5.3 Practical Challenges for Realizing Benefits in a Circular Economy 12 3
12 3
lies far in the future and organizations are not able to receive their resources back
until then. In case Epsilon, products are durable and the investment in circulatable
material will only pay back when customers return their products. This is expected
in around eight to ten years. Hence, in this case the organizations stock of materials
is with their customers. For case Epsilon, this is a long-term investment which will
only pay off if resource prices increase and customers return their products at the
end of the lifecycle, as described in this quote, “Currently it is cheaper to buy new
resources. In 10-15 years that will be different” (see Appendix: German Quote 32).
The three sub-categories described above reveal that organizations face signifi-cant increased entrepreneurial efforts when implementing circular economy. These
risks might prevent other organizations interested in engaging in the concept from
doing so. It is necessary to resolve this challenge in order to support and foster a
transition towards circular economy.