3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
prevent a circular approach.
Furthermore, the existing infrastructure is poorly designed for reverse logistics, and large scale
recycling units are blending many different products within only one material category. In this
way, all the different material compositions get lost and the quality and economic value of the
resulting blend tends to be poor. Global supply chains make it difficult to precisely define
material flows and close loops at the local or regional level. Big players like the
telecommunication company POST have meanwhile recognized the issue and developed a
business case around reverse logistics. There is now, more than ever, an opportunity to invest
in reverse logistics and to combine it with either technical skills (repair service) or lower skilled
jobs around the dismantling and recovery of resources.
It will be very difficult to overcome a cultural reluctance to fully understand the concept of
what a circular economy really means. Conventional cultural values present a set of challenges,
linked to a conservative Luxemburgish approach that is based on possession of goods.
The general awareness about the circular economy in Luxembourg is still in the starting blocks.
Luxembourg’s business community is increasingly interested in the circular economy as it
understands not only the sustainability aspects, but also the economic advantage of
implementing circularity across the value chains. Many initiatives have been taken by the
Government (the ministry of economy and the ministry of sustainable development and
infrastructure), the chambers of commerce and craft trades, as well as the EcoInnovation
Cluster. The recent participation of Luxembourg in the “Incoming Trade Mission” organized by
the Netherlands CE Hotspot has lead to a new CE Hotspot summit that will be organized by
Luxembourg in 2017.
Education and communication will be critical to the success of a circular economy in
Luxembourg. To date, there are only a few possibilities to undergo CE training. Unfortunately,
Luxembourg’s labor force does not yet have the right work skills to make use of the existing
technology. Efforts should be undertaken both on a primary and secondary school level, during
apprenticeships and university studies, as well as life-long learning initiatives to prepare the
Luxembourger workforce with circularity principles and practices. Teachers have to be
retrained as well.
Luxembourg has several organizations (like “SuperDreckskëscht”) that currently reach out to a
high number of companies and citizens, and which could be key actors in fostering a growing
awareness of the vast merits in introducing circularity across every aspect of Luxembourg’s
society.
Luxembourg’s financial sector has a key role to play in the transition to a circular economy.
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