If you’ve traveled this blog at all in the past few months, you might have noticed that we’ve mentioned “circular economy” more than once or twice. But in reviewing these moments, we’ve noticed that the application might be a bit beyond most of us. Big corporations and massive undertakings are surely one way to employ an economy that's circular, but there are also ways to be circular that hit a bit closer to home.

What circular means, really

Being circular with your economy means that you’ve intentionally rerouted the waste, or excess, your business makes back into the sourcing track. This can be done with anything from raw materials for manufacturing, to ideas generated in a brainstorming session. The breakthrough, however, comes from understanding the intent.

Anything and everything we do has both a source and a waste component to it. The problem is, we spend most of our time focused on the consumption—or even the process to get to the consumption—since that’s the “what” behind most of our businesses. But that leaves the two most important—and inevitable aspects of any business wide open for neglect. And neglect is almost always unsustainable.

Why circular is so sustainable

At its root, sustainability is a mindset devoted to creating systems that don’t exhaust themselves. After all, to sustain something means to keep doing it… potentially forever. Becoming more efficient with behaviors and processes is certainly one way to sustain something for longer. But, to achieve the “forever” of sustainability, you need to account for those two neglected ends of the cycle.

Let’s illustrate this with something everyone can relate to: how we eat. First, we source the ingredients for our meal (either from the pantry or the grocery), then we prepare it through a process, we consume it, and then we toss the remnants in the garbage. So, let’s take this simple example and force it into a circular construct.

Making circular work

First and foremost, when considering making something sustainable, source and waste need to be “closed,” or sustainably accounted for. Well, there are two ways to do this: 1. find a naturally-renewable source method for your food—like, say, your garden, or 2. create a renewable source with something that is naturally occurring.

For the waste, you could: 1. use it for something else that might be beneficial (like feeding the dog), or 2. Find an alternative use for it, like composting.

The clue to making this circular is the word “renewable.” In this simple illustration, we see renewable as an option in the sourcing column, while we also know that waste from food prep and consumption is an ongoing thing—or renewable event. And that’s our link!

By zeroing in on the end of the stream as having a renewable resource—rather than the dregs of something that was once useful, you can see the potential for a sustainable, circular system. Source from the garden food that, once processed and consumed, can become scraps for the compost to feed the garden. Now, with the loop closed, we can spend all the time we want focusing on making the middle process and consumption steps more efficient.

Okay, to see just how sustainable something circular is, go ahead and scale it. The more produce you grow, the more compost, you make—which, when put back in the source column, allows you to grow even more produce. Obviously, there are other factors—each a thing we can look at through this same lens—but that scalability you see playing out is the true power of a circular economy.

So, what does this have to do with my business?

Let’s take this illustration and apply it to your business. Even if you’re not manufacturing anything, you still have to source things, right? And, inevitably, you’ll have waste to deal with. The best example of this would be with electronic devices. Nearly every business in this country uses computers and smartphones to operate. And with most electronic devices, upgrading is necessary within a few short years.

Any business, after a few years, will have to source new equipment while removing their older devices.

As you scale your business, this problem of upgrades creating e-waste increases—almost exponentially, in some cases. But, let me guess: you’ve been more focused on the processes and sales (consumers) of your product or service than on how sustainable your IT procurement is, right? Most of us are. And those ends are wagging out there, making your head hurt and wallet pinch.

The good news is that looking at how to create a circular economy throughout your company will make everything you do more sustainable and efficient. So, to make this problem of electronic devices more circular, consider sourcing used or refurbished devices (a renewable source), or updating your existing IT assets rather than upgrading to new devices.

And with any e-waste, you can just redeploy those devices within your own company as it grows. Or you can resell or donate the devices to generate some revenue or tax credit, respectively. This may not put the waste right back in your immediate source column, but it keeps it “flowing,” nonetheless. In fact, the more you can keep your devices out of the recycle bin, the better.

Making sense of all this circular reasoning

We’ve covered why circular thinking is more sustainable, we’ve established parameters for a circular economy (source = waste = source, etc.), and we’ve shown a way to be circular within something that nearly all of us deal with every day (electronic devices). But what’s the take-away?

Thankfully, there has been a lot of talk about circular economies and the sustainability of being circular to support the benefits of this behavior. The increase in efficiency alone should be reason enough to scrutinize your business practices. But are there other benefits? Here’s a short list of the best reasons to go circular, to get you thinking:

1. It’s sustainability at its finest – forget LED bulbs; a circular economy tops the charts for best sustainable practices.
2. It’s optimum efficiency – we mentioned this above, but it’s worth saying again. Who doesn’t want to be more efficient?
3. It’s self-promoting – finding a way to use your own byproducts for your source material helps your business first.
4. It’s scalable – remember our illustration? If you want to grow your business, true circularity can grow right along with you.
5. It’s profitable – if you can share your waste (in a good way), you can reap financial benefits that are literally being thrown away otherwise.

Now, surely you can add to this list the more specific you get with your own processes. But, at least this gives you an idea of how powerful this thinking can be. And we know, because we’ve built a business off of it.

At Sage, we help businesses become more circular with their IT Asset Management. Many times, we can save or even give our customers significant cash through our refurbishment, redeployment, and employee purchase programs. And with our GoodTogether program, we can facilitate donor relationships for targeted and timely donations that help everyone involved.

So, what do you think? Can you become more circular in your own economies? Does your business already tackle this issue with something? If so, let us know what it is on one of our social channels. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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