The Circular Economy Show Podcast

If you came home to find that your apartment was flooding, would you immediately start mopping up the water? Probably not! That would be a futile effort without first finding out what is causing the flooding and stopping it. This is the essence of tackling the root cause of a problem — moving upstream.   In a circular economy, upstream innovation is about tracing a problem back to its root cause a...

From farm to plate, our food plays an important role in how we tackle climate change. Since the beginning of the agricultural revolution, we have used extractive, traditional farming practices in order to produce enough food to meet the needs of an ever-increasing global population. People are eating more food with less nutritional value. Is it possible to grow our food in ways that provide more v...

As the circular economy continues to gain momentum, designers, creatives, and innovators have seized the opportunity to rethink the way in which products are made and used. But there is still much to do — we need pioneers to demonstrate what is possible, and most of the innovation we need to scale the circular economy transition has not yet been established. In this episode, we will discuss the op...

The circular economy has gained a great deal of momentum in the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) region, with many national and city governments developing and scaling policies, strategies, and roadmaps.  As a response, eight institutions have launched the LAC Circular Economy Coalition, aiming to support countries and foster multi-stakeholder collaboration. In this episode, we have compiled...

Our recently published set of five Universal circular economy policy goals will enable governments to benefit from the circular economy as they pursue a resilient recovery from the COVID-19 crisis that offers solutions to key global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. In this episode, we have compiled the best moments of our discussion panel on the subject that was...

In the fifth and final episode of our fashion-focused series, we're looking at how to apply circular design to fashion. Design will shape the fashion industry’s transformation to a circular economy. More than 80% of all environmental impacts from products are determined at the design stage. While traditional design focuses on considering and meeting the needs of the end user, circular design takes...

The current system for producing clothing is putting increasing pressure on natural resources, while polluting and degrading the natural environment. In this episode, three guest speakers share new ways in which materials and processes can tackle these issues. This includes; turning old clothes into new, making the most out of agriculture, and keeping all chemical substances in a closed loop. - Th...

In this episode, we're joined by three representatives from pioneering circular business models in the fashion industry: Sara Eriksson from the H&M Group, Lulu O'Connor from Clothes Doctor and  Mikaela Larsell Ayesa from Hack Your Closet. We’ll discuss what key customer trends are impacting the industry right now, what the potential of circular business models within the industry is, and what woul...

The Jeans Redesign creates solutions for a world where clothes never become waste. The guidelines, as set out by over 80 denim experts, establish the minimum requirements for the durability, material health, recyclability, and traceability of denim jeans. To date, over sixty leading brands, manufacturers, and fabric mills are using the Jeans Redesign Guidelines to produce jeans that will be availa...

The way that clothes are made today is extremely wasteful and polluting. For the fashion industry to thrive in the future, we must transform its current take-make-waste model into one where clothes are kept at their highest value and designed to never end up as waste. In a circular economy for fashion, products (apparel, footwear, and accessories) are used more, made to be made again, and made fro...

Bonus episode!   Economist and author of Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist, Kate Raworth joins us to explore if it's possible to include both people’s wellbeing and planetary boundaries whilst striving for a thriving economy.   In this episode, Kate will discuss the Doughnut Economics framework's role in shaping circular economy policies and business practices at ci...

Resource flow analysis in cities relies mostly on quantitative methods which often overlook informal sector activities. However, informal actors provide vital services in African cities, and must be part of our future imaginaries of cities. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges for this sector such as access to food and limitations to transport and infrastructure. To achieve ur...

Do we really understand the economy? Do we truly know how money works? Join us in this episode as Stephanie Kelton discusses the role of Modern Monetary Theory in shifting common misconceptions around government deficits. We tend to associate deficits with negative connotations such as rising taxes and destabilisers of the economy. However, is this the result of the deficit itself or rather the de...

Design has the power to enable systemic change at individual, business and community levels. Join us for this episode as we hear from Malin Nordin, Head of Circular Business Development at Inter IKEA Group, on the ability of large organisations to scale up the circular economy through designing affordable furniture. We will be discussing how the circular economy can shift the perception that ‘affo...

We need alternative ways of economic thinking to solve our current challenges. Is it possible to include both people’s wellbeing and planetary boundaries whilst striving for a thriving economy? Kate Raworth, the author of Doughnut Economics: 7 ways to think like a 21st-century economist, will be joining us to discuss the framework's role in shaping circular economy policies and business practices...

In this episode, we will discuss the opportunities for financing the circular economy. We will look at the recent rapid growth in circular economy financing, and showcase examples of how the financial services sector is seizing the opportunities of the circular economy. Join us and expert guest speakers to explore actions that the financial services sector, businesses and policymakers can take to...

Janez Potočnik was European Commissioner for Environment from 2009 until 2014, and during his tenure initiated the European Resource Efficiency Platform, which resulted in the adoption of the first European Circular Economy Package. He currently acts as co-chair of the International Resource Panel (IRP) and serves as a special advisor on sustainability to European Commissioner for the Environment...

In this episode, we discuss how cities are measuring their progress towards a circular economy, based upon a recent report by the OECD, what are the different drivers and obstacles that cities face, and how they are overcoming them. Guest speakers are Oriana Romano, OECD Head of Unit for Water Governance and Circular Economy and Janet Ågren, the Deputy Mayor of the City Umea in Sweden, one of the...

Walter Stahel is globally recognised as one of the key people who first formulated the concept of a circular economy. Amanda Ravenhill is the executive director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute and was the co-founder of Project Drawdown, both focused on solutions that regenerative the earth’s ecosystems and combat climate change. We’ll be asking them about systems change, recent successes and w...

In this episode, we will discuss how the circular economy can tackle large scale global challenges. We’ll hear from Nigel Topping, the UK Government’s COP26 High-Level Climate Action Champion, and share examples of circular economy investment opportunities across transport, buildings and much more. Thank you for listening to this podcast. This show was recorded and streamed live on our  YouTube ch...

Global demand for water is exceeding that which is easily accessible. Yet water remains one of the keys to life. Join this session to hear from inspiring innovators from around the world changing the ways that we interact with the world’s most valuable resource, making water more accessible to all.  Thank you for listening to this podcast. This show was recorded and streamed live on our  YouTube c...

Circular economy innovation is cropping up everywhere; from how we grow our food to the way we design our electronics to the way in which we package and deliver our everyday products. In this episode, our team breaks down seven of the best examples in action. Thank you for listening to this podcast. This show was recorded and streamed live on our  YouTube channel and social networks on the 15th of...

Over the months of June, July and August 2020, Emma Hislop, a multidisciplinary artist from Glasgow and the Foundation’s first-ever Artist in Residence, has had the difficult task to unearth the connections that exist between art and the circular economy. In this episode, we hear what Emma has been working on during her residency and also what is next for her and the artist in residence programme....

Agbogbloshie is one of the largest e-waste dumpsites in the world, providing an income to thousands of people in the area. However, workers dealing with e-waste face dangerous working conditions. E-waste is just one example of the systemic challenges of our time with no easy solution. In this episode, Reniera O'Donnell and Sarah O'Carroll discuss with our guests, Joseph Awuah-Darko and Joshua Palf...

Latin America is in many ways a rich region with abundant natural resources, human capital, and bio-economy assets. However, the economies within it are predominantly linear and highly extractive - depleting and degrading the environment. In this episode, Laura Franco Henao and Michael Oliveira discuss how can the circular economy provide an alternative pathway that is regenerative by design and c...