A way in which manufacturers can help towards reducing an environmental footprint is through a circular economy. A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose), in which manufacturers keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and

regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.

The principles behind a circular economy are to put in place processes, products and new business models that contribute to a resource-efficient, low-carbon economy. It has been hailed as a significant opportunity for business. But some industries and sectors have been quicker to adopt circular economy principles than others.

It is acknowledged that, in the absence of legislation, the bathroom industry is one that has been slow to adopt. However, with the launch of BS 8001 – the first national standard on implementing Circular Economy (CE) principles – the time has now come for bathroom manufacturers to get involved.

But what is BS 8001? Developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI), the BS 8001 is explicitly a guidance standard rather than a certification, to help companies to integrate and introduce CE into their business, enabling them to take practical action to realise business benefits as well as safeguarding the environment. Having been in development for more than two years, it is actually the first of its kind anywhere in the world, and the hope is that it will become the basis of an international standard so that the benefits of CE can be felt across the world.

From the bathroom industry’s point of view, global shower manufacturer Methven was one of the pilot organisations and the only SME involved. Methven tested the content and structure of BS 8001’s core clauses through a programme of pilot sessions – specifically Clause 4 on the principles of the circular economy and Clause 5 on putting the principles into practice.

Opportunities for the bathroom industry to consider include moving from selling to leasing models through take-back of products to enable; for example, refurbishment and remanufacturing, and also looking to create products that are more circular, for example, products that are designed to be upgradable through modular design. The design phase is vitally important here because it is where 80% of the environmental impact comes into consideration. Therefore, the industry needs to be looking to design with repair, maintenance, remanufacture and upgrading in mind, as well as looking at how individual parts could potentially be harvested.

The biggest environmental impact from the bathroom industry is – and will continue to be – water and energy consumption, rather than the materials themselves. In the future, the ErP Directive – which aims to help the EU achieve its target to reduce energy use by 20% by 2020 – will start to have more prominence and the scope will cover showers and taps, again requiring manufacturers to adopt standards in development to allow upgrade, repair and re-use of energy-related products.

Water scarcity is another issue that will be ongoing, and as regulation is tightened, water metering expands across the UK and the price of water increases, it will become even more of a driver for consumers and, therefore, for bathroom manufacturers.

All of these issues feed into CE and the need for very careful product design. However, aside from the energy and water efficiencies, one of the biggest challenges for the bathroom industry is product circularity. While a full bathroom replacement is not a regular occurrence, there are a number of products and components that can be, and are, replaced more regularly – such as showers, hoses and taps – and currently, these are largely disposed of. So what the bathroom industry needs to tackle are the business opportunities around repair, refurbishment and material recycling. And, in the most part, this goes back to the original design, manufacturing and reverse logistics processes, as well as straightforward protocols and services that allow for; for example, repair and recycling to take place without placing extra burden on the industry.

From a manufacturing point of view, the need to find solutions to this issue may well be driven by supply chain pressures as component and material suppliers come under their own pressures.