Embed sustainability into core business operations

Our “take, make, waste” linear economy is not sustainable. From design and sourcing to manufacturing, sales, logistics and disposal, it’s driving climate change, nature loss and inequality. At a business level, it means more risk, higher cost and wasted value.

11bn tonnes of material resources used every year

<9% of those 100bn tonnes recycled/reused

We need a different approach. The circular economy introduces a new paradigm –“take, make, take, make” – empowering companies to eliminate waste, circulate and regenerate by shifting from consumption to re-use models.

The circular economy demands an evolution in how businesses operate. Powerful regulatory and stakeholder pressures are driving the need for change:

• Shifting policy landscape, with new fees, packaging taxes, bans, and quotas being introduced all the time
• Competitors defining circular strategies and setting ambitious targets
• Employees, consumers and citizens demanding change
• Investors applying stricter sustainability targets.

SAP responsible design and production

Accenture and SAP have come together to help accelerate the transition to The Circular Economy, for a cleaner future.

The focus on circular economy legislation is intensifying. The EU has set a high bar, introducing shared multinational circular initiatives and goals for member states to implement. But wherever companies operate, compliance with policies that encourage zero waste is now essential.

A top priority for regulators? Action on plastics and packaging. Society wants rapid change: 44% of consumers want retailers to take action and 40% will pay more for recyclable packaging. Governments are responding with new regulation.

The result: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees and plastic taxes are much more common.

In the EU, 25 countries have EPR fees

400+ EPR schemes in use globally

A big challenge for business? The EPR landscape is growing more complex every day. And attempting to manage this regulatory patchwork is impossible with current systems.

• No dynamic tracking or insights by market
• Manual data collection and estimation of material volumes
• Static, inflexible redesign simulations.

Effective compliance with EPR regulations, SAP and Accenture have developed a holistic solution.

SAP Responsible Design and Production helps ensure compliance and save EPR-linked costs:

• Data collation – on production, recipes, logistics, materials and sales
• Checking volumes of materials and assessing impacts
• Measuring and managing EPR reporting forms, fees and payments
• Reporting for financial and sustainability reports.

Available as-a-Service, the solution benefits include:

• Designed for openness, security, and native integration
• Works with either SAP ECC or S/4HANA
• Standard EPR declaration reports
• Interfaces for packaging data from third-parties
• Producer-specific declarations using SAP Analytics Cloud.

Your business is entering the circular economy. Our solution helps to make the transition as rapid, efficient, and seamless as possible – for many stakeholders.