Turn eco-anxiety into positive action | Flip disagreements into discoveries | Transform business risks into a €500bn circular economy opportunity | Circular Economy Podcasts | Circular Innovations | Thank you letters
If you are a regular listener, you’ll know that every 10th episode, Catherine zooms in on one or two of the common themes from the last series of interviews. In the last series, we’ve heard from 4 businesses and 3 social enterprises, based in Australia, The Netherlands, France, Spain, the UK and the USA.
What stood out this time was how circular solutions develop as they mature – that might be evolving to improve the range of solutions, to strengthen the offer or the business model, and maybe even having to pivot when a major barrier or issue crops up. Businesses and community initiatives might also want to expand their scale, so they can make a bigger positive difference.
Helen Burdett leads the World Economic Forum’s work on circular economy innovation, including its flagship initiative, Scale360°, and its work on Circular Trailblazers.
The Scale360° program advances innovation ecosystems for environmental and economic impact with scalable, locally-led innovation support delivered through private-public partnerships–all connected through a global digital community.
Circular Trailblazers are the subject of a new report from the World Economic Forum and impact organization ScaleUpNation. The special study was conducted to better understand innovators within the circular economy given the major opportunities they offer, for both job creation and economic development.
Catherine Weetman talks to Louise Bijleveld, Co-Founder of LONO in Côte d’Ivoire. Lono helps agro-industrial companies and farmer cooperatives to create value from waste, by converting it into biofertilizers and biogas. Its overall aim is to help value reach rural areas and reduce the inequalities in agricultural supply chains. Côte d’Ivoire is an important global producer of cocoa beans, cashew nuts, natural rubber and tropical fruits – all of these produce huge amounts of agricultural waste when harvested. The farms are often in remote areas, so it’s a big challenge to find ways to combine compatible feedstocks and make the logistics cost-effective.
Welcome to the latest round-up of what we’ve shared, and what’s inspired us. In this issue:
• Off the Page – webinar Wed 25 November
• Circular Economy Podcast #40 – Sharing data and values
• What we’ve been reading – Fixation by Sandra Goldmark
Thank you letters – to UNSSC
We talk to Sophie Segal, founder of the Reading chapter of the CEC, in the south of England. Sophie uses games to engage people in sustainability and encourage us to think differently, to think about the system that we’re all part of.
Sophie wears a few hats, including with Co-CREATE ImpACT – providing innovative social impact training, and Together Dragonflies – Using value creation and innovation to shape new customer experiences.
She helps organisations with their purpose, to design value propositions and customer experiences that resonate. She is also bringing people together in her community to amplify local circular initiatives.
Sophie loves the idea for rethinking existing business models and engagement for the good of tomorrow. Sophie uses value creation, innovation and different approaches to shift mindsets.
In her latest ventures, she uses the transformative power of play with organisations: to bring to life customer focus and engage employees in sustainability and the circular economy.