Based on a specifically developed concept for mapping the circular economy at the company level, the approximately 8,000 companies of the KOF enterprise panel, which is representative for Switzerland were surveyed in 2020 by means of a written survey (response rate: 29,1%). For 27 specific activities in the field of the circular economy, it was surveyed in which areas the companies have achieved measurable changes in the period 2017 to 2019.

It is apparent that most companies enter the transformation process via activities to increase efficiency in the production area. These activities to increase efficiency are of central importance, since for most companies they are the basis for extending the activities to other production stages and dimensions of the circular economy, such as closing the loops by re-manufacturing and increasing the lifetime of the products.

The report shows that the Swiss private sector is still at the beginning of the transformation process: between 8% and 12% of companies are substantially engaged in the transformation towards a circular economy.

The activities most frequently carried out to implement the circular economy at the company level are:

– 27% of companies reduced material consumption (incl. packaging, paper) in the production process (efficiency-increasing activities).

– 19% of the companies reduced the ecological footprint when purchasing new production inputs (efficiency-increasing activities).

– 19% of companies implemented activities to increase the lifetime of internally used production infrastructure through repair, maintenance (lifetime extension activities).

– 19% of the companies reduced the environmental impact in the production process (energy consumption, water, soil, air or noise pollution) (efficiency-increasing activities).  

– 17% of the companies reduced the environmental footprint of new purchases (production, transport) of production infra structure (efficiency-increasing activities).

Photo by Peter Roos on Flickr.