Delivering Future Change through Circular Procurement
We look forward to the opportunities on offer in the new year
After a difficult 2020, we round up the year with a hopeful look forward to the opportunities 2021 has on offer. In the year ahead Scotland has a unique opportunity to influence change as we gear up to welcome the leaders from across the globe to COP26 in November. Procurement has a vital role to play in leading the ‘switch to circular’ and we look forward to working with our partners and networks to inspire action.
This newsletter shares the latest updates in circular procurement, including exciting insights from EGG Lighting’s latest project, key takeaways from the industry and a look at the events you can join us for in 2021. We’ve also provided our hints and tips to cut the waste and keep the joy this Christmas!
Wishing everyone in our Circular Procurement network a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! |
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| EGG Lighting is a Scottish SME who specialise in energy efficient lighting. Tsanko Dimov, Circular Economy Programme Manager at EGG Lighting has shared their story and the details of their latest project.
Guest Blog: EGG Lighting
Making Circular Lighting Feasible
If you haven’t heard of EGG before, we are a lighting SME based in Glasgow who specialise in making energy and material efficient lighting affordable. Doing this in the most socially and environmentally friendly way possible is what drives us and we want to take this opportunity to share our approach to the circular economy.
We are also looking for a pilot site for a circular lighting feasibility assessment funded by Innovate UK, if you think your business would be interested please contact us!
Our approach to circular lighting is built on 3 core principles:
- Remanufacture – where viable, we can upgrade your existing luminaires
- Upgradable design – when new luminaires are needed, we install luminaires which are modular and futureproof
- Lighting as a Service – Contracts where we retain ownership of the luminaires enable us to perform preventative maintenance and extend asset lifetime by decades.
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Remanufacture
Many of the lights which enter the waste stream carry with them a residual value – we believe using remanufacturing to recirculate used lights is the best way to keep this value in the system. Light fittings need specialist treatment to bring them up to our high safety and performance standards but through this process we can install the latest efficiency components and offer an ‘as-new’ warranty. An independent PhD researcher has estimated that our lighting remanufacturing reduces carbon emissions by over 50% compared to replacing the whole fitting!
Upgradeable Design
If existing luminaires aren’t feasibly upgradeable, we will replace them with luminaires that are. Future repairs or upgrades to the latest efficiency can be as simple as changing one component; the LED strip. Unfortunately, most luminaires on the market are not designed to be upgradeable, meaning once the LEDs are exhausted or more efficient LEDs are available, the entire luminaire is obsolete. We carefully specify luminaires which are designed for repair and remanufacture, thereby minimising your future upgrade costs and preventing waste.
Lighting as a Service
Finally, LaaS is built on the principle that if EGG retain ownership of the luminaires, we can overcome obsolescence and asset depreciation, using preventative maintenance, modular upgrades and remanufacturing.
EGG Lighting’s Bluetooth Mesh system is the digital enabler which allows our LaaS projects to maximise energy and material savings. The Bluetooth Mesh system brings benefits such as self-learning wireless lighting controls or automated emergency light testing and failure detection. Bluetooth mesh turns your lighting into an IoT backbone for your building, making future improvements available via “over the air” downloads.
Are you interested in working with us?
EGG Lighting have secured funding to further develop, measure and verify the benefits of our circular offering and are looking out for a partner passionate about the circular economy. Our funding covers us to perform a feasibility assessment for luminaire remanufacturing and LaaS in a pilot site, with the potential to cover installation in a second phase. If successful, the project could be presented as a case study for Scottish sustainable innovation at COP26.
If you are interested in going on this journey, please get in touch! |
| Contact EGG Lighting to join the journey |
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| Choosing tools for your circular procurement project
How to choose and use tools for your circular procurement project
A recent webinar on the importance of choosing tools at the right time for your circular procurement project. ProCirc toolbox 2.0 (in development) was presented and all pilots participating in ProCirc were asked to test at least one of these tools and provide feedback. In two break-out sessions tool owners pitched their circular procurement tools and answer questions from the audience. The recording is available here. |
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The European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ECESP)
A number of ProCirc partners presented at an ECESP workshop aimed at guiding policymakers and decision-makers through the procurement process, sharing some of the challenges and process involved for project commissioners and procurers in shifting an organisation’s purchasing practices from linear to circular. The workshop contains insights from speakers, covering the pre-tender, tender and post-tender phases of a project. The recording is available here. |
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Product Design and Procurement
The Scottish Ecological Design Association
An article on product design and procurement was recently published in the Scottish Ecological Design Association’s (SEDA) winter magazine. The issue is full of interesting articles on the subject of the Circular Economy from various staff at Zero Waste Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland and other contributors. SEDA was formed in 1991, with the aim of sharing knowledge, skills and experience of ecological design. Members include academics, architects, artists, builders, planners, students, ecologists, landscape designers, materials suppliers, woodworkers, and many more whose work or interest is concerned with design for a sustainable future. If you are interested in joining the network as an individual or corporately, please email. |
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Upcoming Events
We have a range of workshops and events coming up in 2021. To keep up-to-date with our latest events, join our community on LinkedIn. |
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