The circular economy and water
The circular economy is the alternative to the current – essentially linear – economy. While the linear economy is based on the ‘take, make, dispose’ approach to materials and energy, the circular economy is founded on the principle of ‘circular by design’. Products and processes are designed with their maximum reuse in mind. ‘From use to reuse’: that’s the essence of this paradigm change. But the idea not only refers to closing the loop for materials, energy and water, it also concerns the circular economy’s organization and its embedding in the socio-economic system. According to ISO 59004:2024 – Circular economy — Vocabulary, principles and guidance for implementation: “The long term vision of a circular economy is, by design, to provide appropriate solutions for the reduced, efficient and effective use of resources, and to prevent harmful releases, losses and environmental degradation when meeting social needs”.
Given the vital importance of water, finding solutions for the complex water-related challenges worldwide is absolutely fundamental. The growing freshwater scarcity at the global level, the impact of climate change and quality deterioration of surface and groundwater are just some of the examples of those challenges. The economic importance is clear: water related issues are part of the top three global risks which are annually identified by the World Economic Forum. But water is not an isolated domain. On the contrary, it is highly connected to the economy at large, especially to the energy and food sectors, the so-called Water – Energy – Food nexus. Framed in the proper socio-economic context, innovative concepts and technologies are key to addressing these challenges.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (Water, Food and Energy | UN-Water (unwater.org))
Allied Waters’ approach is to let sustainability and economics go hand in hand. We focus on conceptual innovations and technologies that have typically reached Technology Readiness Levels of 7 and above. Allied Waters applies a hybrid working model jointly with partners, each in their specific role: public authority, commercial nterprise, research center or ‘launching customer’.
Moving towards the circular economy: our Circularity matrix
In a circular economy both circularity/sustainability and economics are key. Based on those principles we developed the Allied Waters (AW) Circularity matrix:
- Gold stars: the reflection of the motto ‘sustainability and economics going hand in hand’
- Moonshots: highly circular, however need additional drivers and/or creative thinking in order to become economical
- Dead end streets: any ongoing business lacking a sustainability/circularity perspective; unfortunately the major part of our present economy
- No man’s land: to be avoided for obvious reasons
How to move moonshots to gold stars?
The philosophy behind the circular economy concept is great. Now the question is, how to make it happen?
We think that, like in a conventional economy, creating market pull is a healthy mechanism to get things moving. In our approach we stimulate market pull across a combination of different tracks:
- Creating value (USP) based on a truly sustainable profile
- Saving costs in the value chain, including social cost-benefit analysis
- Rethinking the business model, if appropriate
- Acquiring co-funding through dedicated investments, grants or tax benefits
Complex issues require an integrated approach, which nobody can do alone. Allied Waters is happy to support your ambitions in a circular economy.
Interested? Please contact us here.