. And if you are active in BtoC or BtoBtoC, perhaps we should do a green claims assessment.

Because we are not just an agency and consultancy, but also a Circular Economy think tank.

We are familiar with different industries and their requirements, are constantly developing the specific network and can therefore take a lot of pressure off the projects for you as a ‘thinking point of reference’ and (multi-stakeholder) project management office. As SME experts, we also know how you are doing. Therefore: No theoretical castles in the air from us. Better the keys to the locks right away 😄

Our setup is uncomplicated. Speeches, perhaps a crisp workshop here or there to get topics across to the various departments and management levels, development of strategies exactly according to your possibilities and, if you like, project management. Plus full service from a lean agency with almost no overheads, which you therefore don’t have to pay for.

Get in touch, just let us know what’s on your mind when you read this. Let’s have a low-threshold exchange, we love strategic (re)thinking, are absolutely service-orientated, uncomplicated and, above all, really nice 🍀

The cycles

Ideally, all raw materials should remain in the cycle. A distinction is made between a technical cycle, characterised for example by the reuse of products or materials, and a biological cycle, which ideally leads to the natural composting of products and returns nutrients to nature. See graphic at the top of the page.

Both cycles, the technical and the biological, are influenced by many other criteria, the energy used, the avoidance of toxins or the creation of microplastics, but also social components. All measures should lead towards a comprehensively sustainable form of economy. In as many places and countries as possible.

Circular Economy
Circular Economy

In 2015, the heads of state and government of the 193 member states of the UN jointly adopted an Agenda 2030 in New York City. This is the largest agreement ever concluded worldwide at such a high level of government. This gave rise to the UN Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals are interlinked and take into account all three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. The circular economy is therefore an ideal instrument for implementation. This was reflected in regulatory terms in 2020 in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan as a key part of the EU Green Deal.

But that’s not all. In terms of business, there are fundamental achievements in everyday life in many countries around the world, such as the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain and many others, which are both inspired and reflected back by truly influential organisations such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Cradle to Cradle.

Cradle to Cradle has certified around 17,000 existing circular products, from a French fries fork to entire mid-rise company headquarters in Switzerland. It has also formed the basis for the cutting edge technical developing & planning company Drees & Sommer, the “German Sustainable Building Council” (Deutsche Gesellschaft für nachhaltiges Bauen, DGNB) and so on. Companies such as Werner & Mertz (Frosch) have a very large proportion of their packaging certified according to Cradle to Cradle

All this is our Reason Why: To promote the vision of a Circular Economy and help it to come true.

 

Circular Economy

nice has set itself the task of providing companies with optimal support in this regard and promoting the Circular Economy to target sales groups and stakeholders at the same time.

From our point of view, the decisive success factor for the implementation of a circular economy, if possible globally, is the activation of the sales target groups. Classic marketing offers the means for this without any problems. They are currently not being used due to a strongly felt uncertainty on the part of the OEMs. We understand this in the sense of comprehensibility. However, we believe it is wrong in the medium and long term. Our purpose here is to encourage and strengthen our customers with great strategies and ideas for taking positions such as thought and action leadership, which can have an unparalleled brand effect and serve the common cause in every respect.

Circular Economy

Die Definition von Circular Economy

Circular Economy ist dreierlei: Ein Kompass für Unternehmen, die echte Nachhaltigkeit und ihre unternehmerische Zukunft in Einklang bringen möchten. Ein systemischer Veränderungsansatz für den Umgang mit Ressourcen und nachhaltigen Konsum. Und ein Rahmen für gesellschaftliche Veränderungen, von Politik bis Abfallwirtschaft. nice hat daher eine pragmatische, unideologische Definition erarbeitet. Diese wird sich sicher noch weiterentwickeln aber wir sind überzeugt, dass zielgerichtetes Handeln und sinnvolles Diskutieren gleichermaßen eine gute Ausgangsbasis brauchen. Diese möchten wir mit unserer Definition anbieten.

Circular economy to reduce waste by reusing, repairing, recycling products and materials. Ecology, nature preservation, sustainable development and green business concept. Hand turning knob.

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We, nice network initiative circular economy e.V. (Club seat: Germany), process personal data for the operation of this website only to the extent technically necessary. All details in our privacy policy.
Data protection
We, nice network initiative circular economy e.V. (Club seat: Germany), process personal data for the operation of this website only to the extent technically necessary. All details in our privacy policy.