The Circular Economy Show Podcast

China is a leading global superpower and also one of the pioneering countries of circular economy implementation. In this episode, we will dive deeper into how the circular economy started in China, and how China’s circular journey has differed from that of the EU’s. In this episode, we draw upon the positive steps China has taken to implement a circular economy in cities and the potential for an...

How can we learn from the exposures of the Covid-19 crisis and rethink more resilient and diverse supply chains? In this episode, we will be discussing how we can redesign our food system based on the principles of the circular economy enabling it to actively contribute to the regeneration of natural systems and to a thriving economy. We will draw upon some of the actions being taken around the wo...

There have been many calls to build back better after the Covid-19 crisis. More than 50 global leaders — including CEOs, policymakers, NGOs, academics and philanthropists — have joined the Foundation and signed a statement saying that now is the time to do more, not less, to build a circular economy. In this episode, we discuss this statement and exploring how we can build back better with the cir...

In this 5th episode of the foundation's weekly show, we focus on the role of art in the world. How both art and design steer values, change perceptions and stimulate scientific thought. Laura, the host of this podcast, leads the conversation with Fanny Breteau, designer and art director at the foundation and Emma Hislop, artist in residence 2020 and tentatively begin to explore the roles writers,...

The need to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy to mitigate climate change is well understood, but this is only one part of the picture. In this episode, we discuss why we need to fundamentally rethink how we produce and use our everyday products to tackle the climate crisis. Thank you for listening to this podcast. This show was recorded and streamed live on our  YouTub...

While the Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to adapt our daily lives in ways we could not have imagined and has, of course, had huge global health implications, it has also exposed vulnerabilities in our current economic system, and is challenging us to rethink the systems that underpin it. In this episode, we will be talking about the opportunity circular economy offers to create more robust, shock...

In this episode of our Explore The Circular Economy Weekly Show, Seb Egerton-Read and Laura Franco Henao, are asking the question: Can we build a better food system? To Emma Chow and Nick Jeffries, both members of the Food Initiative team at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.  Listen to this episode to hear about intriguing examples of circular economy in our natural systems. We will be exploring how...

In this first episode of our Explore The Circular Economy Weekly Show, Season 1, Seb Egerton-Read and Laura Franco Henao, hosts of our weekly show, are talking through real world examples of the circular economy with Nick Jeffries and Ashima Sukhdev bringing the concept to life.  This show was recorded and streamed live on our  YouTube channel and social networks on the 19th of May 2020. We are pl...

Increasingly adopted as a powerful framework to address the world’s most pressing challenges, the transition towards the circular economy is well underway. However, a key ingredient is still very much in the early stages of exploring the topic - the world of finance. Luigi Riccardo is an industrial engineer. In early 2016 he joined the Innovation Center in Intesa Sanpaolo as innovation specialist...

The wastefulness of takeaway paper coffee cups and issues of recyclability have regularly featured in the headlines in recent years as topics like ocean plastics become increasingly prominent. Better design and reuse are clearly on top of the agenda, but there's demands for better recycling are also firmly on the agenda of governments, organisations and consumers. Listen to this podcast to hear th...

An all too familiar story is told about our data and how various organisations are capturing it, harvesting it, and using it in ways to influence us - some positive, but many perceived as negative. What does a more hopeful vision of a data dominated world look like? Mara Balestrini is an expert on this topic. She works as a Human-Computer-Interaction researcher, and founded an organisation devoted...

How we think shapes the world around us, and our ways of thinking are formed through our learning. If we are to adopt a new economic model like the circular economy, we all need to go through a learning journey to explore, understand and ultimately apply a concept that requires new practices and a significant mindset shift. At the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, we have spent a lot of time supporting...

Latin America didn't get much chance to participate in the first three Industrial Revolutions, besides being a supplier and exporter of valuable resources. Petar Ostojic argues that the combination of the circular economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution provides a unique moment in history for Latin America to enter a new era of prosperity. Petar Ostojic is co-Founder and CEO of Neptuno Pumps,...

Can insect farming reduce the stress on fish stocks across the Southern Hemisphere? How do you even get 8.4 billion flies to live together and operate in a way that makes it easy to capture their larvae? Described by Forbes magazine as 'Lord of the Flies’, Jason Drew is an innovator and serial entrepreneur. Before becoming CEO of AgriProtein – a company he co-founded in 2009 – Jason held leadershi...

What can we do to start trying to think differently and to start thinking in a way that is more circular rather than linear? Joe Iles and Ellen MacArthur cover a range of topics in the final part of their conversation about the circular economy, including emerging trends in design, technology, business models and the wider changes already happening in the economy.

What does the circular economy look like? Joe Iles and Ellen MacArthur talk through the Foundation's butterfly diagram including examples of repair, remanufacturing, sharing, and the importance of distinguishing between biological and technical cycles.

What is the circular economy? Who's doing it? And what are some of the best examples of it in action? In part one of our what is the circular economy series, Joe Iles and Ellen MacArthur consider what this idea might mean for cars, packaging and sandwiches.

When you hear the word ‘design’, what images come to mind? Do you think of someone sketching products or creating a 3D model? A team making a prototype? A beautiful, timeless object? Dr John Maeda says that type of design is in the past. Through his diverse career - including work at MIT, the creation of the ‘Laws of Simplicity’, Presidency at Rhode Island School of Design and now at startup Autom...

What is the goal of economics? Does GDP really tell us all we need to know about a country's wealth and well-being? Our guest in this show argues that our economic system should be designed to meet everyone’s needs, while living within the means of the planet. Kate Raworth is the author of the acclaimed book ‘Doughnut Economics’. We spoke with Kate to explore a new 21st century economic model, and...

What is it people really want: a car, with all the costs of ownership and maintenance, or mobility, the service that car actually provides? A circular economy, characterised by a smarter use of materials, energy and information, will prioritise access over ownership of products.   These are called product service systems, or sometimes 'performance contracts', and they could mean that customers can...

The information technology revolution has only just begun, yet it is removing jobs faster than its creating them in a global economy which has faltering growth, social tensions, unemployment and resource issues.  What are the consequences, what needs to be done? In this episode we hear from Nikki Silvestri, a social entrepreneur who knows we have to nurture society through these disruptions. Nikki...

How well do you know the circular economy? It's not a new idea, but a term that has gone from relative obscurity only five years ago, to one which any serious CEO now has on their radar. Understanding the concept is one thing; implementing a framework which requires whole systems change is quite another. Join the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as we discuss both the concept and how businesses and gove...

Google believes that business has a key role to play in being part of the solution to move from a global economy based upon ‘take-make-dispose’ to one that is based on designing waste out of systems. Google’s goal is to embed circular economic principles into the fabric of its infrastructure, operations, and culture. We speak with Jim Miller, Google's Vice President of Global Operations to find ou...

Before the middle of this century, the world's cities will face challenges like never before. A projected 50% growth in world population, hand-in-hand with the concentration of people in urban centres, means our cities will have to be prepared for the social, environmental and infrastructural challenges coming their way. 100 Resilient Cities ( 100RC ) is an organisation dedicated to helping cities...

 What do we mean by low to middle income economies or emerging markets? Why has there been so little research on the circular economy opportunities in these contexts so far? How can economies dependent on intense resources extraction take advantage of a new regenerative model? Seb Read is joined by Luisa Santiago, CE100 Brazil Programme Lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, where she conducts ci...