Towards the Circular Economy in Ireland

Declan White, Regional Director - South Region, participated in a panel discussion during RTE's business event on the Circular Economy in Ireland, as part of #RTEonClimate week. Declan brought examples of Veolia's experience in Ireland to a fascinating conversation.

Keynote speakers included world-renowned leader on the circular economy, Walter Stahel, and business leader and founder / director of the Center for Industrial Productivity and Sustainability, Jonathan T Scott. The keynote contributions were followed by a panel discussion which included Eimear Cotter of the Environmental Protection Agency and Professor Pat Brereton of the School of Communications in Dublin City University, as well as Declan White.

Key takeaways from the conversation

  1. The Circular Economy incorporates all elements of the lifecycle of a product (and/or service): from design, through implementation, operation and use, onto repurpose, recovery and input into a new product, service or use
  2. Getting to the Circular Economy is a journey in which you need to bring all stakeholders in partnership together in order to succeed
  3. We are seeing movement towards the Circular Economy here in Ireland - it is not a linear movement, but it is going towards it. We are seeing this movement from our Veolia Ireland clients, the government and society alike
It is very important that events and conversations like this happen and take place on an ongoing basis. I would like to thank both RTE and Business in the Community Ireland for the opportunity to participate in this fantastic event
Declan White
Regional Director - South
Towards the Circular Economy panel discussion
Declan White joins the panel to discuss business and the Circular Economy

Watch a recording of the full discussion