4.4 Case Beta 61
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Table 8 Overview of circular economy approach of case Beta
Innovation Type Circular Economy Approach Organization
Beta
Product
Innovation
(Changes the
product)Circular Supplies (e.g. creation of products which
are fully circulatable)xResource recovery (e.g. creation of new products to
use up leftovers from the production line)
Remanufacturing (e.g. implementation of new
products which can be built from the reusable parts
of the original product)
Process
Innovation
(Changes the
process)Circular Supplies (e.g. use of renewable energy for
the production line)xOrganizational
Innovation
(Changes or adds
a business model)Sharing Platform (e.g. enable customers to extend
the use of their products)
Product as a Service (e.g. sell the products access,
internalize the lifecycle management)
Product Life Extension (e.g. gather used products
and resell them if possible, replace certain parts of
the product)The first circular economy approach the organization has chosen to implement
is circular supplies on product level. After prototyping for almost two years, the
organization launched its first biodegradable product line in 2006. A biodegradable
product line means that the customer is able to dispose of the product into his/
her own compost and the materials will be fully biodegradable. The organization
has no plans to retrieve its products at the end of their lifecycle to ensure that they
are properly composted or that the materials used to make its products are reused.
The second circular economy approach the organization has decided to imple-ment is circular supplies on process level and it is using renewable energy. All
energy consumed on the main production site is produced in the company’s own gas
turbines and two cogeneration units (in German: Blockheizkraftwerk). Moreover,
the organization has been producing solar energy since 2007 at a total of 6000m².
This energy is used by the organization itself as well as provided to the general grid.