It’s hardly a stretch of the imagination to say we may be living through the final chapter of a productive and industrial system underpinned by linearity. Everything around us is showing signs of exhaustion because of our endless producing and consuming. And that also goes for the way we understand our economy and our impact on the environment. All the signs are warning us of the need to find a new way of doing things. We urgently need to move from a cycle of production, use and disposal to one that’s much more ecologically friendly – and beneficial at business level – underpinned by reducing, reusing and recycling. The time has come for the industrial circular economy and to develop services that take advantage of this greener model.
What is the circular economy?
The circular economy is a way of using resources that tries as much as possible to imitate nature’s own behaviour: using fewer resources, using them better, using only what’s needed and recycling those that can’t return to the natural or processed state they came from.
As a model, the circular economy aims to uncouple economic growth from over-use of resources in order to keep processes moving forward. But how? Through more efficient use of resources. From a production point of view, this involves goods, services and products being designed and manufactured as part of a wider value network. Within this network, they’ll be used for as long as possible, before being reused, restored, upgraded or recycled.
The circular economy and sustainability in major infrastructure
When resources and materials need to be used in large amounts, the challenges faced by the circular economy need to be assessed alongside traditional logistics and technical questions in order to define the value chain. This could involve wind installations, laying new railway lines, or any other major industrial activity that requires the movement of large amounts of materials. In such cases, the circular economy, sustainability and efficiency might seem like difficult variables to balance.
But making a clear commitment to the circular economy model is about not compromising on technical efficiency or usability of equipment. Not forgetting making projects viable through better use of resources. Utilising machine renting services for lifting heavy loads, for example, can be a good approximation to the paradigm proposed by the circular economy.
Advantages of renting equipment for handling large loads
Lower costs, total versatility, guarantees on technical capabilities and the possibility of reuse… From rocker arms, boxes and load cells to lifting arms and transport frames, all the way to lifting and transport jacks with up to 15 tons of tolerance…
The wide range of equipment available in the renting sector favours responsible use of necessary resources, and only for the periods of time they’re actually required. This means they can be used again and again in future, on similar projects and infrastructure, or even in entirely different scenarios. Just like the circular economy model recommends. Furthermore, cost reductions also make renting a highly attractive option to take into account when outlining large-scale deployments in the industrial, energy and transport sectors.
Although a full transition to the circular economy is still a long way off, we all need to make the first small steps and committed contributions to this new way of behaving in order to develop our respective production models. Use of services and products that are firmly committed to the circular economy is undoubtedly the way forward for us all.
