82 4 Case Description and Within-Case Analysis
used in sporting goods or footwear. Organization Zeta mainly uses recycled TPU
for the production of their football cleats which consist of approximately 50 percent
post-industrial TPU. The resulting product has no performance limitations and in
terms of quality is on the same (high) level as traditional cleats.
In addition to the deployment of recycled material, in 2013 the company savedin cotton cutting waste which would otherwise have been disposed or down-cycled.
Through this initiative the organization managed to lower its virgin cotton con-
sumption without compromising the quality of their products. The organization
also reuses the following: cones from yarn manufacturers, the cardboard boxes
used to send out its products and wooden pallets. The organic waste from the
organization’s canteen is used to generate compost and therefore serves as input
to build new resources or to produce natural gas. Metal parts such as broken or
unusable needles or machinery are recycled into new metal usage.
Remanufacturing is another circular economy approach the organizationapplies to move further towards a circular economy. Hence, the organization is
repurposing cutting waste to manufacture smaller items.
Furthermore, the organization engages in circular economy on a process levelwhen using partially renewable energy for its production which is part of the
category circular supplies. As stated above, organic waste from the organization’s
canteen is recycled to produce natural gas. Since 2013, the rate of renewables in the
total energy consumption has remained stable but the total amount of consumed
energy has increased by 7.5 percent due to increased business activity.
4.8.2 Motivation to engage in Circular Economy
Three drivers for engaging in circular economy were identified by the interview
partner. The first is interest in the possibilities of a new concept. Case Zeta embarked
on sustainability initiatives many years ago and has kept an eye on the growing
interest in upscale recycling, resource efficiency, circular economy and closed-loop
production systems. The objective was to test the possibilities, benefits and conse-
quences of circular economy for the organization itself but also for the industry.
The following quote describes this motivation: “We wanted to try recycling collection
to learn what benefits it might bring, and we also wanted to try a Cradle-to-Cradle
process” (see Appendix: German Quote 35).
The second driver is an expected first mover advantage. For the organization,circular economy is seen as a promising concept for the future, as the following
quote shows: “The business case [for implementing circular economy approaches]
is becoming more interesting and the organization with the first mover advantage