Waste to Wealth: The Circular Economy Advantage

Long awaited, book as all that i dreamt of

Arrived quickly and exactly as described

There's a saying about 'sustainability strategy' books in print, known by some of us who have worked in the space more than a few years. Most such books are best viewed in terms of utility as "soft, absorbent, and exceptionally strong" to quote the 1980's BBC series "Blackadder" (the original reference is to WWI propaganda newspapers). That's really not far off the truth. Most management and strategy books, at most, do little more than repeat the utterly obvious in sonorous tones, as if none of us had heard any of it before.This book, despite being written by management consultants, is different, and extremely useful. There's a sentence I never thought I'd pen.I liked it for a number of reasons. First, it's clear about the business advantage inherent in the circular economy business model. Most such books spend far too long framing the problems anyone outside of an amoeba on Saturn already knows, that the world and its human industrial and retail systems, are inherently and potentially fatally, unsustainable. Second, I like it because it doesn't repeat itself endlessly. Most books are 80,000 words padding out from a 20,000 word idea to meet the publishers length expectations for marketing and presentation. I'm not saying this book, as most other management or business books, doesn't have some repetition, it does, and to a degree that is inevitable. But the authors and their editors manage that well, or as well as one can expect. Thirdly, I like it because it's clearly structured, has flow and follows a path, a logical argument that the circular economy, that circular strategy, would follow in a business when implemented. The book is not perfect, it's assessment of the role of government, though far stronger than in most such tomes (which generally do a paragraph on the twin elephants in the room, policy and incentives) could be more detailed, despite that being a tough challenge. In conclusion this is one of the few books that does a decent job of 'owning' the subject more or less end to end, and will actually be useful for managers (yes, really) rather than wide eyed sustainability acolytes or students. Worth buying, and re-reading several times. And then giving to your CEO.

Thought about buying your book on Kindle but saw the price was twice that of hardcopy and recognised the opportunism at the expense of the planet. Feels like hypocrisy to write a book about new ways of being whilst being solidly locked in the old. Sad!

Extraordinary would be an understatement. This book will be the definitive book on the circular economy for the next decade. It should be on the desk of every president, prime minister, CEO, university student - and just about anyone who wants to know how we really can turn it around for the next generation and the next. The author does an exquisite job presenting the data and the case for a circular economy. If you only read one non-fiction book this year - make it this one. Absolutely brilliant, ahead of its time and likely to influence thinkers/policies for years to come.

Hilarious that a book about waste has no digital edition.

Well, what a pretentious title - as groundbreaking as the Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor (from Back to The Future), that converted household waste to power the DeLorean's flux capacitor, this book shows us a new way to think the future for our planet, making it economically possible to transform what used to be waste into something useful and valuable for the companies and the society.One of the best things of books that are based on real facts is the opportunity to check the results of what was discussed - and if we are talking of big, global companies, even better.The concepts described on the book need to be on each one's head from now on - if the only path for the future of a ever growing population is recycling, why not make it profitable!So, as essential as the movie, this book is a sneakpeak on the future - maybe there is no coincidence that the book was launched in the same year that the Delorean came back from the future...

Exceptionally good book. Wealth of experience synthesized into a very crisp concept of how to reduce waste and gain advantages from circular economy business model. Very well articulated and definitely a buzz creator book. A must have book for anyone and everyone who wants to turn things around leveraging circular economy business model and want to build a sustainable brand using this framework. highly recommended.

There are many books on sustainability management, but this book is the first to confront the current reality of how they business are performing, and what they want to become 30 or 40 years from now.The book shows that the linear model of current business (produce-use-throw) has become obsolete, due to lack of resources to be sustainable in the future. That model must give way to another, circular economy, which is capable of decoupling growth with resource consumption, because right now we are consuming the capacity of one and half plants, and that must stop. The book presents five business models that companies can develop depending on the capabilities that each has, regardless of the sector to which it belongs. Each model is briefly explained theoretically, and after that, practical business cases of early movers in the circular economy are explained, showing benefits like acquiring competitive advantage, the improvement in the environmental and social reputation, etc.This methodology based on business cases is not common in these type of books, which are often lost in theoretical explanations and are not able to give practical examples. Besides models 10 technologies that are key when making the switch to move the linear model are also explained. Peter Lacy said that the circular economy or is a technological revolution, or will not be a revolution at all, and I think that is a key to know that this book is about.Former prime minister of Uruguay Jose Mujica was asked in the Spanish television about the future of the countries in the world, about who has to help who, and in which manner. Mujica explains that in the present, we do not have to help us as countries but as a specie for survival. I think this book goes in line of what Mujica explained. Thank to the authors, and I am looking forward to reading them in another book about this topic

Goooooood!!

Good book. Takes a concept and makes it practical. Repetitive a times. Worth of read to gage an idea of the concept

Il libro è il risultato di un lavoro condotto da una nota società di consulenza aziendale e si propone di offrire suggerimenti per le aziende che vogliano affrontare l'economia circolare, proponendo loro modelli di business ed esempi di aziende che "hanno fatto il salto". Il lato positivo è che presenta l'economia circolare dal punto di vista di una azienda, il lato negativo è lo stesso, la visione che ne esce è monodimensionale nel senso che la visione dell'economia circolare che ne esce è strettamente orientata al business, una azienda dovrebbe passare dal modello lineare a quello circolare perchè economicamente conveniente. Probabilmente ciò è voluto, gli autori scrivono per le aziende, non per i consumatori o per gli amministratori. Vengono tralasciati, o comunque passano in secondo piano gli aspetti di capital sociale e non solo economico e una buona parte di quelli ambientali, che invece sono molto ben descritti nei libri della fondazione McArthur sullo stesso tema. Ne consiglio quindi la lettura a chi è interessato a trasformare la propria azienda in un'ottica di economia circolare (e gli spunti davvero non mancano), ma non lo consiglierei come prima lettura a chi voglia capire bene il concetto di economia circolare in tutte le sue dimensioni.