This is the slide deck presented at our 1st event of a pressing Series on 'Circular Economy & Waste Management' in Asia. 8 million tonnes of plastic leak into the oceans each year, and more than 80% is from Asia! If we don't act now, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish by 2050. It is time for individuals, companies and governments to rethink waste, especially in Asia. Today's linear ‘take, make, dispose’ economic model relies on large quantities of cheap, easily accessible materials and energy, and is a model that is reaching its physical limits. Today 80–120 billion USD of plastic materials is lost to the economy every year (plastic which is used just one time and then incinerated, landfilled or leaked into ocean). This is not just a business loss, but one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. An attractive and viable alternative that governments and businesses are exploring is the Circular Economy. This session - specifically focusing on plastic - brought insights from global business leaders, to social entrepreneurs and waste pickers who are all beginning to see waste not as trash, but as a resource. In emerging countries, managing waste has even become a solution to uplift people out of poverty. As the issue keeps growing, new regulations (such as Extended Producer Responsibility) have started to come into effect across Asia, making brands & producers responsible for recycling their post-consumer waste. Our speakers shared what it implies for big brands and each of us.

5. 7 TYPES OF PLASTICS

6. LET’S DIVE RIGHT IN
BY LOOKING AT PLASTICS TO UNDERSTAND WHY CIRCULAR
ECONOMY IS IMPORTANT

7. 1907 2007
IMAGE: Mission BlueIMAGE: Photo Researchers Inc

8. HOW DID WE GET HERE?

9. ONLY OTHER THING THAT HAS GROWN AS FAST -
SINGAPORE!

10. 8 MILLION TONNES EVERY YEAR INTO OCEANS
=
1 LARGE GARBAGE TRUCK PER MINUTE
IMAGE: Why Files IMAGE: EarthZine

11. IMAGE: CNN
85% OF MISMANAGED PLASTIC IS FROM ASIA

12. PLASTIC ENDS UP IN GIANT OCEAN GYRES
IMAGE: NASA

13. IMAGE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation
USED FOR DAYS, TAKES 100’S OF YEARS TO DECOMPOSE

14. IMAGE: Guardian
YOU ARE EATING PLASTIC

15. HOW DO WE FIX IT?
GOING CIRCULAR

16. THE LINEAR ECONOMY WASTES RESOURCES
WASTE IS “DESIGNED OUT”
IMAGE: spenditrightubc.wordpress.com

17. BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS -
RETURNED TO THE SOIL OR USED AS ENERGY
IMAGE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

18. TECHNICAL MATERIALS (LIKE PLASTICS) -
DESIGNED TO BE RECOVERED, UPGRADED, REPAIRED, ETC
IMAGE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

19. CURRENT HOUSEHOLD ‘WASTE’

20. Household ‘Waste’
Landfill
OrganicPlastic Metal Paper Glass Non-Recyclable
Recycling
CURRENT HOUSEHOLD ‘WASTE’
Electronics

21. Household ‘Waste’
Landfill
Organic Non-Recyclable
Recycling Biogas
WE WOULD HAVE MATERIAL FLOWS
Plastic Metal Paper Glass Electronics

22. THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY ISN’T NEW
IT’S JUST THAT THE PRESSURE IS NOW GREATER THAN EVER

23. WE ARE USING 1.6 TIMES THE EARTH’S CAPACITY

24. PRICE VOLATILITY

25. MATERIALS RUN OUT

26. $1 TRILLION OF FOOD IS WASTED EACH YEAR

27. WASTE GENERATION IS GROWING EXPONENTIALLY

28. GOVERNMENT TAX - EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY
IMAGE: OECD

29. $80-120 BILLION OF PLASTIC PACKAGING THROW AWAY
YEARLY
IMAGE: SALT

30. THAT’S EQUIVALENT TO 6 TIMES CAMBODIA’S ECONOMY

31. BECAUSE THE VAST MAJORITY OF PLASTICS ARE NOT RECYCLED

32. EVERYONE HATES LANDFILLS

33. BY CURRENT RATES - OUR COSTS WILL QUADRUPLE
IMAGE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

34. CAN PLASTIC PACKAGING BE CIRCULAR?

35. HERE’S HOW WE GET THERE - REDESIGN, REUSE, RECYCLE

36. FUNDAMENTAL REDESIGN

37. “DESIGN OUT” WASTE & DESIGN FOR AN END USE
REPLACE PS/EPS & PVCINNOVATE
REDESIGN / DESIGN OUT SCALE UP

38. WORLD’S FIRST RECYCLABLE FLEXIBLE POUCH

39. REUSE

40. REFILLABLE PRODUCTS
SAVING PACKAGING, TRANSPORT & ENERGY COSTS

41. OTHER WAYS OF RETHINKING REUSE

42. RADICALLY IMPROVED RECYCLING

43. IMPROVING RECYCLING ECONOMICS & QUALITY

44. EASIER TO COLLECT FROM CITIES THAN OCEANS
IT’S ALSO A LOT CHEAPER

45. WASTE TO WEALTH - UPLIFTING THE INFORMAL SECTOR

46. OTHER KEY STEPS FOR RECYCLING IN ASIA
LEGISLATION &
INFRASTRUCTURE
EDUCATION/
INVENTIVES
LABELLING + +

47. A NEW MINDSET:
WHERE WASTE BECOMES
RESOURCE
URBANISATION -> 3X GROWTH IN
URBAN WASTE IN ASIA BY 2025!
SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC,
SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL
RETURNS
QUICK RECAP

48. RISING PER CAPITA WASTE IN ASIA - ‘GARBAGE TSUNAMI’

49. WE NEED TO COLLABORATE & THINK SYSTEMICALLY
Fossil Fuel
Eg. Shell
Polymer Supplier
Eg. Dow
Plastic Manufacturer
Eg. Amcor
FMCG Company
Eg. P&G
Consumer
Waste Management
Companies
Govt

50. SYSTEMS THINKING TO GO CIRCULAR

51. Introducing
Forum for the Future
Forum for the Future is an independent, international
non-profit with a 20 year track record in driving
sustainable development.
Our purpose is to accelerate the big shift to a
sustainable future by transforming whole systems.

52. What we do with partners
to reinvent the way the world works
1Innovate solutions to
systemic challenges
2Develop and deliver
transformational
strategies
3Equip people to drive
systemic change

53. We partner with pioneering companies who recognise that
sustainability issues are already shaping their business context today,
and want to actively create the conditions for their future success.

54. Business opportunity
• Drive business and industrial
innovation
• New sources of value creation
• Aligns with business priorities
(i.e. eco-efficiency, risk
management, decarbonisation,
lean thinking, resilience)
Why circular economy?
external pressures + business opportunity
External pressures
• Rising costs for material, energy,
land and water
• Risk of resource constraints and
price volatility
• Growing legislation placing
responsibility on business

55. Forum for the Future,
2015
However…
barriers to achieving CE are complex & systemic

56. Forum for the Future (2015)
Barriers are complex & systemic
requiring action across several spheres

57. “The systemic nature of the circular economy requires
both the ecosystem and its individual components to
change. This means that governance, regulation
and business models could potentially be even
more important to achieving the transition than
design and engineering.”
Gregory Hodkinson, Chairman, Arup (September 2016)
It’s not just about the technology
trust an engineer!

58. Forum for the Future,
2015
Where to start??

59. Our circular economy investigations revealed
the need for a value network perspective
Disruptive innovation requires new
relationships to access to a greater
variety of assets and capabilities.
Circular business models requires
re-aligned interests so there is a
new flow of value to drive the more
sustainable performance.
To get started you need a dynamic
community of interested parties – the
‘source material’ for new relationships
The main barriers to a circular
economy are not primarily
technical
There are circular business
models
Thinking in terms of
‘business model’ is useful
Yes!
Sort of
As it turns
out, not
really!
= value network

60. Value network?
here’s an example
• Industrial aluminium company,
HQ-ed in the US, subsidiary of
Aditya Birla (Indian
conglomerate)
• World’s largest producer of rolled
aluminium sheet
• Serves customers in automotive,
beverage cans, consumer
electronics and construction
sectors
• World’s largest aluminium recycler
• 2020 targets:
• Zero waste to landfill (from 60 K mt baseline)
• 80% recycled metal content (up from 30% baseline
announced in 2011, achieved 53% in 2016)
• Minimise primary aluminium input
• 95% reduction in GHG emissions associated with primary
aluminium production
• Minimise aluminium waste generated by customer
production processes and consumer use of end-product

61. Novelis
an example

62. Novelis
an example
To close the loop on materials,
there is a huge amount of
knowledge transfer required
between different players in the
value network
Blue arrows → where Novelis
cannot make change happen
on its own

63. Novelis
an example

64. Novelis
an example

65. A value network perspective
not a simple feat
• Challenges traditional areas of control and
influence - and encourages greater
collaboration
• For some this may mean relinquishing control
and sharing the ownership (and value) of the
results
• “Giving up part of the pie to grow the pie”

66. Source: McKinsey
ReSOLVE framework
Almost every company has a role to play

67. Impact first: As an NGO, we exist to catalyse change, and
that’s our sole motivation.
Positive and ambitious: We believe a sustainable future is
possible - we’re tracking signals all the time - but we’ll only work
with people who share our appetite for bold leadership.
Partnership and collaboration: System change is only
possible when ‘unusual suspects’ work together – we make that
happen.
Forum for the Future is an
independent, global non-profit with a
20 year track record in driving change
towards a sustainable future.
www.forumforthefuture.org
@forum4thefuture
Jiehui Kia