Richard Asante
Richard is a PhD candidate at the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department of Technological University, Galway, and part of the Operations and Supply ChAin Research (OSCAR) program. His research interest focuses on business model innovation, circular economy, and supply chain management. He holds an MSc. Civil Engineering from Fujian University of Technology, and a BSc. Construction Technology and Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He also has years of experience in both the public and private sectors of the built environment.
Climate change is a reality which can no longer be ignored. In an attempt to halt the rate of accelerating climate change, the European Union (EU) has considered various measures, including the European Green Deal, the blueprint for how the EU will achieve its goal of being climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this goal, the EU intends to transition from a linear to a circular economy (CE). The transition toward CE requires the adoption of circular business model (CBM). Ireland enacted its legislation called the Circular Economy Act in September 2021. It includes sectoral binding targets to reduce waste and emissions. Although strong progress has been made, Ireland is lagging in the re-use of recovered materials in the manufacture of new products compared to most EU member states.
A lack of consumer awareness of CE principles and firm’s understanding of how to transition from linear to CBM hinders the implementation of CE in Ireland. Therefore, sectors in the Irish manufacturing industry need to overcome these barriers so that they can play their part in helping Ireland achieve its international legal commitments. Hence, this project aims to address the CE implementation challenges in Irish furniture manufacturing companies, particularly SMEs by creating a methodology that will help them implement a CBM.