Sonova Environment Day

Experience circular economy

At the beginning of May, we were able to accompany 254 employees at the Sonova Group's internal Environment Day in Stäfa (ZH) as they dealt with sustainable development with a focus on the circular economy. Spread over 8 workshops, the employees interactively dealt with the strategies of the circular economy, got to know exemplary products and services from the circular economy and finally developed their own ideas for the implementation of circular economy strategies in their own company or working environment. More than 70 ideas were generated in this way, which are now being evaluated and followed up by a Sonova project team.

Bridge between theory and practice

After a short theoretical introduction to the circular economy, we supported the workshop participants in acquiring knowledge about the strategies Reuse, Rethink, Repair, Repurpose and Recycle. The fact that the principles and strategies of the circular economy no longer belong to a distant utopia, but are already being applied in the present, could not only be experienced by the participants, but could also be experienced at the same time: In order to bridge the gap between theory and practice, we presented a practical example of a product or service for each of the circular economy strategies.

Circular economy made tangible

In this way we showed for example by means of the products / service of Kickbaghow reuse can already be practiced through reusable packaging (for shipping). Regarding the strategy Rethink we presented with Gerrard Street a company that is rethinking business models by not selling its headphones and renting them out instead. The fact that the Repair strategy is unjustly degenerating into an increasingly neglected practice is shown by the example of the local Repair Café Stäfa. Furthermore, the products of the industrial designer Björn Ischi showed how new products can be created from supposed waste materials thanks to the Repurpose strategy. How a circular alternative to petroleum-based plastics (such as Styrofoam) can be implemented from organic residues and mushroom mesh was shown by the innovative company Mycrobez.

Ideas for your own business

Equipped with the necessary basic knowledge and awareness of the relevance and feasibility of the circular economy, we finally accompanied the employees in generating ideas. How could the strategies of the circular economy be applied in their own working environment? What is Sonova already implementing? Where does Sonova have potential for improvement? These were the questions that the employees addressed on the Environment Day.

We would like to thank Sonova and all workshop participants for the exciting exchange and lively discussions.