Go Full Circle program

About the program

The Go Full Circle program is aimed at helping small businesses to learn circular economy principles and balance economic, environmental and social objectives. It is designed for small and medium-sized businesses in the hospitality, retail, and professional services industries located in Boroondara.

We’re encouraging local businesses to apply. There is no cost to participate.

Benefits include:

• enhanced environmental outcomes for your business
• cost savings
• increased innovation
• attraction and retention of new customers.

All participants will receive a certificate of completion.

To learn more about the course, download the 2023 Course Guide from the downloads section on this page.

This is the second year we are delivering this program, in partnership with City of Melbourne and City of Stonnington.

Course details

Workshops take place online on Wednesdays from 3 pm to 4:30 pm on the following dates and will cover the following topics:

• 30 August 2023 — Foundations of the Circular Economy
• 13 September 2023 — Circular Economy in Practice
• 4 October 2023 — Overcoming Barriers to Change
• 18 October 2023 — Building Momentum.

There will also be:

• drop-in consultation sessions throughout the program
• one-on-one consultation sessions.

These extra sessions will take place at times chosen in collaboration with participants so that they are mutually suitable.

What you’ll learn

The program combines a series of online workshops and group activities with one-on-one support.

During 4 interactive online sessions, you will learn:

• how to identify new business opportunities which tap into the environmental and social conscience
• the shortest pathway to leveraging circularity to drive better business outcomes
• how to build external network connections with like-minded businesses in your industry, and use them to sustain your business
• how to identify business opportunities that improve performance by reducing costs, gaining more customers, increasing customer spend, identifying new revenue streams, improving supply chain resilience, and reducing waste
• how to communicate with your staff and customers about your business leveraging sustainability to improve operating procedures and their experience.

Testimonials

Last year’s participants had the following to say about our course:

• ‘This program posed an opportunity for us to engage with experts in the field, build relationships with fellow businesses and speak directly to representatives of local government. It felt like a safe and constructive place to discuss our challenges.’
• ‘I learnt that there's more to it than just recycling and reusing. When I started, I was only thinking about paper/cardboard recycling and how to manage soft plastics. The program really helped me review and rethink how the business can reduce waste.’
• ‘Through this course we have met and engaged with a number of small and medium-sized businesses in various fields and now feel more empowered to overcome obstacles we had pre-course e.g. Who/where to go to ensure informed decisions and not being ‘greenwashed’.’

Learn more by watching our video where restaurant owner Sam talks about the benefits they found in participating in our 2022 Go Full Circle program.

2022 Case Studies

The 2022 program participants were invited to prepare a case study as part of the course. Six of the 11 Boroondara businesses that completed the program prepared case studies. You can download the Go Full Circle 2022 Case Studies document on this page.

More information

To find out more about the Go Full Circle program, you can email [email protected] or call us on (03) 9278 4879.