Looking to level up your innovation?
Innovative businesses drive markets and innovative markets drive change. Life Cycle Assessments offer a tool for businesses to inject themselves into an emerging circular economy in which they can drive profitability whilst reducing their ecological footprint, demonstrating a commitment to corporate responsibility.
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an analysis technique that assesses the environmental impacts associated with each stage of a product’s lifecycle from raw material extraction and input of raw materials through to processing, manufacturing and disposal.
LCAs provide businesses with the opportunity to make innovative adjustments to their products and systems.
Too often the disposal of the goods we use every day involves landfills or other unsustainable practices, which have contributed to economic, environmental, and social damage to our communities. Through LCAs we can identify new market opportunities for end-of-life goods, utilising an array of finance opportunities available today to find new value in an old system.
Businesses using LCA
To demonstrate, let’s take a William Buck client that through a Life Cycle Assessment, was able to take a product with a limited life expectancy of 11 years that sold only to non-repeating customers and turn it into a product providing a steady income source with repeat clientele.
Instead of allowing a product to waste in landfill, this company embraced a cradle-to-cradle mentality and with support, integrated a recycling program into its business model.
With the assistance of grant funding, the company purchased start up equipment and machine units which would separate the materials of its product into smaller outputs such as sand, which were then sold back into the market, enabling the business to make new customer connections and substantially grow its revenue base.
Growth and Challenge
As state and private entities seek to make sustainability a staple of the market, new opportunities for grant funding have and will continue to emerge for businesses willing to innovate. Unfortunately, grant funding can often be a roadblock for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) as navigating the regulations, standards, and compliance requirements of these programs prove to be a challenge to entrepreneurs.
With industry knowledge and a team of R&D, tax, and business advisors William Buck, partners with innovative businesses to undertake their own LCA and engage the full potential of funding opportunities to realise their own circular future.
For more information, please contact your William Buck Cleantech Advisor here.
