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Climate change is upon us, and natural resources are being swallowed up at an alarming rate. This necessitates a radical change in how we treat our planet and the finite resources it provides us with.
Historians will look back at the current age in much the same way we now look at the Industrial Revolution. Future textbooks will describe this epoch as the era when we moved from the wastefulness of a linear economy to a more planet-friendly circular economy.
And in much the same way that the Industrial Revolution changed the way we lived and worked, the move to a circular economy will have a similar effect.
What are circular jobs, and what does a circular economy mean for the jobs market?
The definition of a circular job is simple – A circular job is an employment in any occupation that directly or indirectly supports the functions of the circular economy.
The number of these jobs is growing as the switch towards a circular economy gathers momentum. However, to understand the underlying reasons for this shift, you first must distinguish between a linear economy and a circular economy.
The linear economy model is inherently wasteful. It is best described as Take – Make -Waste. We take the resources, make the products, finally - we discard the product.
This wastage is unsustainable as resources are finite. Still, each year we consume more than 100 billion tons of natural resources in the form of metals, minerals, fossil fuels, and organic materials. Of this, only 8.6% is recycled. (Source – Circularity Gap)
A circular economy addresses this by factoring out waste from design and manufacture to usage and disposal at every stage.
To achieve this, systems need to be reinvented from the ground up. Operating systems that focus on the provenance of a product from development through to end-of-life need to be engineered. Everything from energy usage and sources, materials, locality, and recyclability must be considered and optimized.
This is the basis of a circular economy, and while some sectors are inevitably going to suffer as a result of this shift in momentum, changes that are this radical will create new opportunities, and jobs that aren’t even jobs yet will soon be common parlance.
Vertical farms can transform agriculture by utilizing unused urban buildings and plots to create bioeconomic activity in our towns and cities. Although the Industrial Revolution drove crowds of migrant workers from the farms to the cities, a circular economy will bring the farmlands to the cities.
Vertical farming can localize the source of much of the produce that appears on our supermarket shelves. Vertical farms will cut fossil fuel emissions by negating the need to ship products for long distances. It also uses less water than traditional agriculture methods and has the benefit of producing crops all year round.
Jobs ranging from harvesting, farm managers, farm designers, and technicians to maintain the machinery will be required.
It is predicted that the cost of e-commerce return deliveries for 2020 will reach 550 billion U.S. dollars in the USA alone. (Source – Statista)
Taken alone, this is a staggering figure, but when paired with the fact that billions of dollars worth of these goods are subsequently dumped, then the horrifying scale of the wastage becomes apparent.
The importance of the role of Reverse Logistic Managers in curtailing this wastage cannot be overemphasized. The need to eradicate this waste is both a financial and ecological necessity. The complexity and sheer workload of handling returns already involved high-level strategic and logistical planning; it needs to go further in a circular economy.
In a circular economy, every molecule is accounted for; every return must be reused, repurposed, or recycled.
This is where Reverse Logistics and the role of a Reverse Logistics Manager comes into play. By using Artificial Intelligence, Big data, and Blockchain as part of an integrated circular economy operating system, wastage can be eliminated.
Leasing as opposed to buying products as a service is a significant factor in a circular economy. In addition, this move away from an ownership society to a leaseholder society allows for greater provenance over the ultimate fate of the goods.
This isn’t just expected electronic items like computers and T.V.s either. Increasingly, retailers offer rental options on a wide range of goods; even clothing ranges are now available as a rental option.
The rise of rental options alongside pre-used merchandise will require a new breed of customer service and sales agents that understand the environmental aspects of each choice the consumer can make.
A large part of the drive to a circular economy is educating the public at large. Sales assistants and agents who work on the frontline face the public each day. By understanding the ecological impact of the products they purvey and passing this knowledge on with each transaction, the people in these jobs are a crucial cog in a circular economy.
The right-to-repair is a topical subject, and the matter lies at the heart of a functioning circular economy. As a society, we are used to simply taking that old computer or T.V. to the dump the moment it doesn’t switch on.
It hasn’t always been that way. In years gone by, repair technicians could fix that T.V., Fridge, or Washing Machine giving you years more use and saving precious resources.
Now the E.U. and U.K. have introduced separate right-to-repair legislation that obligates manufacturers to make spare parts available for many appliances. The USA is also looking at introducing similar legislation. (Source – BBC)
For a circular economy to work, we can’t just throw the T.V. out the moment the power button fails. So, backed by Government legislation that demands manufacturers make spare parts available, the repair technician is making a comeback.
Systemic changes to society of this scale are bound to cause upheaval. Traditional jobs will be lost. For example, the fossil fuel industry, from source to distribution to customer service, will disappear. Most of it will be gone in our lifetime. Petrol pumps will be replaced by charging stations, and drilling rigs will sit idle.
But new opportunities will always arise – Here are some of the other jobs that will be created in the circular economy.
Process Operators - We need to utilize waste streams and turn them into secondary resources. Armed with a knowledge of waste products and how to process them onwards into valuable and sellable products. Process operators will be crucial in the circular economy.
Demand Planners – Demand Planners will be tasked with refurbishing a viable business model by overseeing supply and demand.
Procurement – Entrepreneurial spirits will find a vast range of opportunities opening in the procurement field. Stimulating demand for recycled and secondary materials is a niche market that is set to explode in the circular economy.
