Circular products

There are various solutions available to implement circular applications within an organisation. Given that parties in the procurement process describe their plan to meet your objectives, criteria other than price are decisive for your choice.

Finding the best circular solution starts with the question 'what does circularity mean to me and what do I want to achieve with it?’ In the procurement process you may find yourself comparing 'apples and oranges', which certainly doesn’t make it any easier to make a choice. So try to get as many objective figures as possible in your request for tender, for example CO2 impact.

The best way to make an objective choice for a circular solution is to set up a committee. Based on what you want to achieve, you thereby involve those who are responsible for this in the procurement and decision-making process. HR input is required if the objective is to increase employee satisfaction.

In such a committee, everyone contributes subjectivity by assessing a solution. By bringing these opinions together and attaching an objective score, it becomes objective. For example, the least suitable solution is given a '1' and the best solution is given a '3'. You can also assign a weighting to the scores of specific departments. So if HR is the main goal, then their score will weigh more heavily in the decision.

Coffee is popular at pretty much all companies. Check with your current waste service provider whether used cardboard coffee cups can be collected separately to use as raw material for new products. Ideally, you should in turn buy these new products yourself.

Looking for quick wins for circular solutions? Carry out an analysis to see where something can be changed quickly. Our advice is to start with the current KPI's and see whether you can add circularity to them. Other quick wins:

• Analyse your waste streams. Find out the source of the majority of the waste. Think about what you can do to reduce this.
• Examine where in the organisation similar logistic movements are taking place. You will often find an overlap between processes, which you can combine.
• Communicate the process internally. What is currently being done with regard to circularity? This encourages colleagues to think along and take action.

Wondering how a cycle will help you to reduce your organisation's residual waste? Read this case study and discover how de Volksbank reduces its residual waste by turning coffee cups into hygienic paper.