The project “Wege zum zirkulären Geschäftsmodell” (Paths to a circular business model) examines conflicting goals, challenges and solutions for the implementation.

During the project period from September 2024 to February 2026, the project partners of “Wege zum zirkulären Geschäftsmodell” (Paths to a Circular Business Model) want to work with participating companies to analyse why climate protection and the circular economy often represent conflicting goals for them and to develop solutions. The cooperation project is being carried out by the Association Klimaschutz-Unternehmen together with a Department of the University of Kassel and is funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU). Individual recommendations for converting their business models to a circular economy are to be developed for the project companies. According to a press release, the aim is to derive general recommendations for action and create a digital decision-making aid for companies that want to convert their business models to circular ones. To this end, 13 companies from sectors including waste management, plastics processing, logistics and medicine were surveyed about their circular strategies, business models and measures, as well as the conflicts of interest between the circular economy and climate protection.
 
According to the survey, almost all of the project companies surveyed are already working with circular business models. Just under two-thirds said they were going beyond recycling by, for example, repairing products, reusing products or individual components, or refurbishing products. The respondents also expressed openness to new approaches, such as rethinking products across their entire life cycle, developing innovative business models and conserving resources, the survey continues. According to the survey, the use of secondary raw materials poses a major challenge: more than half of the companies stated that they do not use recycled materials because the relevant materials are not available, while two-thirds refrain from doing so due to quality requirements. In addition, according to the companies, the return, processing or recycling of used materials often meant higher costs and higher energy consumption, which has a negative impact on sales opportunities, greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint. In the plastics sector, Klimaschutz-Unternehmen cites plastics processor Pöppelmann as an example. According to the information provided, the company has been using recycled plastics for over 40 years and has integrated circular economy principles into its corporate strategy since 2018. Pöppelmann cites the biggest challenge as being that in many cases primary raw materials are cheaper than secondary materials and customers tend to opt for lower prices rather than a better carbon footprint.
 
Sources:

• Press release Klimaschutz-Unternehmen e.V. (7.10.2025)
• Image: © Klimaschutz-Unternehmen e.V.