Thursday, January 9, 2025

Circular economy : the new paradigm

The linear development model, “Extract, Manufacture, Discard”, has today reached its limits. In the context of the Earth’s limited resources, the circular economy has become the alternative to the linear model, with changes along the entire line from eco-design through eco-development to the stages of manufacture, use and end-of-life.

Salon Luxe Pack Edition speciale 2021 Paris Carreau du temple © L.d’Aboville

These changes to the economy presuppose commitment on the part of all stakeholders in the sector. It is by eliminating all new waste and pollution, reusing products and materials, and regenerating the resources that we can preserve the environment.

Sylvie Bénard informs us that 1.2 kg of waste are produced on average per day per European citizen.

She says: “the circular economy is only one part of eco-innovation”, whereby the arbiters are the life-cycle analysis experts. Much rests on the questions of product and pack service life, and on how to reduce the impacts at all levels, including the social impacts. We also need to help consumers in becoming stakeholders in the circular process, in full awareness of what is at stake.

At Quantis, Dimitri Caudrelier alerts us to the “critical shortage of environmental impact data in the luxury sector”, when compared to other sectors such as construction, the food industry and other industries. More data is needed, of better quality and fast, to help make the right decisions. Sustainability also has to be integrated through close cooperation between the CSR departments and the packaging innovation and development departments, as well as R&D and purchasing. It is becoming essential to “find KPIs that are common to every department in a company”. For this, what better than to refer to the SBT (science-based target) data issuing from the reports of the IPCC, the IBPES and the IUCN.

“The circular economy is just one part of eco-innovation”, Sylvie BÉNARD

What is interesting to note is this observation concerning the analysis of measurements in our sector: it is the “finishing” decor of the pack that often has the most significant impact in environmental terms on the entire production pathway. Herein lies certain avenues for improvement.

Another surprising finding is that POS represents almost as much in terms of GHG emissions as the pack on the life cycle: 14% for packaging and 12% for POS.

According to a CITEO survey, consumers want luxury brands to act as a front-line players by making packaging recyclable at end-of-life.

“It is your responsibility to integrate the criteria of the circular economy in your creations”, Jean-François ROBERT

For Jean-François Robert, much remains to be done to raise awareness about instructions concerning sorting, and the role of eco-development is to plan for everything being made recyclable. In order to ensure efficient recycling, the priority recommendation is to avoid the use of black plastics, reinforced card, metallisation and tinted glass.

The message to the creatives at the start of the process is this: “It is your responsibility to integrate the criteria of the circular economy into your creations.”
We need to reinvent the codes of luxury to be compatible with sustainable development.
We need to make room for natural materials, whiteness, transparency and purity !

Article based on the conference CIRCULAR ECONOMY, THE NEW PARADIGM with the interventions of Sylvie BÉNARD, Founder – LA DAME À LA LICORNE, Dimitri CAUDRELIER, CEO – QUANTIS, Jean-François ROBERT, Technical Director of the Fiber and Glass sectors – CITEO.
Edition Spéciale by LUXE PACK 2021 – Paris, Carreau du Temple.