74 4 Case Description and Within-Case Analysis
behind and so he chose to engage with the concept early on. This gave case Delta
time to test the concept and to see what works and what does not. “This is what
drives me. I am convinced that this is something very important for us. We can enter
a whole new economy. We are able to re-engineer things from the 20th century in the
21 st century” (see Appendix: German Quote 21).
4.6.3 Challenges for the Implementation
The main challenge identified by case Delta is higher prices for circulatable resources.
Currently, circular economy products are not able to compete with conventional
products pricewise due to higher resource prices. Components specifically made to
substitute other conventional components in a product are expensive. One reason
for this is low production volumes, as described by the interviewee: “We try to reach
the same price level but we are not able to do so because the Polymer is specifically
produced for us, in a very small quantity. In 2015, the first 200 tons will be produced.
This means the production volume worldwide is 200 tons in comparison to a product
like Polyester which has a production volume of 5 million tons. It is impossible to
compete with this product” (see Appendix: German Quote 22).
Only if more manufactures demand the substituting component and the produc-tion volumes increase there is the possibility that prices may decrease. A consequence
of higher prices is that although today polyester can be replaced by biodegradable
material, only a limited amount of organizations are willing to do so. The higher
costs are a barrier to entering the market for many companies. Engagement in this
issue by a large number of organizations is required to increase demand and the
production volume and to reduce prices. The company representative explains it
as follows: “The Polymer has a higher price because we only produce 200 tons per
year. If we produce 2000 tons it would become 1/3 cheaper. If we produce 10000 tons
the price of Polymer would be 40 percent less” (see Appendix: German Quote 23).
The other challenge the organization faces is technological limitations. Oneexample is the polymer the organization uses. At present, this polymer is made out
of petroleum, yet it is possible to produce this substance out of cornstarch. Only
one company is capable of doing this but further research is necessary to avoid any
conflicts with the food supply chain.
Further challenging is the need to increase the number of real substitutes. Thedecision to invent a biodegradable product line instead of a product line belonging
to the technical cycle has been driven by the fact that the latter would impose major
limitations on the production process, which this quote explains: “Of course there
is an idea to have products being in material circles endlessly but this is only possible