98 5 Result of Analysis and Interpretations
This is because the circular economy approaches as described in the framework
in chapter 2.3.7 offer many opportunities for the transformation of the business
towards circular economy. Data shows that three aspects can differentiate circular
economy implementation approaches: type, amount, and maturity level.
According to the framework underlying this thesis organizations can chosebetween seven different types of circular economy approaches to implement the
circular economy concept. This offers a variety of possibilities to the organization
and leads to a great range of different implementation modes. Results show that
organizations that have chosen the same approach differ highly in the concrete
implementation, even within the same industry. More differences exist even across
industries. The next section illustrates this fact with an example of the often-imple-
mented circular economy approach ‘circular supplies on product level’.
In case Alpha, the organization established an infrastructure to take back theircirculatable products at the end of the lifecycle and recycle, refurbish, and reuse
the material. Therefore, customers are encouraged to return their worn out clothes
to collection boxes in the company-own stores. In cooperation with recyclers and
suppliers the organization is able to maintain this closed production circle. The
closed-loop production of case Zeta is similar to this one. In contrast, case Beta,
which is in the same industry, didn’t establish a recycling infrastructure. Instead
the organization manufactures biodegradable products, which can be directly
composted by the customer. Hence, no effort for the establishment and maintenance
of the recycling infrastructure is necessary. On the other side, the organization is
limited to material that belongs to the biological cycle and is biodegradable. The
cases Gamma and Epsilon have also chosen the circular economy approach circular
supplies but are both still unaware how to handle the end of the product lifecycle.
While case Gamma is considering the involvement of third parties to remove and
recycle the parquet, case Epsilon is thinking of incentivizing the customers in a
way to ensure their motivation to return the product at the end of the lifecycle.
The section above illustrates that the same approach can be implemented in many
different ways according to the organizational and product characteristics. This
often leads to different experiences, challenges, and impacts derived from the
circular economy concept.
But not only can the type of circular economy approach and its concrete imple-mentation vary, but also the amount of circular economy approaches chosen by one
organization is a distinguishing characteristic. The implementation of the circular
economy concept is not limited to one approach. It is actually quite the opposite,
as organizations are able to implement multiple circular economy approaches.
There are cases in this study that have implemented up to five different circular
economy approaches, such as case Alpha. But the majority of cases focus on one