KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) has called on industries to embrace sustainable thinking through circular economy (CE) practices in order to revitalise business strategies, long-term competitiveness and productivity.
It said a quick survey conducted on over 500 Malaysian executives across diverse sectors comprising electrical and electronics, automotive, food and beverages, rubber, plastics and resin, energy, palm oil products, and services showed that only seven per cent of respondents are currently adopting CE practices.
“Some 80 per cent are planning to shift towards CE, while 10 per cent are trying to learn more about it before implementing them, and three per cent are not considering the CE at all,” it said in a statement today.
MPC director-general Datuk Abdul Latif Abu Seman said the results suggested that these companies are at different stages in their strategic sustainability thinking, whereby a majority of respondents indicated they are still in the early stages of thinking about the benefits of CE, focusing mainly on operational benefits and risk management.
“Perhaps, if the companies are more familiar with the concept, only then will they see it as opportunities to create a competitive advantage in terms of new products, market access, and customers,” he said.
Abdul Latif said the current linear economy business model relied on extraction and processing followed by consumption and disposal through incineration or landfill.
However, he said, in a circular economy, materials and products are recirculated, so that their value is fully utilised and wastage is minimised.
He said products are designed for reuse, repair and recycling instead of being totally discarded which would result in an increase in resource productivity.
“Hence, we cannot continue with our current linear economy business model, it is simply not sustainable.
“We will continue to educate the industry through our awareness programmes and share best practices. We are in the midst of giving recognition to the companies with CE practices at our Virtual Innovation Showcase formally known as Annual Productivity, Innovation, Conference and Exposition scheduled in November this year,” he added.
— Bernama
