Funded project – Sparking the circular economy in Melbourne's manufacturing industry

Last updated: 30 August 2023
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Project lead: Monash University
Project partners: South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance
Status: Complete
Funding source: Circular Economy Business Support Fund – Round 1
Funding amount: $99,922
Co-contribution: $88,875

Designing and delivering a series of seminars and workshops with manufacturing businesses in Southeast Melbourne to enhance their capabilities to adopt circular economy models and practices that create efficiency and reduce waste.

BSF Manufacturing South East Melbourne Textiles

Background

Monash University, in collaboration with the South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA), undertook a comprehensive investigation into the adoption of circular economy practices within Victoria's manufacturing sector. The goal of this project was to expand circularity and facilitate the systematic integration of circular economy strategies and practices throughout the manufacturing sector, including various supply chains.

Through a combination of interviews, workshops, and seminars, the project aimed to identify and develop effective approaches for manufacturing businesses to develop and implement circular economy strategies. By leveraging these engagement activities, the project sought to foster a deeper understanding of the potential barriers and challenges faced by manufacturers when adopting circular practices. The project also highlighted the benefits and opportunities associated with this transformative approach.

The insights gained from the project will enable the formulation of practical guidelines and recommendations for the successful implementation of circular economy strategies in the manufacturing sector.

Objectives

  • Identify circular economy practices such as waste prevention, reuse, remanufacture, and upcycling. Businesses and their tier-one suppliers, across 4 manufacturing sub-sectors are currently implementing these practices.
  • Determine the effectiveness of the circular economy practices. Several businesses are implementing these practices and tracking the circular economy outcomes achieved.
  • Identify and develop practical approaches for manufacturing businesses to adopt circular economy strategies and practices, where implementation will lead to waste reduction by up to 20%.
  • Identify potential barriers and challenges to adopting these new approaches and determine how to overcome these barriers through support systems.

The process

The project was divided into 3 phases, each accompanied by a series of hands-on workshops designed to support businesses in implementing identified practices. The phased approach was designed to ensure the successful delivery of a web-based platform for the compilation of various examples of circular economy options and their application to different business cases.

Phase one: Identify CE strategies and practices adopted, enablers, and their overall effectiveness

The circular economy survey was distributed to manufacturing businesses located in the Southeast Melbourne area. Selected businesses in Victoria that have been actively implementing circular economy practices, were part of a series of interviews, later transformed into comprehensive case studies. To share the valuable information, an online seminar took place in collaboration with prominent manufacturers from the Southeast Melbourne region.

Phase 2: Barriers and challenges

A series of co-design workshops facilitated the development of new circular economy thinking, and implementation strategies. The second phase brought together participants from both circular and non-circular businesses, local governments, industry associations, and circular economy researchers. The collaborative workshops served as a platform to share findings from Phase one and engage in meaningful discussions.

Phase 3: Actions to overcome barriers and challenges

The aim of the third phase was to tackle the challenges associated with scaling and spreading the circular economy across the Victorian manufacturing sector. A series of four seminars introduced the concept of the circular economy to businesses that were not yet engaged in circular practices. The focus of these seminars was on 4 key sub-sectors within manufacturing: plastics, textiles, food, and general manufacturing.

Following the seminars, targeted in-person workshops allowed Monash University to collaborate closely with businesses that were ready to embark on their circular economy journey. These workshops provided a platform for businesses to receive tailored guidance and support as they initiated their transition towards circular practices.

Challenges

Three key barriers identified for the project were timing, scale, and action.

Time

The project's tight schedule constrained the ability to expand the outreach efforts, thereby limiting the overall impact. Many of the participants who attended the workshops and seminars had limited prior knowledge of the circular economy. Given the time constraints, Monash University was only able to engage with individuals who were already receptive during the seminars and available for the subsequent workshops. It might be possible that others who expressed interest in the workshops required additional time to fully grasp the concept or were simply unavailable during the scheduled workshop times.

Scale

The adoption of circular practices can be a challenging and gradual process as businesses transition from a linear to a circular model. However, from the completed case studies and huge effort from the project team it is anticipated that as more businesses begin their circular journey, awareness will grow, and others will be inspired to join this transformative path.

Action

Participants who attended both the seminars and workshops expressed a sense of comfort and confidence in adopting circular economy strategies and practices. They actively developed action plans to implement these strategies. However, due to resource limitations, Monash University was unable to actively monitor the implementation of these plans or identify any potential barriers that participants may have encountered during the process.

Insights

Put effort where it makes the most difference

  • Through key engagement events such as interviews, seminars, and co-design workshops, 344 individuals received support or training from the project.
  • Collaboration with local government resulted in developing new partnerships with several councils to deliver circular workshops.

Outcome and impact

  • Several manufacturing businesses identified 8 innovative ideas for circular business models through the survey responses.
  • The insights gathered by the workshop participants and Monash University showed that 29% of the participants were actively working towards waste reduction.
  • Through the engagement strategies implemented in the project, 100% of the participants indicated an improved awareness and enhanced capacity to act on sustainability.

What’s next?

  • Monash University plans to continue working with local councils to assist developing local government’s circular economy capacity to work closely with businesses adopting circularly.
  • Monash University, in partnership with RMIT University, has launched the Circular Economy Research Network Asia Pacific (CERN-APac), with over 220 members. There are plans to accelerate advancements in circular economy through new research projects and partnerships.
  • CERN-APac will host a conference in Melbourne in November 2023.
  • The Monash University research team hosted the International Workshop in Circular Economy and Sustainability at the Monash Prato Centre in Italy (25-27 June 2023). This involved eight university partners from Victoria, Australia, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, and Austria. There was a total of 52 participants, including industry representatives and councilors from the City of Prato.

From the grantee

"From connections within the project, and discussing the project with other academics, we noted an emerging community, though one with limited awareness of each other’s work and opportunities for collaboration for magnified impact."

Get in touch

Contact:

Professor Amrik Sohal 0414 805 606 amrik.sohal@monash.edu