There is no doubt that the world is at a critical juncture. Climate change, resource depletion, and pollution are among the most pressing challenges of our time, requiring innovative and out-of-the-box solutions. Luckily, a new beacon of hope is on the horizon that will help redefine the way we utilize resources: the circular economy.
The circular economy represents a paradigmatic shift from the traditional “take, make, and dispose” economic model toward a system where resources are continually reused, remanufactured, and recycled. Products are designed with this longevity in mind. Perhaps the most close-to-home example of circular economic success can be seen in the proliferation of reusable water bottles in the past two decades. When products are designed with such longevity in mind, we not only reduce material pollution, but also reduce energy use and emissions by limiting activities like remanufacturing.
As my team delves deeper into our sustainable investing project, we’re homing in on a particular segment of the circular economy ecosystem: reuse. At their core, reuse business models aim to avoid production of such single-use products, instead focusing on rental, refurbishment, and resale. For example, our client company is revolutionizing the way that city-dwellers are going about their lives, installing units in their buildings to provide resident rental access to everyday items like vacuums, drills, printers, and more.
However, assessing the material impact that companies like ours have can be challenging. Naturally, startups have limited resources and any resources they do have, they want to dedicate toward core business growth. Dealing with the dearth of data is admittedly a problem that my team will likely struggle with for the rest of our project, but we’re hopeful we can develop a useful framework for assessing impact within Raas (Rental as a Service) space and the reuse sector more broadly.
It's exciting to participate in such a necessary paradigm shift and I look forward to learning and growing more.