Nearly everyone owns or uses a phone. Most phones contain on average over 30 different minerals. These minerals are mined in various locations around the world, most of the time under poor conditions and have become known as conflict materials that fund rebel groups. Additionally, many smartphones are not designed to be long lasting and their technology changes frequently, enticing consumers to upgrade to new models regularly. Fairphone aims to tackle the planned obsolescence of electronics while supporting conflict-free and fairer minerals by working towards social improvements throughout the value chain.
Established in 2010 as a campaign against conflict minerals and registered in 2013 as an independent social enterprise. Fairphone designs and produces modular smartphones that are easy to repair and long lasting. An inspiring example to the existing industry, the company is using modular design to extend the lifespan of their smartphones while opening up the supply chain and mapping the source of their materials. They are also enhancing the circularity of the supply chain by making spare parts more readily available and promoting do-it-yourself repairs.
"Pioneers in circular economy will reap the benefits as they are the game changers." - Bas van Abel, CEO
One of the principal challenges is shifting the consumer's mentality to slow down the replacement pace of smartphones. By allowing its users to purchase spare parts for do-it-yourself repairs, Fairphone’s reparability feature makes it easier for those users who do not consider themselves tech savvy. From the insights gained through repairs made to the first version of the Fairphone the company was able to identify the parts of the phone that most commonly break, and turn these into replaceable parts in version two. They found that reparability pays off because sustainability conscious consumers are willing to put the extra effort into replacing parts and caring for their device.
Fairphone’s business model allows for the potential reduction of CO2 emissions by 25% and reduction of human toxicity by 42%. To date, the social enterprise has sold over 90,000 phones and continues to bring fairer phones to the market while inspiring positive change throughout the entire industry.
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95% of all “wireless” communication data goes through deep sea cables. This 150-year-old technology has accumulated approximately 3.6 million kilometres of telecommunication cables, whereby close to 60.000 kilometres of cables are still being produced and installed each year. Although no longer in use, old cables remain on the seabed as there is has been no value for telecom companies in retrieve them until now.
An estimated 30.000 km of cable have been recovered from sea beds to date but 94.4% of unused cables are still lying on the ocean floor. With the addition of new cables each year, the cable routes are becoming more and more congested. This material wastefulness represents a potential value of several billion U.S. dollars in metals and plastics.
The 3 main uses for decommissioned cables are:
The case for recovery of deep sea cables is an interesting solution for the current congestion issues cable-routes face, both from a financial, legal, environmental and practical point of view.
During recovery CRS Holland encounters congestion on many the cable routes. Intersecting and parallel cables, within safety margins, is something they see more and more of. This tangled web of cables can cause operation challenges not only during recovery but also when ‘live’ cables need repairs or maintenance. With the movements at the Paris Climate Convention and discussions surrounding future regulations, there is hope the industry will not employ more cables unless they have first recovered its decommissioned systems.
“Hundreds of thousand kilometres of decommissioned cable are on the sea bed floor. CRS Holland is proud to be able to create a circular business case for these materials by partners with cable owners to clean up the ocean floor.”
Due to the increasing scarcity for recycled materials there is a growing demand for metals and plastics, making the business case for the recovery and recycling of deep sea, communication cables even more relevant. However, the benefits of selling back recovered cable components are currently higher than the costs of recovery and recycle process. The industry must continue to be educated regarding the benefits of recovering decommissioned cable systems.
CRS Holland’s' cable recovery service have prevented the emission of 54.000 tons of CO2, the equivalent of taking 13.500 cars off the road annually. They are responsible for recovering 60% of the total 30.000 kilometres of cable that has been brought up from sea beds in the Atlantic and Pacific to date. What the industry needs now is for telecom companies to take a greater role in cable recovery and use their influence in the industry to champion proper cable recovery practices.
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In 2016 we are making High Value Recycling happen with three exciting new pilots. For the three pilot we work with G-Star RAW, ReBlend and Reshare. Read about the pilot below:G-Star RAW & Circle Economy: Making the Case for Closed Loop Textiles G-Star expressed their ambition of closing the textiles loop by becoming the newest member of Circle Economy’s Circular Textiles Program! Inspired by the potential opportunities that could emerge from the realization of a circular economy, G-Star will join forces with other Circle Economy members, Wieland Textiles and Recover to create a business case for high value (textile-to-textile) recycling.
ReBlend: 100% recycled! 100% fashionable!Circle Economy is excited to welcome ReBlend to it’s member base and support their new line of 100% recycled yarn for the fashion and upholstery market.At the end of January, a new 16 kg batch of 100% recycled yarns arrived from Spanish Recover at the ReBlend office in Amsterdam. In the coming weeks, these yarns will be sampled into beautiful knitted and woven fabrics that can be used for high fashion garments and stylish upholstery fabrics. If sampling is successful, a total of 4 colours will be taken into production by our innovative recycling partner Recover.This recent match between Circle Economy’s members ReBlend and Recover has resulted in the production of over 4 tons of recyclable post consumer textiles. These used textiles are not suitable for re-wear and contain blended materials (cotton, polyester, acryl ao.). While at the moment these recyclable mixed textiles have little value to the textile recycling industry (e.g. they are incinerated, landfilled or downcycled), high value (textile-to-textile) recycling promises to dramatically change this landscape!With their new line of 100% recycled yarn, ReBlend aims to show the market that used textiles can be transformed into new, beautiful, high quality products. This March, the company plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign for a new fashion collection in close cooperation with high end fashion label BYBROWN. At the same time, pilot projects for upholstery will be initiated in cooperation with interior design company Ahrend.
ReShare: Recycling old Dutch Army Uniforms into new textiles!We are proud to announce Circle Economy is partnering with ReShare: Part of the Salvation Army and Recover in a high value (textile-to-textile) recycling project. Already for some time, ReShare has been faced with the challenge of finding a sustainable and safe solution for approximately 140 tons of old Defence workwear that they have collected. Safety issues prevent the uniforms from being worn again and they have remained most securely stored. However, incineration was never an option and so ReShare has been looking at ways to keep the textile materials in the loop. In this project, several tons of old Dutch navy and army uniforms will be transformed into new yarns that can be used for a wide variety of new textile products. The aim of the project is to not only show the market that textile-to-textile recycling is technically feasible, but also prove that there is an attractive business case compared to alternative scenarios of incineration and downcycling. In addition to developing innovative models to keep used Defense uniforms in the loop, ReShare is also pushing the market for post consumer textile recycling forward as part of the FIBERSORT project.
“Ultimately, old uniforms, workwear and other used textiles should not go to waste but should be put back into the loop via high value (textile-to-textile) practises. We are happy that we can contribute positively to the circular movement in the textile sector through this partnership.”
- Michel Rosenquist, Manager relations at Salvation Army ReShare
Within one month since the world agreed to combat climate change at COP21 in Paris, The Netherlands is launching Netherlands Circular Hotspot (NLCH), a campaign spearheading the transition to a circular economy. The campaign builds on the fact that the country has become a hub for innovation and implementation of a circular economy with the desire to share that knowledge and learn from others across Europe and the world. NLCH Initiator His Royal Highness Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parme said, “Humanity has great environmental challenges ahead of it. We are at a stage in history where we must find realistic and practical solutions to these. A circular economy offers us a road map for systemic change in our economic ecological and social system. Our ambition with NLCH is to share the practical experiences from businesses, cities, governments, entrepreneurs and communities to show what is possible and inspire ever greater adoption of the circular economy principles“.About Netherlands Circular Hotspot CampaignThe Netherlands Circular Hotspot is a campaign aimed at positioning the Netherlands internationally as a circular hotspot and sharing the best practices and learnings with companies and governments around the world. The campaign includes the realisation of a broad vision on the Netherlands’ circular future, a Circular Expo, exhibiting (internationally) scalable circular projects, and an incoming trade- and journalist mission. The vision will be shaped based on input from Dutch and international thought-, sector- and industry leaders and representatives of younger generations. The visionary document will be presented to European government officials at the Innovation Expo during the Dutch EU presidency in 2016.Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parme and Circle Economy are the pioneers of this campaign. The initiators are the Social Economic Council (SER), Delta Development Group, Circle Economy and INSID. Netherlands Circular Hotspot is supported by more than 25 ambassador-businesses, organizations and cooperates with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and NLCirculair!.Background informationThe Netherlands as small as 41.500 km2 with almost 18 mln people living on it, the population density is remarkably high (18% vs 0,5% globally). There’s no choice but to see our small country as one big eco system in which loops need to be closed and our economy is based on a regenerative system. Infinite reuse of resources is the norm, without the expense of economic growth. The Netherlands, being highly dependent on the rest of the world for its increasingly scarce raw materials and particularly vulnerable to climate change and its parallels to rising sea level action has been taken. The innovative and entrepreneurial nature of the Dutch has lead to resolving many societal issues over the past. The position of frontrunner within the circular economy will create benefits for both the Dutch economy as well as the society as a whole. In order to transform to a circular economy the creation of a ‘living lab’ has taken big steps in finding innovative solutions and answers to become an ecosystem of its own. Being a global circular hotspot sharing innovation and collaborating with the rest of the world is necessary to become a global circular economy in order to combat climate change.Prof. Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende, Partner Corporate Responsibility at EY, Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands “The Circular Economy is key to quality of life, a sustainable world and huge economic opportunities. It should be part of the DNA of every government, company and organization. As a circular hotspot the Netherlands is proud to play a servant role to other urban delta's around the globe, in being a first national living lab for the circular economy”.Frans van Houten, CEO Royal Philips “At Philips, we embrace circular economy-thinking, because of the intrinsic benefits for societies and because it drives economic growth. We have made significant steps in redesigning our product propositions and business models. Among other innovations, we are pioneering asset tracking to close the loop on re-use of parts and we have designed consumer products from recycled plastics. We also have been selling refurbished medical equipment for a long time. We have significant R&D activities in the Netherlands, an ideal testing ground to jump start breakthrough innovations. That is also why we support Netherlands Circular Hotspot. Together with its initiator Circle Economy, we are committed to make the circular economy happen.”To get inspired go to our social platform to find circular best practices from different industries and governments www.netherlandscircularhotspot.nl. Join us on Facebook.com/NLcircularhotspot and Twitter.com/CircularHotspot Tweet #NLCircularHotspotNetherlands Circular Hotspot | Sharing innovationBest caseswww.netherlandscircularhotspot.nl
_________________________________________________________________________________________The ambassadors of the campaign are: Accenture, Akzo Nobel, Black Bear Carbon, Delta Development Group, Deltares, Desko, DSM, Floow2, FrieslandCampina, City of Amsterdam, Region Haarlemmermeer, Inashco, Interface, KPMG, Modulo, PGGM, Philips, Port of Rotterdam, Powered by Meaning, Rabobank, Rockwool, Royal Haskoning DHV, Rotterdam Partners, Schiphol, Siemens, The Executive Network, Dutch Water Authorities, Van GansewinkelNote for editors:Contact Annerieke Douma for more information or interview requests at 00316 14665068 or Email: press@circularhotspot.nl
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