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Circular economy

Circular Economy Podcast - artwork for episode 149

149 Giulia Ziino – CircularPlace: generate value from underused assets

Giulia Ziino is a co-founder of CircularPlace, a digital platform that helps organizations generate value by reusing and repurposing underutilized products and equipment.
These services are needed more than ever, by a wide range of organizations. The pandemic, working from home and now hybrid working upturned the entire concept of workspaces, and organizations need to resize, relocate or restructure on a regular basis. That usually means changing office layouts.
Manufacturing businesses may need to update or replace machinery and equipment to reflect changing specifications or what’s selling well in their product mix. And hotels and hospitality venues need to keep their furniture and equipment looking fresh and attractive – and some rooms or areas might look tired, with others hardly used.
All of this means that furniture, equipment and other items become available, and often these might be in as-new condition, or just lightly used. Even if they are more worn, they may be suitable for refurbishment, repair or remanufacturing. The CircularPlace platform is available as a white-label solution, and facilitates the sale or donation of equipment, furniture and other unwanted items, either within the company or to external buyers. This provides tax benefits as well as reducing GHG emissions and waste. CircularPlace was founded in 2021, and clients now include Microsoft France, Sodexo, Schneider and Fedex.
Giulia Ziino joined CircularPlace as a late-stage co-founder, bringing international experience and initially taking on the role of Chief of Staff, where she focused on expanding and stabilizing the brand. Now, as Chief Marketing Officer, Giulia is building a robust presence for CircularPlace in the B2B circular economy space and driving impactful storytelling around sustainability.
We’ll hear how CircularPlace helps clients with asset and inventory management, with logistics, and provides an impact calculator to measure carbon savings. We hear what’s encouraging companies to look at these solutions, and how the platform links clients with specialist resellers, improving the value recovered as well boosting the existing reuse markets.

Circular Economy Podcast artwork for episode 148

148 Tim Forslund of Sitra: circular solutions for nature

Tim Forslund works on the circular economy at the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. As a key part of his work at Sitra, Tim has analysed how circular economy strategies can help tackle biodiversity loss, including through the circular bioeconomy.
We’ll be talking about Sitra’s latest handbook for businesses, CIRCULAR SOLUTIONS FOR NATURE, which helps companies aiming to integrate circular business models into their operations so they can address biodiversity loss.
Sitra’s handbook includes a primer on the interconnections between circularity and nature, and sets out a three-step approach for action:
1. identifying critical biodiversity impacts in the value chain;
2. using circular solutions to tackle these impacts;
3. designing the circular transformation journey.
Sitra is a public fund, think tank and future house. The circular economy has been a central part of Sitra’s work for more than 10 years. In 2016, it led the work for the world’s first national circular economy roadmap, and in 2017, it started the World Circular Economy Forum. CIRCULAR SOLUTIONS FOR NATURE is the third of Sitra’s handbooks for business, following on from its publications on technology and the chemical industry.

Artwork for Circular Economy Podcast ep 147

147 Dr Alexandra Leeper: smarter ways to create value

Dr Alexandra Leeper is the CEO of the Iceland Ocean Cluster and is passionate about the sustainable use of ocean resources. She’s working as a scientist intrapreneur in the blue and circular economies, drawing on diverse experiences from working all over the world in universities, consultancies, and at sea.
Alexandra has a background in marine resources and completed an industrial doctorate in aquaculture and circular economy in 2021. Her work focuses on sustainable value creation, positive impact in the blue economy and supporting the development of ocean clusters around the world.
The Iceland Ocean Cluster is at the center of maritime innovation in Iceland, with a mission to create value by connecting together entrepreneurs, businesses and knowledge in the blue economy.
They describe their flagship project, 100% Fish, as an ‘incredible fishy value machine’. 100% Fish is all about inspiring the seafood and fish sectors to utilize more of each fish, increase the value of each fish landed, support new business opportunities, increase employment and most importantly decrease waste. It’s incredibly successful – since the 1990s, the utilization of fishery by-products has increased 30-fold, the export value per kilogram of fish has risen by a factor of 4 and a wide array of different products have been developed.
Alexandra explains how that works in practice, and how it’s sparked a movement around the world, with other Ocean Clusters using the same approach to come up with their own incredible value machines, and create value for their local blue economies.

Artwork for Circular Economy podcast episode 146

Dr Monika Hauck: making repairs easy & fashionable

Entrepreneur Dr. Monika Hauck is tapping into the emotional charge we feel after getting something repaired, and using that to revolutionize how we choose and care for our clothing and accessories.
Dr. Monika Hauck is the founder of Repair Rebels, a digital B2C & B2B fashion repair platform that’s a pioneer solution in the German market, with a goal is to make textile and shoe repairs digital, convenient and fashionable! Repair Rebels started in 2021, and has already won numerous prestigious awards, including the German Ecodesign Award.
Dr. Monika Hauck is a creative economist, entrepreneur, social activist, and researcher specializing in Open and Collaborative Innovation. Her Ph.D. focused on Corporate Venturing and Open Innovation in the fashion industry. Monika has also founded the WHU Entrepreneurship Center to support startups and corporate innovation initiatives in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) region.
Monika was passionate about fashion from a young age, and later worked as a model for renowned international agencies and brands. You may have heard of “Fashion Revolution,” a British social enterprise – in 2018, Monika became the Fashion Revolution City Ambassador in Düsseldorf. Then, in 2019, she launched change-room.org, a think tank dedicated to sustainable and inclusive innovation in fashion.
Now, Monika combines her expertise in fashion, innovation management and sustainable development with her commitment to revitalising local craftsmanship. Monika explains how Repair Rebels works for customers and repairers, and how Repair Rebels is meeting the needs of different groups of customers.
We hear how Repair Rebels was inspired by Monika’s childhood in Lithuania, where she learned to sew and repair clothing while still at school. Monika outlines some of the trends she is seeing around fashion consumption and the circular economy, and we discuss the reasons that big businesses are finding it so hard to change course. We also talked about the Lean StartUp concept, and how that can be helpful to circular entrepreneurs.

Artwork for episode 145

145 Evolena de Wilde of Faircado: your AI-powered second-hand shopping assistant

Evolena de Wilde d’Estmael is co-founder & CEO of Faircado, a Berlin-based startup that provides the first AI-powered second-hand shopping assistant in Europe. Faircado’s technology helps people find the best second-hand alternatives to what they are searching for online. Driven by the mission to reduce global waste and support the shift to a circular economy, Faircado’s goal is to help make second-hand goods the first choice for consumers.
Evolena was born in Belgium and is proud to be an impact entrepreneur, committed to the circular economy and sustainability. She was named one of the top 100 women in social enterprise in 2022 and is an EU Climate Pact Ambassador. Evolena is also the co-founder of Solidartsy, a non-profit dedicated to bridging the art world’s gender pay gap.
Faircado is available as a browser extension, working in the background to search for second-hand alternatives to whatever you’re looking to buy, and Evolena explains why they decided to start with a browser extension rather than an app or a website.
Until recently, Faircado was available only in Germany, and yet already has 100 million products integrated from 60 different partners. Evolena talks about the numbers and the partnerships, including how this works commercially and how companies like eBay are reacting.
We hear about the underlying principles for designing the technology, and how Faircado has used research into habits and behaviours to make it easy for people to adopt.
Evolena shares some of her fascinating backstory too, which blends a deep sense of purpose with making interesting and maybe unexpected choices at various forks in the road.

Artwork for circular economy podcast episode 144

144 Chris Allen of Decathlon: ever-evolving circular design

Chris Allen, Sustainability Leader and Head of Circular Business Development at Decathlon UK. You’ve probably heard of Decathlon, which is the world’s largest sporting goods retailer, with over 1,700 stores in more than 70 countries. It’s a family-owned company, founded in 1976, and inspired by the belief that the best sports products should be accessible to everyone.
Chris Allen has 15 Years experience in Decathlon spanning various retail management roles, including several years in Category Management and Head of Outdoor before being appointed to his Sustainability role in 2022. Chris has a degree in Sports Engineering and is an advocate of all things outdoors, and loves being out on his bike or at the local climbing wall.
Decathlon describes itself as specialising in the creation and production of innovative sporting goods designed to delight and move people through the wonders of sport, including cycling, hiking, running, swimming and football.
Decathlon sees its mission as ever-evolving and high-performance design, the best quality at the lowest possible price, and expert advice that customers of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels can access in-store or online, from anywhere, at any time.
Decathlon has an integrated business model, with over twenty in-house brands as well as supplying well-known brands including Asics, Adidas, Garmin, Puma, Quiksilver, Reebok, Salomon, and many others.
In the UK, Decathlon offers a 2-year warranty on its own brand products, has buy-back programme so customers can save money and trade in their old gear. It sells through it’s retail stores and online, and offers a 365-day returns policy, giving customers a whole year to decide if something is right for them.
Chris will talk us through Decathlon’s approach, including how the buy-back, second-life and repair programmes work in practice, and how he’s working with the in-house and external product and design teams to implement a whole-systems approach to sustainability.

Artwork for Circular Economy Podcast episode 143

143 Michael Colarossi – Digital Product Passports

Michael Colarossi of Avery Dennison explains how Digital Product Passports can be a key enabler in the transition to a circular economy.
Michael is head of Enterprise Sustainability at Avery Dennison, which specializes in global materials science and digital identification solutions. As part of the the leadership team, Michael is responsible for environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy across the company’s worldwide operations. His work focuses on climate action, decarbonization, global supply chain transparency, digital product passports, circular labels and packaging materials.
You might already know that the European Union is rolling out a new regulation meaning that nearly all products sold in the EU will require a Digital Product Passport (DPP). The initiative is part of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, and aims to enhance transparency and improve availability of reliable product data, by providing comprehensive information about each product’s origin, materials, environmental impact, and recommendations for disposal.
The EU Digital Product Passport will include a unique product identifier, compliance documentation, and information on substances of concern. It will also provide user manuals, safety instructions, and guidance on product disposal. The EU intends that Digital Product Passports will enhance supply chain management, ensure regulatory compliance, and help companies identify and mitigate risks related to authenticity and environmental impact.
For example, those products like mattresses, sofas and other home furnishings often contain multiple materials, including some natural fibres like wool and cotton, plus synthetics like polyester. The more we know about the make up of the product, the easier it is to decide whether and how it could be refurbished, remanfactured or recycled.
The EU regulations will be mandatory for industrial and electric vehicle batteries from 2027, and other product categories, including textiles, are expected to follow by 2030.
Michael Colarossi gives us a broader overview of Digital Product Passports, including what kinds of products are they useful for, and what forms they take.
As Michael explains, the EU regulations only require the passport to provide details for the type of product – not for every individual unit of that product. We discuss why that more detailed approach would be better.
We talk about the potential for Digital Product Passports to guard against fraud and misinformation
This isn’t straightforward, and we talk about some of the barriers and difficulties from a company perspective, together with the advantages that help make a good business case for doing it, even without the legislation.

142 Anna De Matos – igniting circular communities

Anna De Matos is the founder of several community-focused sharing initiatives, and a force of nature.
Originally from Brazil, Anna De Matos went to university in the UK and moved to Iceland in 2017. Inspired by a visit to Toronto’s tool library, Anna started a tool library and repair café, and managed to bootstrap and crowdfund her way to establishing these – all whilst dealing with the serious challenges of autoimmune disease.
Anna has degrees in Conservation and Restoration and is now channelling her skills and experience into helping people conserve and restore their things. She founded the Munasafn RVK Tool Library to promote shared resource use and has organized numerous repair café events, fostering a culture of repair and reuse within Icelandic communities.
Anna’s skills go beyond organising and bringing people together, and she’s also created a technology add-on to MyTurn’s Library of Things software to provide a self-service kiosk option for Libraries of Things.
Anna’s hands-on experience in running these initiatives provides her with unique insights into the practical needs of communities, which she has channeled into the creation of the Circular Library Network (CLN), helping communities around the world manage their own “libraries of things,” promoting sustainability through shared access to essential items – so we can all get more, from less.
Anna’s story is inspiring, and fascinating, with many forks in the road that led her to what she’s doing now.

141 Joel Tasche: scaleable solutions to plastic pollution

Joel Tasche founded CleanHub, a Berlin-based company that provides a scalable solution to plastic pollution. CleanHub connects coastal communities to proper waste collection in places where that doesn’t exist, at the same time creating safe and dignified jobs. Brands can support the mission by funding the collection of waste that otherwise wouldn’t be collected. CleanHub accepts ALL types of plastic – not just the stuff that’s easy to turn into value. CleanHub’s AI technology tracks the entire process from collection to disposal, ensuring transparency. It’s verified by TÜV SÜD according to ISO standards
Joel’s mission was sparked by a love of the ocean. As a traveler and surfer, he witnessed firsthand the heartbreaking reality of plastic pollution, everywhere he went. Whilst disheartened, Joel resolved to dedicate his working life to keeping plastic out of the sea. Many doubted he could make a difference. Fast forward to today, CleanHub has collected over 9 million kgs of plastic waste and partnered with more than 300 brands, helping them reduce plastic and collect more plastic than they use.
Whilst we see images of ocean plastics, beach plastics and landfills, we’re perhaps less familiar with the dreadful working conditions of those trying to earn a living by collecting and sorting the waste. Resolving this is at the heart of CleanHub’s mission, and we’ll more about how it does that.
Joel also talks about the complexities of plastic waste collection, how to scale new ventures, and how keeping ethics at the heart of your business really helps bring everyone along with you.