Representing nature and business in a circular economy

Despite a broken wrist, the Minister for Nature, Mary Creagh CBE MP was in sparkling form leading a packed Industry Forum round table. Wes Ball, Senior VP at the host, Edelman welcomed guests and Rod Dowler introduced the topic ‘Representing Nature and Business in a circular economy.’ There is a widespread awareness of the shortsightedness of ignoring the impact of business activities on nature, but it is an enormous task to align manufacturing, packaging, distribution and reuse of materials in way that makes commercial and environmental sense. Nevertheless, the government has already made considerable progress on specific issues such as standardisation of recycling classifications, a deposit return scheme for drinks bottles and cans, creation of the Western Forest, near Bristol and the release into the wild of the first beavers in the UK for 300 years; it has ambitions to do much more to help businesses and consumers move towards a circular economy. Among the wide variety of businesses present there was considerable enthusiasm for the government’s plans. Discussion focussed on the many timetabling and implementation issues that inevitably arise. Such is the interest in this complex topic that we hope to return to it later in the year.