The entrepreneurial role of waste companies in transforming waste streams to value streams: Lessons from a Danish Municipal waste company

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) gives rise to paradigm shifts in the understanding, practice and regulation of waste, challenging a waste sector built for the linear waste paradigm of waste streams rather than value streams. We examine how a waste management company developed value streams, caught between increasing competition for waste types with high market value, and rigid regulation limiting the development of new streams. This cross-pressure necessitates new knowledge and practices to not only transform waste streams into value streams, but also to prioritize the inner circles prescribed by the CE paradigm. There is a potential for increasing reuse of products that have been collected as waste or handed in at municipal recycling stations. However, if the product value is not sufficient to be attractive for the existing market, then the value must be added, and a market must be created. There is a great deal still to learn about what it takes to create value out of waste products and what the role of municipal waste companies is in that process. Our findings indicate that unlocking the potential of waste (in this case, old bricks and waste electrical and electronic equipment) has been far from straightforward. Value must be created through several activities, requiring collaboration between a range of actors as well as new knowledge and business competencies. This contribution aims to open discussion on what it takes for waste management companies to navigate the new complexities in the transition from waste to resource management.