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Circular Economy Podcast - artwork for #116 Chuck Fuerst - circularity for product returns

116 Chuck Fuerst: circularity for product returns

Chuck Fuerst is Chief Marketing Officer for software provider ReverseLogix.
ReverseLogix is the only end-to-end, centralized, and fully integrated returns management system built specifically for retail, eCommerce, manufacturing and 3PL organizations. The ReverseLogix platform facilitates, manages, and reports on the entire returns’ lifecycle.
When I first worked in logistics, back in the late 1980s, for most companies, most of the time, returns were a minor issue. When e-commerce came along, starting in the 1990’s, product returns began to increase, and over the last few decades – especially as companies have moved towards cheaper products, with less reliable information on sizing for things like clothing – returns have become a major issue for many businesses – whether that’s for manufacturers and retailers, and for both B2B and B2C models.
Chuck explains how the ReverseLogix software helps companies improve the process for getting products back into the system – whether that’s from e-commerce returns, returns of faulty goods, for repairs and warranty claims, and more. We’ll hear how ReverseLogix improves the customer returns experience, saves employee time with faster workflows, and helps businesses get insights into returns data – all of which improve profits and circular outcomes.

Circular Economy Podcast Episode 103 Algramo - Refill is the future

103 Algramo – Refill the future

Reusable packaging startup Algramo is going from strength to strength, and we hear from Brian Bauer and Chris Baker on why customers in Chile, the US and the UK are buying into this.
Algramo’s founder, Jose Manuel Moller, came up with a brilliant idea for reusable packaging to help what he called the poverty tax, paid by people who shopped at convenience stores. Those small, local stores sell everyday groceries and household staples, but often in small format packages. That means people often paid around 40% more, per gram or per litre, for the same product they could buy in a bigger format in a supermarket.
In the last couple of years, Algramo has gone from strength to strength, and has started a trial in the UK with Lidl, a German international discount retail chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States.
Algramo is working with Nestle, Unilever, and Walmart in the US, and launched a user-app in 2022. It’s also won several big awards, including the Most Innovative Reuse Company for Consumer Packaging Goods, at the 2022 Reusies awards.
We hear about the Lidl trial, a new project for ‘on the go’ reusable packaging, and hear about innovative packaging and dispensers for liquid home care products. We’ll learn more about what motivates customers to choose reuse, and how reuse rates improve as the new concept becomes ‘normalised’. We also discuss the potential for gamification, and how that could help popularise reuse.

The best way to support the SDGs? Go circular!

If you’re familiar with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), you’ll know they create a ‘shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.’ They are ‘an urgent call for action by all countries – in a global partnership.’
The 17 goals tackle the critical global issues facing all of us. They aim to end poverty and deprivation, underpinning this with ‘strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.’
We show how the circular economy is a great way to strengthen your business and make a significant impact on the SDGs.

Circular Economy Podcast Episode 54 Louise Bijleveld - LONO

Episode 54 Louise Bijleveld – LONO

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.

semi-circular strategies for sustainability

Semi-circular strategies

You’re probably noticing the growing interest in the circular economy – but what on earth are ‘semi-circular’ strategies? We unpack what podcast guest Steve Haskew meant by ‘semi-circular’ and look at why semi-circular strategies are a sustainable step in the right direction.

Linear economy supply chain risk

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.