Evaluating good practices of ecological accounting and auditing in a sample of Italian circular start-ups

The model of Circular Economy (CE) encourages the adoption of a broad vision of production and entrepreneurial activities that integrate in their decisions the impacts on the natural environment and on all the stakeholders. The increasing adoption of environmental cer-tifications of process (e.g., the ISO 14001 or the EMAS III), environmental product certifications (e.g., the ISO Environmental Labelling Type I, II, III) and certifications for corporate social re-sponsibility (e.g., ISO 26001) reflects the orientation of companies in adopting a broader vision beyond their conventional economic boundaries. In the last few years SMEs and start-up compa-nies are showing interest in the use of these certification schemes. This study evaluates the im-plementation of the CE, the adopted certification tools as well as how the aspects of the local environment and local community are considered in a sample of 20 circular start-ups by means of a questionnaire survey and interviews to the founders and managers. The results evidence that depending on the application of the model of CE the circular start-ups can be classified into four clusters (design-based, platform-based, waste-based and nature-based) as well as how they apply in a very innovative way the different principles and aspects of the CE (circular design, reduction, reuse, recycling, use of digital technology). The circular start-ups mainly adopt product certifi-cations but about 35% of the sample consist of certified benefit corporations and benefit corpo-rations. Finally, most of the start-ups (except platform-based) share a particular attachment with the local natural environment and local community showing interesting relations between the research fields of CE and place-based sustainability