Social benefits from circular approaches, including regeneration of local resources, creating jobs for disadvantaged or excluded groups, social enterprises, and so on.
BONUS Ep85 part 2 – India Hamilton shares more about circular economy food coop SCOOP, Permaculture, membership models, and why she loves compliance officers. We also discuss the importance of supporting your local food economy, and how monopolies and exploitative capitalism are underming this.
India Hamilton, cofounder of circular economy food cooperative SCOOP explains the challenges of providing healthy, affordable and local food on a small island. We hear about the founding principles behind SCOOP and it’s ‘why’. India explains how SCOOP goes beyond the provision of local, healthy and sustainable food and is embedding circular solutions across the business. We find out how it survived during lockdown, and discuss India’s counter-intuitive conclusions about the real meaning of convenience
Kim Baker is Senior Director of Innovation at Elemental, which funds circular economy and climate tech solutions through a non-profit model. Elemental is on a mission to redesign the systems at the root of the climate problems , and it’s built a platform for scaling equitable, market-driven solutions, and to uplift people and communities around the world. Since 2009, Elemental has invested in over 130 growth-stage companies.
Kim Baker has over 15 years of experience in launching and growing engineered systems into industrial and municipal markets. Currently, she works at the intersection of the built environment and carbon-related investments together with the design of technology demonstration projects.
We find out what sets Elemental apart as a funder and hear about just a few of the many different types of businesses in the Elemental portfolio, including Trove, Thrilling, Goodr and Reath. Kim explains how Elemental finds and select the companies it invests in, and I also ask Kim about her background, and her ‘why’.
HELENA NORBERG-HODGE is a pioneer of the new economy movement and recipient of Right Livelihood Award (aka the “Alternative Nobel Prize”), the Arthur Morgan Award and the Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.”
Helena Norberg-Hodge is also an author, and her most recent book is Local is Our Future. This book connects the dots between our social, economic, ecological and spiritual crises, revealing how a systemic shift from global to local can address all of these seemingly disparate problems at the same time. Helena is also the author of the inspirational classic Ancient Futures, and producer of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness. Helena explains why local, small-scale, ‘traditional’ farming is better for farmers, for animal and human health, and for our planet, and how it helps strengthen local communities. We talk about why local food is one of the simple solutions to our interconnected, systemic problems, and why connection with soil, with nature, with the process of growing food, is essential for our health and wellbeing.
Gavin Fernie-Jones founded One Tree at a Time, an amazing circular social enterprise for outdoor gear and ski-wear, sharing value with the community and nature. Living in the Alps, Gavin has seen for himself the impact global warming has had in the mountains he calls home. He’s always loved the outdoors, having grown up living in an outdoor centre, but it was while running his bootfitting business The Boot Lab that he realised the impact his business was having on the environment.
Gavin started making small changes to the way that business operated, and seeing the results of this inspired him to start a social enterprise called One Tree at a Time.
One Tree at a Time is embedding circular approaches to change behaviours, build community and protect the mountain environment. The One Tree team has tapped into some surprising sources of ‘waste’ to create value for local people and help build and strengthen local connections. On top of that, One Tree at a Time supports businesses and individuals to change behaviour and protect their mountain environment.
Odyssey Innovation collects and recycles marine plastic into kayaks and other products. In 2020, we heard about the UK south-west coast operations – now it is expanding, with the Net Generation Scheme – helping the fishing industry, local government and lots of other stakeholders to create a scalable circular solution to reduce marine plastics. This is something that could expand around the world!
Solving customer problems is at the heart of a successful product or service – but what if you’ve misunderstood your customer’s pain points?
Today’s episode is one of my regular round ups of the last 9 conversations, exploring the theme of customer Pain Points. We’ll look at this from the perspective of businesses, and citizens – you and me. Some of those pain points are being overlooked by companies – that could be because they have a one-size-fits-all approach that might create value for one customer group, but doesn’t deliver, or may actually destroy value for another group.
New pain points are cropping up too – knowing that our choices aren’t contributing to a fairer, healthier and more sustainable world is bothering more and more of us.
Kresse Wesling, CBE, is a multi-award winning environmental entrepreneur. After first meeting the London Fire Brigade in 2005, Kresse launched Elvis & Kresse, which rescues and transforms decommissioned fire hose into innovative lifestyle products and returns 50% of profits to the Fire Fighters Charity.The company now collects 12 different waste streams and has several charitable partnerships and collaborations across a number of industry sectors.
Since 2005 Elvis & Kresse has transformed waste materials into luxury lifestyle accessories. The company started by turning decommissioned fire-hoses into hand bags, wallets, belts and luggage. In 2017 it enhanced its production by teaming up with the Burberry Foundation, an independent charity set up by the Burberry Group plc, to use Burberry’s leather off-cuts. Elvis & Kresse also use reclaimed material such as tea and coffee sacks, printing blankets and military grade parachute silk for its products and packaging.
Unpacking the tricky topic of ‘circular economy rebound’: when circular solutions end up causing MORE production and consumption, not less. But is it always a problem? I suggest that some forms of circular economy rebound could be a good outcome for people and planet. I bring in research on rebound, and highlight examples of rebound for clothing, mobility, and smartphones.