Make the circular economy a reality and keep it rolling

IN THE past century, human ingenuity resulting from vast technological advancements accelerated growth in many countries across the developed world.

This was evident in the last three industrial revolutions that propelled economic progress and raised living standards. Mobility was further boosted with the advent of the automobile and electric power and the growth of the manufacturing sector.

Today, we are in the midst of the fourth Industrial Revolution, centred on communication and connectivity, with the rise of deep technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence. While we seem to have made the jump to a developed society in many ways, our progress has come at a price. We have depleted resources and damaged nature due to our quest for economic growth.

If left unchecked, we will damage our planet and ourselves. In many cases, the damage is already too visible. Countries in the South Pacific risk the prospect of vanishing thanks to rising sea levels caused by global warming. In South-east Asia, we have to deal with the annual haze caused by forest burning. South America now has its own version of the haze due to fires in the Amazon.

This environmental degradation is not sustainable and we need a way to grow prosperity without further damage to the planet and ultimately to ourselves. What do we do?

Thought leaders like Clayton Christensen believe we can do this through disruptive innovation. Economies need to move from being linear to circular. This will shift our reliance on finite resources to renewable ones. It will also make systems more efficient in order to eliminate waste in the creation of products or services.

To make the circular economy a reality, we need entrepreneurs to study its nuances. They should identify the sectors which are ripe for disruption. As they work to identify these sectors, they also need to gauge whether these sectors align with their competencies.

The entrepreneur also needs to take the business environment into consideration as this plays a major role in consumer behaviour. For example, Covid-19 has devastated economies around the world as consumers have stayed away from going out to purchase things.

However, entrepreneurs can find opportunity in a crisis. Healthcare and pharmaceuticals have seen greater investment as the world rushes to find a cure for Covid-19. Hard-hit industries like tourism and hospitality have been forced to restructure to find new markets as their traditional markets shrink.

For example, the Singapore Tourism Board is looking to boost domestic tourism to make up for the lost international market through creative efforts such as the "SingapoRediscovers" campaign.

Hotels are promoting a novel twist on Work from Home with "Work From Hotel" packages, so as to make up for the lost occupancy from international tourist arrivals.

Entrepreneurs must identify themselves as stakeholders, not just for their respective organisations but also the world. The environment has been a victim of human greed and solving environmental damage should be a priority. Changing the way we do business should involve protecting nature and preserving our existing precious resources that help support the circular economy.

COLLABORATIVE APPROACH

This entails a more collaborative approach that needs to be embedded within the processes and systems of organisations.

One such initiative is ideasinc 2020 - a nationwide startup challenge, organised by NTUitive which pushes along the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is looking for challenges and solutions centred on themes of resilience and sustainability. Some of our participating teams have come up with very innovative ideas that pave the way for a circular economy to be sustained in Singapore.

Magorium aims to use their technology to recycle plastic waste by converting it into road additives. In doing so, not only is plastic waste recycled, roads are also improved from adding our waste-converted material.

Another example is Linens N Love which wants to redistribute linens in hotels - a huge problem in hotels - to the vulnerable in our community, such as migrant worker shelters, children's homes and animal rescue shelters.

Initiatives such as ideasinc seek to encourage and support interesting ideas like the above from the participating teams - not only to promote entrepreneurship among our population but also to find solutions to existing challenges faced by society and the environment.

We need to cultivate a culture of inclusiveness where everyone can come together - community, businesses, social organisations and academic institutions - to ensure that we prosper in a sustainable manner.

For a circular economy to flourish, social entrepreneurship needs to be encouraged and efforts have to be under way to focus on alleviating the issues ailing society. This needs to be incentivised by institutions such as government bodies and venture capitalists.

In this way, people, planet and profits can flourish in unison, which is how a circular economy can successfully be driven and supported by entrepreneurship.