180 Building the business case for circularity: the ripple effect

180 Building the business case for circularity: the ripple effect

From Circular Economy Podcast by Catherine Weetman

April 20, 2026 · 37 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the business case for circularity and its impact on value creation and retention in the supply chain.

We’re thinking about the business case: how the circular economy addresses the problem—reducing negative impacts from business—and how it provides benefits – or, in business terminology – how it provides “value”. One way of looking at that is to think about the return we get on our manufactured assets—all the products and packaging we send out through the factory gate. When we look at value, we can think about different aspects, including creating value and retaining existing value in products and materials, as well as how our solution might avoid the destruction of value, compared to existing, linear alternatives. We'll look at why it's important to design solutions that solve real problems and make a positive impact along the whole supply-chain for 3 dimensions of affected parties: including the business, its workers, supply chain partners and investors, as well as future generations. But those who we need to support this, to buy into the business case, and to buy the product or service itself, may not be aware that there is a problem. For example, does everyone know how chemicals in plastics and other products are affecting human health? And, even if they're aware of the…

Topics covered

  • circular economy
  • business case
  • value creation
  • supply chain
  • behavioural change

Keywords

  • negative impacts
  • manufactured assets
  • design solutions
  • human health
  • buyer's journey

More episodes of Circular Economy Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Circular Economy Podcast podcast page.