What are little boys made of? Snips and snails, and puppy-dogs’ tails, that’s what little boys are made of. What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, and all things nice, that’s what little girls are made of. But what is the recipe for a successful circular economy company?

It is not easy to define what a successful circular economy company looks like, in particular when the circular economy is not one field or form of business, such as an engineering workshop that produces axles or valves. A company’s success in the vast playing field of the circular economy may also be measured by how efficiently it ensures that more snails and puppy dogs can roam and a more diverse range of spices can bloom in a wider area.

‘A successful circular economy company is like a chef: mixing existing ingredients in a new way to create something innovative for many to enjoy.’

Or a company may have found revolutionary ways to produce sugar and spice, everything nice, from the by-products of the forest industry. Maintaining biodiversity is one clear metric of a circular economy.

A successful circular economy company is like a chef: mixing the existing ingredients in a new way to create something innovative for many to enjoy. It can utilise another company’s by-products, often considered waste, in its business. A common factor for successful circular economy companies is that instead of seeing the multidisciplinary nature of a circular economy as a threat, they see it as an opportunity.

Snips and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails may, in addition to little boys, create something nobody could even imagine.

We do not know all the ingredients of a circular economy yet. My best guess would be: daring, innovation, courage to look outside the box and do things differently, and the ability to anticipate change. The Circular Economy Centre has all these ingredients and just the right kind of knowledge to mix them like a chef.