Circular economy: a necessary step to positively shape 2030

Why we wanted to explore circular economy?

In tomorrow’s world the lines of marketing are blurring and will encompass so much more. From new knowledge to new systems, from awareness to behavioural change, from targeting to omni-presence. The circular economy is one growth pillars of the future.

“I'm passionate about circular economy—especially the pillars circulate and regenerate,” says Corinne Mostaert, Innovation and Brand Sustainability Expert. “They represent progress and positivity. When designed with great user experiences in mind, they empower people to live more sustainably. Of course, tackling climate change and reducing CO₂ are essential outcomes, but I believe our role in marketing is to bring sustainable-by-design solutions to life and make them accessible to everyone.”

“The circular economy clearly illustrates the marketing challenges of the future,” adds Joke Claessen, author of The Ripple Effect. “Connecting R&D to packaging, communication to behaviour. When writing The Ripple Effect I dove into the world of circularity and met some really inspiring people. So what else to do than share their knowledge with you.”

TWO CIRCULAR ENCOUNTERS

Nele van Malderen, Chief Communications & Sustainability Officer (La Lorraine Bakery Group)

A courageous and entrepreneurial example: the sustainable wheat initiative

A shared vision between the bakery industry, millers and agriculture, with overarching targets and a framework of mutual trust. A pre-competitive partnership, a manifesto signed by 30+ CEOs. A group of leaders from top bakery companies under the International Association of Plant Bakeries has placed sustainability high on the strategic agenda. The agreement? The European bakery sector commits to reducing wheat & wheat flour emissions with 30% by 2030, compared to 2022. The link with circular economy? Regenerative agriculture. It’s about supporting farmers to switch to sustainable practices. Research and pilots show a 30% footprint reduction through regenerative agriculture is achievable.

Why does it matter?

Because it builds resilience—by protecting natural resources, securing volumes and quality. It means being part of the solution. By addressing Scope 3 emissions, it helps the sector meet the Paris Agreement goals. Farmers are not alone in facing the risks of the transition. Through incentives, financing and guidance, they’re supported every step of the way. The focus now is on scaling up pilot projects in an efficient and coordinated manner.

The challenges?

They’re downstream. Convincing retailers and consumers to pay a few cents more. The transition will only happen if the entire value chain, upstream and downstream, moves toward solutions that work for farmers and the planet.

Storytelling is key to bridging the gap between sustainability and the product’s benefits—in a transparent and honest way. Visibility and trust in labels are still big barriers. The Sustainapoll showed that both citizens and marketers struggle to spot truly sustainable products on shelves. Maybe the solution lies in validated, cross-category methods like the Ecoscore?

Success factors?

‘An ecosystem is needed’. The EU allows competitive companies to collaborate for sustainable production. The manifesto sets clear targets, methods for measurement, reporting and shared guidelines.

‘Upstream and downstream’. A shared value across the full value chain.

‘Creating a snowball effect’. More companies have signed the manifesto—realizing they need to be part of the shift.

‘Avoiding greenwashing and greenhusing’. Everyone should accept that companies are on a journey. The most important thing is to have big ambitions, real plans and being transparent about where you stand – your successes and failures.

Laure Herweyers, Senior Researcher (RE-use Lab) and Els (Research Professor Design Sciences (University of Antwerp)

A centre of knowledge and actionable circular insights at your disposal: the RE-use Lab

What is it about?

Within the University of Antwerp and more specifically the RE-use Lab the objective is to prepare designers for a circular future with new challenges and needs by giving them the tools to define and design optimal solutions. Design is seen as an overarching term that includes both product design and service design. So design is part of marketing. Because both communication and design highly influence whether people re-use, repair or take better care of their products to ensure longevity. Their research covers many different sectors: packaging, fashion and other sectors such as pharma.

Why does it matter?

Because circularity is a necessity to create a more sustainable future. It is a must in a world where there will be a shortage of raw materials but also a shortage of energy, water, ... And where waste needs to be drastically reduced. Therefore RE-use, RE-pair and longevity should be leading principles of a future economy.

What are the challenges?

1. The desired circular behaviour of the end user can only take place when creating a circular offer is combined with educating and empowering end users to change their behaviour. It’s for instance a no go when in fashion the quality is so low that it blocks reparability. And let’s not forget that the context of a purchase and possession driven culture doesn’t help.

2. It’s often said that end users do not wish to RE-use or buy circular products or solution, yet research shows that they often don’t know which solutions exist or how to use them. So every stakeholder needs play its role to design a better future that fits people’s daily life. This means that inspiring and informing go hand in hand with circular innovation. Only creating circular convenience might be a missed opportunity to create awareness. True power lies in making citizens conscious about how their choices create impact. Knowledge leads to better understanding how positive impact is created and can spread across a multitude of product and services usage.

3. A volatile context has undermined the drive of many to create a sustainable future. Sustainable initiatives have slowed down. Both on the level of companies and citizens. This means that new impact narratives are needed. Narratives where true solutions are offered. We should challenge everyone to discover and define how sustainability can be fun and create attractive value. This will allow us to speed up the transition.

4. There are different types of end users. There are the sustainable frontrunners, but also the mass that wants to take steps yet doesn’t know how. There is misinformation and greenwashing that clouds people’s judgement. Here lies an enormous opportunity to be unequivocally and crystal clear in communication and design. Yet there will always be a group that is and will remain stuck in the old system. Or even those that consciously oppose change. Don’t be guided by them, but implement a variety of specific strategies, based on the target groups’ attitude towards circularity and sustainability.

5. Storytelling is key in driving circularity adoption. The RE-use Lab is working on a project to create a re-usable 6-pack. The RE-use links strongly to a brand story about sharing great moments and RE-living them. This ties a circular behaviour to a positive message and product that people feel connected to.

6. Driving circular behaviour can be done through a legal framework, yet what we truly need is a shift in ‘what we see and define as normal’. Installing new standards is a challenge, for instance making people aware that second hand is truly better than new is not an easy task.

Success factors?

• Innovation + communication = create awareness and reason to act.
• Bottom-up & top-down: create an attractive circular offer and drive the end-user.
• Make sustainable and circular solutions attractive and fun.
• Link circular behaviour to engaging brand and product stories.

And what about 2030?

• Surround yourself with the right insights and knowledge to act. Speak the language of the environment you need to convince.
• Collaborate within the value chain to create circular value more easily and choose your future partners wisely.
• Go from small incremental experiments to large and fundamental implementations. Small is beautiful yet hard to scale. If you truly want to have impact, you need a business plan and a vision to create a viable circular business initiative. These large experiments should be cross-category, cross-sector and even beyond the frontiers of our little Belgium.
• Be future oriented. Now is the time to act. Because legal, shortage of raw materials, a volatile geo-political situation, the end of fossil, transparency, your reputation, your business will ultimately push and force you to act.

So… Do you want to be a leader or a follower? And is this easy for a single marketer? No. But by joining forces it is feasible. Make drops come together to create on-going and growing ripples.

Dive into the research, follow the experts and feel empowered to take your steps towards a more circular future.