Circular trends are emerging as a powerful force for change – reducing operational and procurement costs, creating new market opportunities and providing new employment opportunities.
In the last edition of Interior Fitout, we explored what a ‘circular economy’ is, the life cycle and how to put the wheels in motions to start making a change.
In this edition, we investigate what is happening globally and the exciting opportunities for Australian businesses in the fitout industry.
In 2022, Europe recorded a circulatory rate of 11.5 per cent compared to Australia’s current circularity rate of 4 per cent, according to CSIRO.
The European Union aims to double its use of recycled material by 2030, as set out in their Circular Economy Action Plan, and Netherlands, France and Luxembourg appear to be leading the way.
So how are they doing it and what do we have to learn by looking across the shores?
There is a push by European governments to ‘close the loop’ of the product lifecycle with a heavy focus on construction.
In the Netherlands, all new government buildings must hit zero emissions and as many recycled materials and resources are to be used in the construction.
In France, there is an Energy Transition Law for Green Growth, which ensures resources and materials are not ‘squandered’, while Luxembourg prioritises eco-innovation, with their government implementing several measures to achieve an envious circular economy track record.
Designers and engineers are exploring building materials such as bioplastics and biomimicry (an imitation of the living) to create sustainable products.
There’s also a ‘decentralising movement’ to make way for local production, repair and recycling facilities to reduce transportation-related emissions and promote growth and opportunities in regional areas.
Senior Manager for Responsible Products and Materials at the Green Building Council of Australia, Katherine Featherstone, says the EU set their leadership position with the release of their Circular Economy Action Plan four years ago.
“While it has taken some time for Australia to catch up from a policy perspective at a national level, work has been underway for several years which has led to the recent release of two important documents – The Australian Government’s Environmentally Sustainable Procurement (ESP) Policy released in April this year, and the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group Interim Report,” Katherine explains.
“The Interim Report outlines a clear plan of action for the Australian Government to take to facilitate and accelerate a national transition to a circular economy.”
Chief Executive Officer of Forward Thinking Design, Vanessa Cullen, admits Australia has significant ground to cover.
“Overseas, circularity is becoming the ‘business as usual’ approach in many countries,” Vanessa says.
“But there is exciting stuff happening here in Australia too and there’s still a lot of room for us to innovate and become a leader in circularity, especially in fitout and the built environment.”
One example is Forward Thinking Design linking up with project management firm, ilimaf, and asset management software company, Hardcat, to develop a platform called FTD Circular which enables organisations to access processes and digital tools to take a circular economy approach to fitout design, construction and de-fit.
The collaborative approach led the trio to win gold at the 2024 global WILD Design Awards for their innovative platform.
Julian Zambrano Vesga who created ilimaf in 2021, said FTD Circular was needed because, to his knowledge, an end-to-end data-led process with the approach of ‘track, trace, manage, divert and re-design’ had not yet been developed anywhere else in the world for the fitout industry.
“The average commercial office space sends close to 80 percent of its furnishings to landfill every time it is refitted,” Julian explains.
“We met this challenge by identifying the barriers through stakeholder research then providing digital tools and training to enable stakeholders to change their ‘business as usual’ ways of working and instead embrace the circular economy.”
Since being developed, the platform has been adopted by councils, suppliers in the industry, plus retail, office and hospitality property owners.
“The development and application of processes and tools in our industry is at their infant stage.
“As government, advocacy and fitout stakeholders align towards incorporating circularity in every project we will see methods appear as new business-as-usual.”
Julian believes ‘the first complete circle’ will happen in the next five to seven years – as long as new materials and practices continue to be embraced.
When asked where Australia’s circular economy will be in the next 10 years, Julian says he “wished to see”.
“I’d like to see reporting of assets similar to ‘tax reporting time’, a centralised software platform for managing and optimising the flow of resources and materials, policy featuring agile circular solutions and businesses owning the responsibility of materials-use.”
In the next decade, the circular economy holds the promise of transforming industries, driving innovation, and reshaping business practices to create a sustainable future for all.
