New CEO announced at Circle Economy
Amsterdam, May 28, 2020 – Today, Circle Economy announced Martijn Lopes Cardozo as its new Chief Executive Officer. Martijn has been a board member of Circle Economy since 2015 and has led the organisation as interim CEO over the last 4 months.
Robert-Jan van Ogtrop, Chairman of the Supervisory Board: “We are very pleased that Martijn has accepted our offer to join the organisation full-time. In the last couple of months he has shown his leadership skills during these uncertain times and has gained the trust from the organisation and its partners. We are very much looking forward to working with him and the team for the next chapter of Circle Economy”
Martijn Lopes Cardozo: “I am thrilled to join an international high performance team to accelerate the practical and scalable implementation of the circular economy. We are now at a unique point in time to build back better an economy and society that is resilient and regenerative and that serves people and the planet.”
Martijn is a serial entrepreneur who has built a number of successful companies in software, mobile and digital media in California. After he came back to the Netherlands he decided to focus his energy on transitioning the world from a “take, make and dispose” linear economy to a circular economy in which materials can be upcycled and re-used. The last six years he has served as the CEO of Black Bear, a circular economy company that retrieves high value materials from end-of-life tires. Martijn is also an entrepreneur-in-residence with YES!Delft and serves on the boards of Circle Economy and Parkbee. He is a frequent speaker at conferences such as TEDx and Start-up fest. Martijn holds an MSc in Applied Physics from TU Delft and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Circle Economy is launching the “Circularity Gap Report” for the Netherlands on June 3rd after launching the global report in January during the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Circle Economy is pleased to be collaborating with Tevi to support the business community in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly with the tools and expertise for the region to implement a circular economy!
The collaboration is structured around three projects:
Tevi (Cornish for ‘grow’) is a business support project operating across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly seeking to help enterprises integrate environmental growth and circular economy thinking into their business activities in order to drive business innovation and improve resource efficiency.
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Through this collaboration, we aim to build the knowledge and skills required to support the transition to a circular economy in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, increase local SME awareness of the circular economy and create a path towards sustainable ways of living for society, economy and the environment.
Keen to learn more about this project? Contact us through our general contact form.
Back in July 2019, together with Circular Norway, we kick-started a Circle Scan of the Kongsvinger region. Today, we share preliminary results of the first two phases of the scan, where we scoped the inner material workings of the region and pinpointed the sector that holds the greatest potential for impact in the circular transition: the built environment.
We are now entering the last two phases of the scan, where we co-create an action agenda for the region’s circular transition and look to establish pilot projects around it. Would you like to play a role in the creation of a more circular built environment chain in the Kongsvinger region?
Do you know what's in your clothes?
As Fashion Revolution Week unfolds with a new campaign this week, it turns out the answer to the question is not as straightforward as it might seem!
We were commissioned by the Dutch Ministry for Infrastructure and Waterways to investigate the accuracy of composition labels in clothes. Using the #Fibersort machine, we tested over 10.000 garments: in 41 percent of cases the garment composition labels did not match the composition of the garment. Only 34 percent of clothes we tested claimed the right amount of cotton content– the rest either overestimated or underestimated this amount.
Read the full report.
Learn more in this blog written by Hilde van Duijn, Project Manager at Circle Economy.
We stand in solidarity with everyone affected by the pandemic. Covid-19 has plunged the entire world into a state of flux. Today, we are more aware than ever of the interdependencies binding our natural, social and economic systems. We are all connected and only as strong as our most vulnerable citizens.
Business as usual is failing both people and the planet. The covid-19 pandemic has further exposed how the linear economy cripples economic resilience, exacerbates social inequality and depletes natural resources. Under the collective experience of the pandemic, there has never been a more salient time to imagine a more sustainable ‘new normal’.
The circular economy allows us to collectively reimagine and redesign our world. As we reflect on what this redesign could mean for a post-pandemic world, one critical question is: How can the circular economy shape a more resilient, socially just and environmentally safe world?
This is an open invitation to share your reflections. As the situation continues to unfold, we call on our readers, partners, stakeholders and community to join us in an open dialogue and together navigate the transition to a safe and just post-pandemic world. We will be using the hashtag #circularpostcovid to share our thoughts, questions and ideas around the subject, and invite you to do the same.
If all the world’s a stage, now is a time to retrain the actors, adapt the script and rewrite the story.
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Following this open letter, we published a series of reflections on covid-19 and the circular economy, which you can find below.
An overview: Opportunities and reflections In light of rising inequality, climate breakdown and fragile economies, how could the circular economy shape a more resilient, socially just and environmentally safe world?
What has the pandemic unearthed about the labour market and the circular economy? Widespread lockdowns have been devastating for many sectors and workers have felt the brunt of this. A just transition for workers must drive post-covid recovery.
Beyond the pandemic, a new materialism awaits fashion The fast-paced mass production in fashion has been hit hard as consumer spending has abated. Could this influence responsible consumption in the long-term?
How circular design can help us in times of crisis
Reuse, repair and refurbish have the potential to alleviate shortages in healthcare.
Where are we coming from and where are we going in the post-pandemic age? We have seen green initiatives being both fast-tracked and paused during the pandemic: what does this mean for renewable energy?
The tragedy to end all tragedies of the commons? Could the crisis accelerate value shifts toward the environment that were already underway in many societies?
Transforming cities into thriving circular societies: Five lessons from covid-19 Impacts of the pandemic have not been distributed equally among communities and this has been starkly exposed in cities.
All business can benefit from resilience, regardless of size The covid-19 pandemic has shown that value chains can be disrupted by surprise. How can SMEs build a buffer against future crises and threats?
Apparel brands ETP and Kuyichi are the latest of five brands to join Circle Economy’s Switching Gear project in order to explore circular business models and connect with a global network of rental and recommerce experts. Other core brands to the project are Swedish menswear Asket and retailer Lindex.
“Circular business models, such as resale and rental, offer commercial opportunities for brands to innovate their business model, while expanding the practical service life of clothing - allowing us to do more with less, and when intelligently designed, reduce the total environmental impact of the industry. In these vulnerable times, it is especially important that we continue to explore how new models can improve our resilience as a global community. With Switching Gear, we aim to accelerate these business models in the apparel industry by providing brands with the expertise they need and connecting them with the right partners to successfully launch a pilot by 2021.” says Gwen Cunningham, Circle Textiles Programme Lead
In partnership with Fashion for Good, the project has also established the Switching Gear Enabling Network; a network of over 40 rental and recommerce experts and service providers to support the four participating brands that join in their journey to develop and pilot a new business model. Members of the network include: ThredUP, RePack, Eileen Fisher, Style Lend, Lizee and The Renewal Workshop.
Dutch corporate wear brand ETP has set ambitious circularity objectives for itself, including the launch of a 100% circular collection and only using only circular packaging materials in 2025. In the shorter term, they also aim to replace all regular cotton by BCI or ecological cotton and polyester by RePET in 2020. Re-use is also not entirely new to them, with several re-use programmes being trialed to explore how keeping corporate wear in circulation can realise cost and environmental savings for the brand.
“Although an average turnover in our customers’ staff is about 15%, very little of their clothing is currently saved for re-use, with some clothing not returned to ETP and remaining at their locations. By joining Switching Gear, we expect to establish what the real potential of rental or resale models is in reducing costs, reducing pressure on natural resources, and extending the purpose of the clothing that we have already made.” says Esther Oostdijk, Director Product & Operations, and ETP’s CSR Officer
Denim brand Kuyichi is committed to accelerating circular fashion, with key action points for 2020 including: the implementation of design strategies for cyclability, increasing the volume of used garments collected by establishing take-back schemes in at least 10% of their stores, and finally, increasing the share of garments made from recycled post-consumer textile fibers.
“A recommerce (resale) business model is the perfect addition to our circularity ambitions, especially considering the durable nature of denim. We are excited to work with the Switching Gear project team on innovating within Kuyichi and developing the right model for our organisation. Kuyichi was founded to show all that is possible to run a more conscious business, we’re positive that recommerce will be no exception to this.” says Zoé Daemen, Corporate Responsibility manager, at Kuyichi
The past two decades have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of times clothes are worn. Coupled with a shift towards fast fashion, average consumers today buy 60% more items than they did 15 years ago and wear them for half as long. 70% of closets usually go unworn and it is estimated that 33% of women wear items as little as 5 times before disposing of them.
The Switching Gear project, supported by the Laudes Foundation, is part of the Bridging the Gap initiative, a group of six organisations working to stimulate sector-wide collaboration, facilitate innovative technologies and the design of best practices to enable the implementation of circular business models in the fashion industry’s supply chain. Other strategic partners of the Bridging the Gap group include the World Resources Institute, WRAP, London Waste and Recycling Board, QSA Partners and Forum for the Future.
For press enquiries, please contact yasmina@circle-economy.com
To join the project, please visit the project page.
We work to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. As an impact organisation, we work to identify opportunities to turn circular economy principles into practical reality.
With nature as our mentor, we combine practical insights with scalable responses to humanity’s greatest challenges. Our vision is economic, social and environmental prosperity without compromising the future of our planet. Our mission is to connect and empower a global community in business, cities and governments to create the conditions for systemic transformation.
More than 50 businesses are now part of our membership community (from large multinationals to active SMEs and innovative start-ups) with whom we co-create practical and scalable solutions, making the circular economy happen. In addition, we work with cities, governments, CSOs, NGO’s, advisory boards and intergovernmental bodies. www.circle-economy.com
ETP designs and produces corporate wear collections exclusively for various companies in the Netherlands and abroad. We provide all required services and project management to take the ‘hassle’ from our customers hands. All this resulting in happy employees for the customer, who are proud of wearing their uniforms!
We are very pleased to be part of the Switching Gear project, to learn from and to share with the other teams! We trust that this project will bring us new insights and enable us all to take next steps in further developing sustainable and circular solutions.
ETP aims to design and produce the most sustainable - or even circular - product. With every choice that we make we weigh the possibility of recycling the garment as well.
In addition we assure that all other steps in our process are made as sustainable as possible. At the same time we strive to enhance awareness of our customers and their staff wearing our garments, of the need to change to circular models and their own role in the process. We are organizing and facilitating re-use, to create maximum use of the technical lifetime of each garment. Meanwhile we work on actual circular solutions for the materials that we use. ETP’s goal is the launch of real circular corporate wear garments before 2025. Collections designed together with and for our customers, that offer the best mix of sustainable /circular items. By developing, producing, wearing and recycling these, we contribute to reducing the negative environmental impact of our product.
To succeed in our mission, we need to create a business model that will last and enable all involved in this chain to close the loop.
For questions and information please contact us:
Barbara Schothorst, barbara.schothorst@etp.nl, +31 6 54798850
Esther Oostdijk, esther.oostdijk@etp.nl, +31 6 54374353
Kuyichi is a sustainable denim brand that was founded in 2000 to fight for a positive change in the fashion industry. All of their pure goods are produced in a conscious and innovative way, with a focus on quality denim with a perfect fit. Kuyichi stopped making seasonal collections and doing sales to make a statement against fast fashion. Instead, the brand chooses to inspire consumers to buy more consciously.
Fashion needs to rethink its take-make-dispose model.
With the COVID-19-stalled supply chains exacerbating the millions of tons of textile waste produced every year, keeping clothing out of the landfill has become more vital than ever.
In this episode of the Sustaining Voices podcast, Sourcing Journal reporter Jasmin Malik Chua speaks with Gwen Cunningham, lead of the Circle Textiles program at Circle Economy, and Jonas Eder-Hansen, public affairs director at Global Fashion Agenda, about what the industry needs to do to prevent textiles from becoming waste, the close interrelationship between consumption and disposal practices and why investing in recycling alone isn’t the answer.
“We’ve seen the consumer, between 2007 and 2014, buying 60 percent more and keeping the clothing for half as long as they used to. And so these materials are becoming post-consumer quicker than ever before.” - Gwen Cunningham, Circle Economy
While textile waste can be broadly categorized into two streams—pre-consumer and post-consumer—tackling the problem requires a multi-pronged approach. Waste is a symptom of an issue that requires new design approaches, life-extending business models such as repair and resale, and beefed-up infrastructure for end-of-life management.
Policy, too, isn’t emphasized in discussions nearly enough.
“I think the role of policymakers in actually addressing textile waste is something that hasn't really been accounted for. The ability to actually engage in constructive dialogue with policymakers is something that many brands and retailers have shied away from because policymakers are seen as to impose further regulation. But if you turn that around, policymakers can also help accelerate and shift the transition to the circular economy, including also scaling up some of those technologies that are necessary to address textile waste.” - Jonas Eder-Hansen, Global Fashion Agenda
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