Circular Business Models 💰

טיפול לשפכים המחקה את מערכת העיכול של פרות

EcoSTP

הוא סטארט-אפ בבנגלור, הודו (Bangalore, India) שמחקה את עיצוב של הבטן הארבע תאית של פרות במטרה לטפל בשפכים. הפתרון נוצר בהשראת קיבה של הפרות בשני אופנים: הראשון הוא שכפול תאי הבטן של הפרה באמצעות תכנון הנדסאי אזרחי יעיל עם פילטר עיכול בכרס. השני הוא השימוש בחיידקים אנאירוביים כמעכל הטבעי לפירוק תכולת הבוץ למים מוטפלים.

טכנולוגיה זו עם תחזוקה מועטת מייצרת אנרגיה במקום לצרוך אותה, בניגוד למפעלי טיפול בשפכים קונבנציונליים שמשתמשים במנועים לביצוע אנרגיה, מאווררי פליטה, משאבות ומפוחים. העיצוב של EcoSTP אינו משתמש בכימיקלים לטיפול בשפכים, אלא במיקרואורגניזמים,צמחים וחצץ לטיפול בשפכים. השיטה הזו מהווה פתרון חסכוני ואקולוגי שיכול לטפל עד מיליון ליטרים של ביוב ביום ללא צורך בחיבור לרשת חשמל. בהודו, כ-93% מהשפכים לא מטופלים בכלל ולפי האו״ם כ-80% ממי העולם מוזרמים לסביבה ללא טיפול, ומזהמים את הסביבה ברמה משמעותית. הטכנולוגיה הנוכחית לטיפול בשפכים היא בעייתית ביותר, מכיוון שמפעלי טיהור שפכים גוזלים כח רב וזקוקים לכלי הפעלה ייעודיים. הפתרון של EcoSTP הוא שיטה ייחודית שהיא אפס כוח לאפס כלי הפעלה (״zero power/zero operator") שיכולה להחליף את המודל הנוכחי של שימוש במנועים אשר משתמשים בהרבה אנרגיה לטיפול בשפכים. EcoSTP הוא פתרון בהשראת טבע ללא חלקים נעים. בשונה ממפעילי טיהור בשפכים המוטוריים שאינם בר קיימא, EcoSTP הוא פתרון בר קיימא העונה על המודל הכלכלה המעגלית בכך שיש שימוש מתמשך במשאבים מבלי לבזבז חומרים ולזהם את הסביבה.

Describe your product

Creating a truly circular economy using the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) – which in many cases now is only “semi circular” – by feeding only locally-produced organic by products that have no other use, designating the resulting product for human (and not animal) food, in a decentralized model where the BSF larvae and the growing unit are provided locally and without cost to sources of organic by products – as a service- and the resulting products then benefit both the local community and the overseer of this project. The system is designed to have as few external inputs (energy, packaging, transportation) as possible.

How would you redesign and rethink this product?

-Renewable energy used in factories (maybe biogas from waste streams that can’t be better utilized for regulatory/food safety reasons?)

-Fed only waste streams that have no other uses

-Not reliant on food waste that could otherwise be reduced at the source

-Designated for human consumption and not as animal feed (including efforts to market to people that don’t otherwise consume)

-Packaged in materials produced as part of the cycle

-Produced close to source of waste/decentralized model

What are the economic and environmental benefits of your new design?

Economic: Save money because system provides for its own energy needs, packaging materials, and reduces transportation costs to the extent possible. Environmental: Reduced greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring that this process is truly as sustainable as possible, maximizing efficiencies by avoiding feeding livestock and instead directing the nutrients directly to people, addressing food waste at the source (at the top of the pyramid – i.e. prevention, versus using it as a source of feed).

Which circular business models can you adopt?

A circular business model articulates how an organization creates, offers, and delivers value to its broader range of stakeholders while minimizing ecological and social costs. They provision services (e.g. organic waste treatment) with ecological and social factors central to the business culture and philosophy.

Inputs (circular supplies) – substitute fossil fuels in the production chain with renewable energy, accept only waste streams that have no alternative processing cycle, that fit certain requirements

Access and performance – Provide services to satisfy users’ needs without owning physical products. Provide functionality to customers (e.g. provide decentralized modular BSF units that can take care of local wastes, turning them into valuable end-products, which are then incorporated into local economy and provide social and economic benefits at the source). Prevents having to transport waste and/or end products outside of this region.

Bridging- promoting platforms for collaboration among producers and consumers – value proposition concentrates on enabling interaction between different and interdependent actors to bring together supply and demand (e.g. waste producers and BSF growers and downstream product users).

Extend resource value – exploit residual value of resources – collect and source otherwise “waste” products and turn them into new forms of value

Provide and perform – provide capability or services to satisfy user needs without needing to own physical products (e.g. develop shared platforms for BSF nutrition programs – optimizing diets from available waste streams, modular growing unit, that can be operated without a lot of expertise and is provided on loan, without having to invest a lot of own capital, or is paid for by the downstream products

Industrial symbiosis – process-oriented solution – use residual outputs from one process (e.g. protein meal, fertilizer) as feedstock for another process (human food or animal feed, growing plants, whose inedible remains are used to feed BSF), which benefits from geographical proximity of businesses.

If you look at the butterfly diagram – to which cycle does your product belong? Biological cycle

Can you improve the business model by looking at the whole system?

Yes – some examples: Consider how the system can also supply its own energy needs from renewable sources (including biogas produced as part of the system). Direct the BSF-derived nutrients (fat, protein, etc.) to humans instead of feeding animals, as the latter is wasteful in its own right and associated with many inefficiencies. Create a decentralized model of growing BSF on locally-produced waste so no need to waste resources transporting the organic waste from its production site to where it is fed to the BSF. Do not allow use of this system to dissuade reduction at the source – e.g. limiting food waste to begin with, by creating a system that pressures more efficient use of food so that it doesn’t get wasted since there is a lot of energy and other resources associated with wasted food, and the BSF can ideally be fed waste that has no other use (e.g. human sewage, inedible stems and peels, etc.) versus food that could have otherwise been consumed by people.