Co-op News March 2023

agricultural products as well as one co-operative
focused on waste reduction (helping restaurants
and their clients to avoid plastic waste when
ordering food).
Other examples provided in the study include
the solidarity co-operative Centrale Agricole,
which brings together urban agricultural
producers (including several co-operatives) to
share material and immaterial resources on its
site in Montréal. The research found that the
co-operative “actively fosters circular synergies
between its members”. For example, the ‘waste’
of a coffee roaster on its premises provides an
input for the mushroom cultivation of another
organisation on its site.
Another case study mentioned in the research
is Sollio Cooperative Group, which has been
working to improve how its deals with organic
‘waste’. Sollio formed a partnership with an
enterprise specialising in insect farming, which
produces proteins and flour from insects fed by
recuperated organic waste. The initiative led to
a 56% reduction of organic ‘waste’ sent to the
landfill, and has reduced trucking trips, costs,
and GHGs emissions.
Another co-operative featured as an example,
Retournzy, offers a turnkey service for the rental,
collection and washing of returnable containers
for restaurants and lists circularity among its
values: “we encourage a circular economy of
sharing reusable containers as an alternative to
single-use containers” it says.
The study notes that a circular economy
strategy and business model discussion among
co-operatives, small and large, would be
relevant and supported by the sixth co-operative
principle of co-operation among co-operatives.
It also points out that a co-operative might not
use, or not even have heard of circular economy,
but it may still implicitly advance the goals of a
circular economy.
“We interpret the mutualisation at the core
of the co-operative model as a deep, implicit
support potential for circular economy,” reads
the paper.
Despite being prone to adopt circular economy
approaches due to their business model, cooperatives
remain constrained by policies that
support the linear economy. “We argue that cooperatives
need to move towards explicit goals
and strategies to ensure and sustain social and
ecological ‘circular’ impact, and to avoid mission
drift towards the linear model,” adds the paper.
The study concludes that while “there is a
structural link between the co-operative model
and circular economy, this is not a matter of
either/or (circular/no circular).” The research
also argues that co-operatives need to move
towards explicit goals and strategies to ensure
and sustain social and ecological “circular”
impact, and to avoid mission drift towards
the linear model, in line with the seventh cooperative
principle of co-operation among cooperatives.
In light of these findings, the paper suggests
practical recommendations to advance a cooperative
embedding of circular economy in the
light of current needs: support for the integration
and improvement of circularity strategies and
associated socio-technical questions, support
with business model development and finance,
as well as promoting circular economy education
and enabling peer exchange. Furthermore,
argues the paper, because co-operatives have
greater longevity than private enterprises,
advancing their circularity can be expected to
have a more lasting effect.
The study forms part of a larger project of
creating a collection on circular economy and
co-operatives which started in 2022. The online
collection includes a toolbox section, which
provides co-operatives with tools to advance
their circular strategies; a knowledge section,
which provides access to research articles
and policies, and an examples of circular
co-operatives section, which showcases cooperatives
that are pursuing circular strategies.
We interpret the
mutualisation
at the core of
the co-operative
model as a deep,
implicit support
potential
for circular
economy
p Circular Economy
and Cooperatives – An
Exploratory Survey
MARCH 2023 | 47