Circular insights #20
Podcast: Baukjen sustainable fashion | Blog: Fashion: from fast and forgettable to slow and sustainable – why purpose-driven brands are choosing circular strategies | Recommerce not recycling | Thriving post-pandemic |
linear economy
the linear economy is a way of decribing our current ways of doing business – typically a ‘waste’, or throughput system. We create waste and emissions at every stage, polluting our air, atmosphere, soil and water.
This linear economy relies on using finite resources – metals, minerals, and fossil fuels. It also relies on land and water – and we often forget that they are finite as well. In dumping all that waste and pollution, we’re destroying the living systems we depend on, and often harming people as well. When we discard the product, we waste all those resources – and we waste all the energy, labour and knowledge we invested in the product at every stage in the process.
Episode 24 – Steve Haskew of Circular Computing
Remanufacturing is one of the circular economy strategies that helps us keep products, components and materials ‘in the system. It means we can have high-quality, reliable products and equipment with pretty much the same performance as a new version – and costing significantly less – for the customer, society and our environment.
In today’s episode, I’m talking to Steve Haskew of Circular Computing, which remanufactures high-quality top-brand laptops, including Dell, HP and Lenovo. They are certified carbon-neutral, with performance tested as providing 97 per cent compared to a new model.
Circular Computing has been remanufacturing since the 1990s, and provides laptops to education, public sector and even direct to consumers. Every machine goes through a 100+ point-check, any worn components are replaced and selected components are upgraded to give them a performance boost.
The company now has over 250 staff and remanufacturing capacity of up to 10,000 units each month. We talk about the customer value proposition, and how remanufacturing is different to second-use products.
Circular insights #16
Close the Loop | Linear risk & circularity gaps | Circularity for human development | Happy Hustle giveaway | Hot Air
Circularity Gap Risk
#2 in our Linear Risks blog series asks whether there is a circularity gap in your value chain, leaving room for competitors to profit from your products, materials and reputation. We explain how circular approaches can close this gap and help you capture that value.
Supply chain risk
The coronavirus is already highlighting supply chain risk and creating major headaches for many businesses. How can you protect your business in the face of the next mega-disruption, whether driven by extreme weather, disasters, or even geo-politics? We explore how those businesses working towards a circular economy are mitigating these potentially fatal flaws. They aim to recover their own resources, to prioritise local supply and decentralised production, and to slow down consumption instead.
Episode 2 Linear economy and risks
In Episode 2, we dig a bit deeper into the way we do business now, the linear economy, and why that’s creating problems for business, society and our living planet. Also, we’ll look at the risks that emerge from those big-picture issues, and how they might affect your organisation. Circular approaches can avoid or mitigate many of these risks, and we’ll be interviewing people in business, social enterprises and other organisations that are using the circular economy to re-think the way we make products and design services. I hope their stories will inspire you to use circular approaches to strengthen your own business.
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