The first batch of companies to take advantage of the consultancy support provided by Zero Waste Scotland are progressing with plans to further develop their circular economy ideas.
The business support service provides one to one consultancy support to help companies explore more circular ways of doing business. This could be looking at business models around sharing resources, modular design, reuse and repair, remanufacturing and reprocessing, and see companies benefit from help identifying opportunities, developing their business case, assess market conditions and marketing their product or service.
KR Steel, Grampian Housing Association, Glencraft, Kings Community Foundation and two fish processing companies are now working with consultants to develop their ideas and determine if they can be taken forward.
If successful, some ideas may then proceed to the next stage, and could apply to secure a share of the circular economy investment fund, a pot of £18m available as grant funding through Zero Waste Scotland to support SMEs and help them create a more circular economy. It’s backed by support from the Scottish Government and European Regional Development Fund.
Circular North-east project manager Terri Vogt said: “It is great to see a number of local companies benefiting from this support and progressing their business ideas. The opportunities they have identified are wide-ranging from looking at supply chain models, through to reuse options, finding alternative uses for waste, and the total elimination of plastics from the manufacturing process.
“These are diverse organisations working in very different sectors, which really demonstrates the breadth of opportunity that exists for circular economy thinking. On completion, these businesses will have a clear picture of the benefits and costs of their proposed intervention and a well-defined pathway towards implementation which may be eligible for further funding.
Louise McGregor, head of circular economy at Zero Waste Scotland, said: “We are delighted to be working with such a diverse range of businesses to help them realise the benefits of the circular economy.
“More and more businesses are seeing the potential of adopting a circular approach. The circular economy focusses on retaining the value of the materials we use and avoiding waste. This not only offers big opportunities, it will also help deliver the dramatic carbon savings needed to tackle climate change. Our circular economy business support service delivers tailored, expert, one-to-one consultancy directly to SMEs to help them play a leading role in this exciting change.”
If you have an idea and would like to explore funding options please contact Terri Vogt at terri.vogt@agcc.co.uk
The circular economy business support service and the circular economy investment fund are part of the resource efficiency circular economy accelerator programme, which will invest £73m in circular economy and resource efficiency projects, thanks to support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).