Business Support: Information and Resources for Partners
The transition to a circular economy creates significant opportunities for Scottish businesses, and collaboration across Scotland’s business support landscape will be critical to helping businesses turn those opportunities into action. Zero Waste Scotland works with partners and support organisations across Scotland to strengthen business support, develop new approaches, and help accelerate the adoption of circular economy practices.
This page brings together current Zero Waste Scotland business support opportunities, resources and activity that our partners can engage with and share through their own networks. We encourage partners to check back regularly for new opportunities, consider where these could add value to the businesses and organisations they support, and get in touch with us to explore opportunities to work together.
How we work with partners to support businesses
Our support focuses on:
- Helping businesses identify and explore circular opportunities
- Bringing organisations together to address shared challenges
- Testing innovative approaches and sharing evidence of what works
- Working with partners across Scotland’s business support landscape to make circular practices more accessible and easier for businesses to adopt.
Business Information Hub
Our Business Information Hub brings together practical support, guidance and resources to help businesses save money, spark innovation and become more sustainable through circular economy practices.
Explore the Hub to discover:
- The Circular Business Quiz, providing immediate, tailored guidance
- Sector-specific advice to help businesses identify relevant opportunities
- Practical tools and resources to help turn ideas into action
- A range of additional guidance, information and support
If you work with businesses or other stakeholders who could benefit from the Hub, our Communication Toolkit makes it easy to share. It includes ready-to-use copy and downloadable assets to help you promote the Hub through your own channels.
Cohort Programme
Many challenges or opportunities are best explored collaboratively.
Our cohort programmes bring together groups of businesses around a shared challenge or opportunity, within a sector, supply chain, or geographic area. Through structured collaboration, participating organisations can share experiences, learn from peers, and explore practical solutions together.
Through cohorts businesses can:
- Access tailored support and guidance
- Learn alongside businesses
- Build partnerships and connections
- Develop practical, actionable solutions
- Contribute to wider sector and system change
If your organisation identifies a challenge or opportunity across the business, sectors or places you work in that could benefit from a circular economy approach, we want to hear from you. Get in touch with your Zero Waste Scotland contact and we can begin to explore whether bringing businesses together through a cohort could help develop and test practical solutions.
Intern Programme
Since 2020, our internship programme has supported 60 placements across Scotland, helping organisations progress circular economy projects while developing the next generation of talent.
Interns work within organisations on defined projects, providing dedicated capacity, fresh perspectives, and valuable practical support.
Benefits for participating organisations:
- Additional capacity to progress circular economy initiatives
- New skills, ideas and innovation
- Support to explore opportunities that may otherwise be difficult to resource
- Access to emerging talent and future workforce development
If your organisation is aware of a project that could benefit from dedicated capacity and a fresh perspective, we would like to hear from you. We are particularly interested in projects that can use circular economy practices to address wider sector, place or system challenges, with the potential to generate learning, demonstrate new approaches or create benefits beyond a single organisation/business. Get in touch with your Zero Waste Scotland contact to explore whether an internship could help take the opportunity forward.
Circular EDGE Award
In partnership with Scottish EDGE, we support ambitious businesses developing innovative circular economy solutions.
The Circular EDGE Award offers funding to businesses that are creating products, services, or business models designed around circular economy principles.
Since 2019, the award has supported multiple Scottish businesses to develop and scale their ideas, helping demonstrate the commercial potential of circular innovation.
Funding available: up to £100,000 through a combination of grant and loan funding.
Find out more about Scottish EDGE and upcoming competitions below.
Collaborate with us
By sharing learning, fostering collaboration and delivering practical support, we're helping Scottish businesses seize the opportunities of the circular economy and contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future.
If you are one of Zero Waste Scotland’s partners and would like more information on any of the opportunities above, to bring forward a challenge idea, or explore how we work together, please contact the Business Support team directly.