Voices of the stakeholders

What are the challenges for SMEs to implementing circular business models?    

By 2050, it is expected that manufacturing produces four times more goods and services added value than 2017 (doubling production output), and it needs to be able to do this while aiming to zero waste, near to zero climate change emissions and using half its current resources. Digital technologies are shown to perform a potential role in developing a resource efficient industrial base. These requires awareness and transformation of the manufacturing processes to considerably reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency shifting towards the circular economy paradigm and adopting high-performance components, machines and robots that optimize the consumption of materials and energy. Moreover, the uptake of circular business models is expected to create great employment particularly in recycling and remanufacturing. Anyway, it is important to highlight that there are many barriers which can pose challenges to SMEs in their transition to a circular economy. Even if many studies explain that the benefits are expected to overcame these challenges, circular economy concepts, such as reducing demand for new raw materials and help mitigating both demand-driven price volatility on raw material markets and supply risks, are still poorly understood. Other barriers could be financial and legislative more than technical ones; unfortunately, many of them are still unresolved in the current legislative framework at European level.

And what are the potential key benefits?

SMEs are aware of the benefits of circular economy business models such as saving raw material costs as well as reducing scarce material dependency, so creating competitive advantages, and hopefully accessing new markets. However, SMEs often do not consider circular economy business models as opportunities to achieve a competitive advantage. This does not mean that they are against this transformation, but rather that their main focus is on their core business. SMEs can be the ‘hidden’ leaders of the macroeconomic development towards a circular economy, but due to the aforementioned barriers and knowledge lacks, the micro-level optimization behavior of SMEs often stands in the way of circular businesses.

What do you think about the integration between additive manufacturing and circular economy?

The combination between additive manufacturing and circular economy is relevant as additive manufacturing makes possible to close the loops by using waste to generate new value-added products. For example, a circular economy and additive manufacturing project has been developed in the city of Genoa (Italy). A company realized gadget ’made in Genoa’ by 3D printer using plastic waste collected in the city and at the University of Genoa. Another example of integration between additive and circular principles is represented by textile industries. Recycled filaments can be rABS, rHIPS, rPET and rPLA which are derived from automotive industry, commercial leftovers and white consumer goods. However, it is important to highlight that there are some technological barriers in combining additive manufacturing with circular economy practices, such as the adoption of various type of waste as inputs to the printers and delivering higher value-added products. One of these challenges is that the addressable market is contingent on the adoption of additive manufacturing in industry and by consumers. Another challenge for companies is addressing the recycling of additive materials is the diversity of additive technologies and the different forms of materials these machines use. Therefore, the AMICE project aims to understand the potentials of this prominent combination with the aim to create a network of companies, RTOs and policy makers that together can drive the circular economy transformation and offer support to companies that want to approach this paradigm.