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What does a circular economy look like?

Part 2 of 2 of thinkstep-anz’s circular economy series By Dr. Jim Goddin In last month’s issue we introduced the circular economy’s inner and outer ‘loops’. Unlike the outermost loops, which focus on avoiding waste and recycling, the inner loops focus on recovering the significant value (manufacturing, intellectual property, branding, advertising, and services) that is lost when products are recycled. We called for greater ambition from New Zealand businesses and the Government to tackle these inner loops and set out the circular and economic advantages of doing this. Here we share local and international examples of companies tackling the inner loops – through their products, supply chains and business models. Designing products and systems with circularity in mind Reusabowl: circular products and systems Reusabowl provides a solution for waste created by single-use takeaway containers. The reusable food container goes far beyond recycling. The Wellington-based company has a reuse network that consists of many of the city’s eateries, making it easy for customers to pick up and drop off bowls at various locations. Reusabowl has also designed the systems around their product with circularity in mind. The Reusabowl container is made with a by-product of the rice-making process that would otherwise go to waste. At the end of their useful life, the bowls are collected and commercially composted. Lids for their containers are made of food-grade silicone and get recycled into headphones at the end of their life. XFrame: circular design tackling waste in the building industry Another example is XFrame, a structural wall framing system that allows walls to be deconstructed and reused many times. XFrame’s circular design tackles the source of New Zealand’s single largest contributor to landfills: the building industry. The Sustainable Business Network notes that construction projects using XFrame reduce the quantity of waste sent to landfills […]

Why manufacturing needs a new approach to cybersecurity

– by Robert Nobilo, Regional Director ANZ at Virsec Cyber-attacks continue to be an increasing concern for every industry. But recently they’re becoming a bigger issue for the manufacturing industry than most others. Cyber criminals frequently target manufacturing operations for their ransomware attacks. According to PwC’s Cyber Threats 2020: A Year in Retrospect report, the manufacturing sector and retail sectors shared the dubious honour of being the industries most targeted by ransomware: each accounted for 17 per cent of the total, well ahead of the second sector, technology, media and telecommunications with 10 per cent. The PwC report detailed one ransomware attack on a multinational manufacturer based in New Zealand; “The attack saw the vast majority of its systems encrypted and rendered inoperable, breaking its supply chain, halting global manufacturing and distribution, and putting its banking covenants at risk.” Another manufacturer hit by a cyber attack was local brewer Lion Australia, which also produces dairy products. In June 2020, it was hit by two ransomware attacks within 10 days, forcing it to halt beer production. The attackers were reported to be demanding a payment in excess of $AUD 1 million. Earlier this year, JBS USA Holdings, the world’s largest meat company, was hit by a ransomware attack and, as a result, paid a $11 million ransom. JBS Australia, Australia’s largest meat and food processing company, was disrupted by this attack and forced to close 47 meat processing plants in Australia. With these and other successful attacks, manufacturing will continue to be a high value target of ransomware gangs. The costly impact of ransomware on manufacturing The manufacturing sector is particularly sensitive to the impacts of ransomware and other cyber-attacks on two counts. Firstly, any disruption of day-to-day operations would likely leave a manufacturer unable to meet production demands, resulting […]

think step webinars

WEBINAR The EU, TCFD, and trade Thursday 28 October 2021, 3:00pm NZDT Hear from EU expert Caroline Lambert on what the European Union’s sustainable reporting requirements will mean and how they will impact non-financial reporting requirements in New Zealand in thinkstep-anz’s upcoming webinar. WEBINAR Planetary Accounting: Going beyond carbon Thursday 25 November 2021, 3:00pm NZDT How can we safely operate within the environmental limits without causing permanent harm to earth? In thinkstep-anz’s upcoming webinar, the Planetary Accounting Network Founding Director Kate Meyer and thinkstep-anz’s Technical Director Jeff Vickers will discuss how LCA and planetary accounting work together to minimise the causes of irreversible damage from our activities. www.thinkstep-anz.com

The Interview: Scott Matthews, Chief Executive, Easy Build Ltd

-by Rebecca Reed Why buy a modular house? Most of us dream of home ownership, in fact most people would argue that it’s a human right. We have all been raised in an environment in NZ where you commonly design your own home, and every home is different. The building industry advertise this all the time, but then customers wonder why the house is often poorly insulated, expensive and requires lots of heating. This is very different to many parts of the world where people by a house off plan and it is one of perhaps 30 in the same location that looks similar. I often make the analogy that if you want a good, reliable and fairly priced car, you would buy a Toyota Corolla, however if you want something different you would drive a custom build or a Ferrari. Looking at a modular home vs. a custom designed home, the pricing difference is similar, but you’ll get better bang for your buck with a modular home in terms of build time, thermal efficiency, environmental friendliness, and other benefits, when compared to a standard construction house of the same price. Modular homes are normally quick to build, well insulated and built, minimise waste and are normally priced the same as a similar sized home, but superior quality. Where did the concept come from for your company? The concept is relatively old, with the original inventor using this method some 30 years ago. However, the designs were brought up to date and the business was launched in its own right 5 years ago. We have a simple but enduring purpose. We want to provide Kiwis with warm, robust, and affordable housing because we believe everyone should enjoy living in their own EasyBuild home. What is your point of difference? We’re […]

Women in Engineering: Insa Errey

Insa Errey is a female engineer originally from Sydney who now calls Auckland home. She currently operates as an independent consultant under Curios Sustainability. How long have you been an engineer? Almost 10 years. I was a late bloomer into engineering. What field of engineering do you specialise in? I specialise in Industrial sustainability. My background is in Chemical biomolecular engineering, with my past experiences being in beverage manufacturing. What projects are you most proud of? It is always rewarding to complete large-scale implementations such as fuel switching projects and wastewater recycling projects. But I think my proudest project is more subtle. In my previous company I mobilised employee awareness toward the issues of sustainability and energy efficiency. My campaign drove awareness through cultural change and started a larger shift toward collaboration on energy efficiency. This has seen year on year energy efficiency improvements driving down operational costs, increasing competitive advantage and most of all reducing emissions from their major manufacturing sites across Australia and NZ. Is there scope for creativity, creative thinking? Absolutely. Creativity is the foundation on innovation. I actually went to a performing arts high school, now a long time ago, and I think that is what dew me to engineering was the ability to still be creative and think outside the box but also make significant impact toward system pressures facing us today. What challenges do engineers face in today’s business world? I think that the main challenge facing engineers is that which we are all facing, climate change, and how this is impacting all areas of how we do business. Businesses and, in particular, manufacturing, are facing and experiencing risks associated with operational disruption, impacts of market forces and future stranded assets with the changing energy market. Here I see engineers having the important role […]

The value of materials and manufacturing in a circular economy

Part 1 of 2 of thinkstep-anz’s circular economy series By Dr. Jim Goddin Circular products are built to last. The materials that make them up stay in use for as long as possible. When they can no longer be used in their original form, they contribute to other products. A circular economy is based on three principles: designing out waste, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. Circular economy thinking is gaining traction in New Zealand and Australia but focuses predominantly on avoiding or minimising waste through recycling. In New Zealand, waste — especially single-use packaging and plastic waste — has enjoyed the spotlight as a high-priority environmental issue for quite some time. In the latest Better Futures report by Colmar Brunton, two of the top ten concerns for New Zealanders were not enough waste being recycled and, overpackaging, non-recyclable packaging and the amount of waste going to landfill. Yet, waste remains a stubborn issue to tackle. Waste avoidance through recycling is a prominent component of the circular economy and is, from a practical perspective, where most products will need to end up. Recycling is, however, the outermost ‘loop’ in the circular economy model, with materials typically representing a tiny portion of the economic value of products. Recovering the more substantial value added to materials through manufacturing is a more significant portion of the prize at stake. The inner loops of the circular economy model Dig a little deeper into the circular economy model and you get to the inner ‘loops’ where the systems-level change happens. Strategies in the inner loops of the circular economy include product life extension, enhanced product utilisation (through leasing models for example), reuse, repair and remanufacturing. The inner loops address the root causes of waste: overproduction and overconsumption. A key economic advantage […]

Problem solving the next frontier

-Ian Walsh, Managing Director, Intent Group Over the last few years, I have run several courses and seminars for business leaders, wanting to improve their business performance and productivity. One of the questions I typically ask is how much time a week they invest in problem solving? The answers vary, but many suggest they do a fair amount of problem solving. I then ask how many of them dedicate a set amount of time each week to structured problem solving as opposed to reactive, during the event, problem solving. After some muttering and reflection, for most of the group, the answer is none. Less than 10% invest structured time with their teams to solve problems! It was Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Surely you can’t expect your business to improve if you don’t invest any time in solving problems to root cause? Improvement itself is defined as solving the right (more impactful) problems at a faster rate than the ones that are occurring. If all you are doing is reacting to what occurs then you are treading water and in today’s competitive landscape, I believe going backwards. The question I have is why do we do this? Or why don’t we invest in structured problem solving? Here are the top 5 great myths: It takes too long, and we don’t have time. But we have time to react to the failure and lose production while we fix it. We are too busy. This is because we are reacting to all the problems that we haven’t fixed. We don’t need to do this as we have engineers who solve the problems, thus placing all responsibility on one group for this activity. This is ‘I operate, you fix’ mentality and […]

Unlikely alliance formed to combat supermarket power

It’s an unlikely pairing, but Consumer NZ and The NZ Food & Grocery Council have published a joint open letter to parliament today calling for a shake-up of the supermarket industry. “We are not always allies, but we both agree the concentration of market power in our supermarket sector is producing poor outcomes and putting strain on New Zealand households. Both consumers and suppliers are being held to ransom by the duopoly of Foodstuffs and Woolworths NZ,” Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said. Analysis of Stats NZ data show the cost of an average shop for a typical household equates to 15-20% of income for median or lower income earners. “The general consensus is that grocery expenditure should sit between 5-15% of total household income. What we’re hearing from many New Zealanders is that they’re having to spend too much of their weekly pay packet to keep themselves fed. Whatever way you slice it, the cost of groceries keeps going up and the duopoly’s profits are persistently high. Each year households are getting squeezed further,” Duffy said. Consumer NZ’s Sentiment Tracker found concerns about the cost of food and groceries have climbed in the past few months with grocery cost concerns ahead of those about fuel, healthcare, energy, insurance and phone bills. Concerns about food prices come in second to rent and mortgage costs. “Supermarkets are crucial to our communities and economy – but the duopoly are bullying suppliers, even large ones, and consumers are worse off in terms of price paid at the checkout, choice and innovation. With the lack of any real competition between the two supermarket chains, they’ve been able to maintain staggering profit margins which are not enjoyed anywhere else in the world,” New Zealand Food & Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich said. […]

New appointments at TMX

TMX, Asia-Pacific business transformation consultancy, has consolidated its position as independent automation advisors in New Zealand by announcing two significant appointments to its supply chain division. TMX has appointed Mark Rummins, former Logistics Network Manager at Fonterra, as Associate Director – Supply Chain and Francis Umali, as Senior Project Manager – Automation. These appointments build TMX’s supply chain advisory offering in New Zealand and support the firm’s full end-to-end integrated consulting services in supply chain, automation, freight and logistics, property and construction project management. The appointments also highlight TMX’s focus on growing their automation offering as more businesses in New Zealand take up the chance to automate aspects of their supply chain. TMX is currently working on automation projects with New Zealand Post, GPC and Coolpak in addition to several other major clients. Mark brings over 15 years of experience in New Zealand’s supply chain and logistics sector to TMX. Prior to his career at Fonterra, Mark was Director of Operations at DHL. An automation expert, Francis has over 15 years of industry experience and expertise in delivering global projects in fresh produce grading/packaging, warehouse storage solutions, machine safety, and semiconductor manufacturing.

EECA building energy use picture amongst NZ food and beverage businesses

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) is building a picture of energy use in the NZ Food and Beverage sector (not including dairy, meat and seafood). Importantly, the findings of this project will help EECA to design effective programmes to support energy efficiency and decarbonisation for the Food and Beverage sector. To participate in the study – a simple survey, which is due in by the end of October – should take 15-20 minutes and can be completed online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MTPVXPP

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