A career in the circular economy

Sustainability professionals have an important role to play in the circular economy. As companies across the globe get to grips with the idea of circular economy, professionals and systems thinkers able to understand the big picture of finite resources, overburdened ecosystems and the need to reduce social inequality will be the ones leading the transition to solutions for sustainable business.

The challenge to sustainability professionals in this exciting new field is not only to reduce and minimise waste streams in the first place, but to figure out how to turn the waste that can’t be avoided into something useful, and ultimately sold for profit to be turned into something new.

This is not simply an engineering challenge, or a design challenge, or a finance challenge, or even a supply chain challenge. It’s all of those things. Moreover, it’s a communication challenge since any brand that wants to sell something previously defined as waste is going to need to earn a significant amount of trust before it can do so. How can we best prepare ourselves for a jobs market that’s responding to this transition? To answer this question, you can watch the video in which Keith Freegard, the Marketing and sales Director of Axion Recycling, describes his career path.

Let us know what kinds of traits you think the circular economy needs in the comments below.