Melanie Wiener, Markus Gall, Cintia Chagas de Oliveira, Reinhold Lang,
"Circular Business Model Innovation - Insights from Mr. Green Africa"
: Proceedings of the 19th International CINet Conference - Continuous Innovation: Spinning out and spinning in, 2018
Original Titel:
Circular Business Model Innovation - Insights from Mr. Green Africa
Sprache des Titels:
Englisch
Original Buchtitel:
Proceedings of the 19th International CINet Conference - Continuous Innovation: Spinning out and spinning in
Original Kurzfassung:
The conventional linear industrial economy ? also referred to as ?take-make-waste paradigm? focuses on optimizing production processes and reducing costs, aiming to increase the material welfare of billions of customers, often at the expense of environment and/or parts of society. This research looks closer at what is these days often regarded the iconic hallmark of this unsustainably wasteful material metabolism: plastics. The leading question is if a radical change of an unsustainable business model to a circular one might in return lead to a downturn of the social and/or economic pillar. The case of investigation is Mr. Green Africa ? a sustainability-oriented Kenyan for-profit organization processing recyclables sourced from local waste pickers. The findings show that this company managed to improve the quality of recycled plastics to the extent needed for actual circularity. Nevertheless, they had to innovate their business model to avert compromising on the social and economic pillars.