A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.
In the future, you will know the source of every component in the products you use or manufacture, how it was produced, the energy consumed in its production, perhaps even who will own it next and how much they will pay you for it. This is the natural, inevitable outcome of combining circular economy principles … More The Effects Of Linking The Supply And Reverse Chains
Companies and governments have been discussing the challenges that lie ahead as we enter a period of rapid innovation and change unlike any the world has ever seen. In a previous post we have made a number of observations about the increasing importance of data and connectivity in realizing the Fourth Industrial Revolution and singled … More Will Open Data Save Supply Chains?
Do you realize that we produce about 500 million pallets a year in the US alone to replace the worn pallets that we discard each year? The number of pallets out there is truly staggering. Nearly 2 billion wooden pallets are currently in circulation in the US with a majority of them replaced each year. This … More Wooden Pallets Cost Us More Than You Know!
The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which material flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to re-enter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere. The term encompasses more than … More Is the Circular Economy a Myth?
Setting the stage We talk a lot about sustainability. Climate change, greenhouse (GHG) emissions, carbon footprints and a host of other related topics that bounce around the Internet or become the topic of speakers at countless seminars or conventions around the world and lead us to believe that we’re actually doing something to combat these … More Supply Chain’s Required Paradigm Shifts
Do you realize that we produce 500 million pallets a year in the US alone to replace the worn pallets that we discard each year? The number of pallets out there is truly staggering. Nearly 2 billion wooden pallets are currently in circulation in the US, with a majority of them replaced each year. This … More Here’s how we can eliminate wooden pallets in the supply chain
I read an article the other day that was sent to me by Greenbiz titled, “The art of bringing science to sustainable development”. It’s an interview actually between Mary Hoff, Editor in chief of Ensia and Pavel Kabat, director general of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, a 43-year-old international organization that brings researchers … More Supply Chains Are The Turning Point Towards A Circular Economy!
It seems that there’s a robot available for every conceivable position imaginable these days and it can get quite unnerving if you stop to think about it. What human position or function can you think of that isn’t vulnerable to robotic transplanting? Technology feeds on itself and expands exponentially. What used to take a machine … More Robotics and Job Security in the Supply Chain
According to the Carbon Footprint Calculator found under the “Fleet Tools” drop-down menu at Fleet News in the UK, there is 11.91 Kg of CO2 created with every gallon of diesel burned. If that figure is accurate then let’s apply it to the number of miles traveled by the US fleet. According to Business Insider a single class 8 … More Cool it! Supply Chain’s Carbon Footprint Quantified
Change. This one word can create a world of emotions in the human mind. Change. What’s the first thought that comes to your mind and what, if any, emotions does it stir? This is a question that I’ve often considered as it applies to the human effort to address sustainability, climate change or the desires … More Is This The Tipping Point of Climate Change?
Circular Supply Chains Inc. 