Both concepts are presented as being the central role of private sector businesses due to the level of control and use of resources and capabilities (Crane and Matten 2016). However, the issue of stakeholder collaboration also infers that public sector organisations also need to be part of this drive towards increased implementation of sustainability and the Circular Economy.
Both concepts present the issue of business model innovation as the key driver for transformation of industry process. This process of innovation will include the need to undertake complex problem-solving (Proctor 2014); innovation (Trott 2017) and the development of new business models (Osterwalder and Pigneur 2010; Teece 2010). The issue of business model innovation will also draw from business research into entrepreneurship and business models supporting a multi-disciplinary approach to the concepts of sustainability and the Circular Economy (Lewis and Maslin 2018; Pauli 2017; Geissdoerfer et al 2017).
Both concepts agree that technological solutions are important but that these also present implementation problems (Geissdoerfer et al 2017). For example, complex human activities such as those undertaken in logistics are difficult to replicate based on the current level of technology (Cosimato and Troisi 2015). Furthermore, the materials required for technology may also create harm for both the environment and for societal stakeholders due to the issue of mining and the exploitation of workers in developing countries to acquire these minerals (Blowfield and Murray 2014).
The secondary data also indicated that there was also a time lag between expected activities to address increased levels of sustainability and the Circular Economy and the actual level of activities. One of the global initiatives which has been implemented to encourage the increased level of sustainable practices in businesses is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] which provide a number of targets for businesses to take on board and work towards (United Nations SDG 2019). These have seen organisations adopt targets which are important and specific to the organisation and to be able to undertake and report on the organisational performance on these areas (United Nations SDG 2019; Blowfield and Murray 2014). An example of an organisation undertaking the SDGs is Unilever which has set itself a a target of improving the health and well-being of 1 billion people by 2020 through a range of initiatives including education on hygiene and providing its products in underserved markets (Unilever 2019).
4.1.2 Differences between sustainability and the Circular Economy
The differences between sustainability and the Circular Economy can be based upon a range of issues including the different held perspectives such as a focus on the environment; the goals and motivations of the stakeholder; the priorities of the business; the benefits to stakeholders; the timeframes and the acceptance of responsibilities (figure i) (Lewis and Maslin 2018; Geissdoerfer et al 2017).
Figure i) Selected differences between Sustainability and the Circular Economy (adapted from Geissdoerfer et al 2017).
Sustainability
Circular Economy
Origins of the term
Environmental perspective; government and non-government organisations (Geissdoerfer et al 2017; Mulvihill and Harris Ali 2017)
Different schools of thought including cradle-to-cradle; political agendas; regulations (Dobson 2016)
Goals
Open-ended dependent on a variety of stakeholder interests (Crane and Matten 2016)
Closed loop with elimination of resource emissions as the primary goal (Braungart and McDonough 2009)
Main motivation
Diverse and adaptive (Geissdoerfer et al 2017)
Better resource use through a shift from linear to ci
