The circular economy aims to break the link between economic activity and using up the earth's resources.

This may involve reusing, repairing, and sharing materials and products.

Amsterdam has become the first city in the world to trial the idea after announcing its intentions in 2020. Within seven years it hopes to have halved its use of new raw materials.

The fashion industry is one obvious candidate, where instead of consuming endless new raw materials, disposing of perfectly acceptable clothes, they are recycled.

The component parts of mobile phones, electronics and the raw materials used in construction are other obvious examples.

At the moment, committing to being part of a circular economy can be more costly than sourcing raw materials, but the hope is that as the movement goes this will change with obvious benefits to the environment and the planet.

It may take some state aid to kickstart the movement, particularly for start-up businesses.

However, if the idea becomes more...

The Harvard Business School definition of business sustainability is twofold.

It says there are two things that should be measured for business sustainability. They are the effect a business has on the environment, and the effect a business has on society, with the goal of sustainable practice being to have a positive impact on at least one of those areas.

At the moment businesses are reporting difficulty in recruiting suitable candidates so anything that can help to increase applications is important.

This is where sustainability comes in.

Adobe recently surveyed its US workforce and found that almost a third of people said they would only work for an employer that prioritised sustainability.

About a third of employees thought it would boost productivity rates (35 percent), position their company as a leader (31 percent), and open more opportunities for innovation (37 percent).

Forty-three percent thought it would improve workplace culture.

Albeit this is just a snapshot of...