Three circular solutions – developed by over 60 people from 13 countries across the world – are set to help transform Glasgow’s thriving events industry.Circular Glasgow, a joint initiative from Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Zero Waste Scotland has announced the winning solutions to the first challenge hosted on Circle Lab. Also partnered by Scottish Event Campus and the Glasgow Convention Bureau and Major Events team at Glasgow Life, the challenge asked citizens and companies from cities across the world how local businesses can improve the economic, environmental and social legacy of major city events and conferences.The three winning ideas include a deposit-based reuse system for food and drink containers, circular designs for event marketing and branding, and a scheme that will repurpose organic waste into energy and fertilisers. Circular Glasgow is delighted that the SEC has pledged to continue its support, acting as lead incubation partner in piloting the implementation of the winning solutions.[caption id="attachment_14547" align="alignnone" width="1024"]
The SECC complex, SSE Hydro and Clyde Auditorium
Admiral Fallow, local talent[/caption]An open invitation is now being made to city venues, SMEs, entrepreneurs, consultants and investors that interested in collaborating and sharing relevant expertise to ensure these solutions are successfully implemented.The winning solutions evolved from a month long online crowdsourcing effort, culminating in ten solutions that helped to envision what a truly circular events space could look like.Circle Lab, an online platform supported by eBay Foundation and powered by Circle Economy, is designed to engage and educated a global community to solve universal challenges with circular solutions.The next phase of the challenge now aims to translate the open source concepts that emerged from Circle Lab into actionable and measurable pilot projects.Alison McRae, Senior Director of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: ‘Glasgow is world renowned for its major events and this Circle Lab challenge has generated a number of solutions on a global platform which can benefit our business community. They are about introducing new ways of doing business – with potential to give a real competitive advantage - and are also better for our city. Alongside the SEC, we are inviting businesses who are involved in, or benefit from events and conferences in the city to come forward and take advantage of these open source ideas. The pace of change is daily and there is a real opportunity for Glasgow to lead the way on this.’
Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland, said:“I am delighted by the winning solutions of this unique challenge, uncovering truly circular ideas to transform the thriving events industry in Glasgow. Already a leading city in hosting events, these innovative solutions will help to maximise the potential of resources and could see Glasgow leading the way in developing new business models to deliver sustainable events.“I’m delighted that our partnership with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce continues to provide a hotbed for this kind of thinking. This initiative shows that the circular economy can benefit a broad range of sectors and provide the new businesses opportunities we need as the world changes.”Harald Friedl, CEO at Circle Economy, said: “In four short weeks, Circle Lab brought together over 200 contributions from 60+ people hailing from 13 different countries, and another 1,000 were following the challenge online, contributing on social media, and reaching out to us personally throughout the challenge. But simply dreaming up a circular world isn’t enough, which is why we’re so excited about the incubation phase, where we’ll be working together with both the Circle Lab and the local Glasgow communities on moving beyond intent and bringing our collective vision to life.”The next phase of the challenge is a unique opportunity for other venues and SMES with expertise in this field to come forward and position themselves as front-runners, on a global stage, in the field of the circular economy by contributing to the incubation process. Depending on the outcome, teams working on solution based pilot projects will have the opportunity to showcase their work at the Circular Economy Scotland Hotspot 2018 - which over 300 of the world’s leading decision-makers, trade representatives, investors and circular economy entrepreneurs are expected to attend.The interaction between local and global communities that the Circle Lab platform affords will continue throughout the incubation phase and will enable all participants, both in-person and online, to benefit from global insights and to engage with and support local stakeholders in the process.To get involved, contact the Circular Glasgow team at circularglasgow@glasgowchamberofcommerce.com or visit www.circularglasgow.com[hr] Circular Glasgow complements Zero Waste Scotland’s and the Scottish Government's nationwide support for SMEs to develop circular economy business ideas, including its £18million Circular Economy Investment Fund and Circular Economy Business Support Service. Both are supported by the European Regional Development Fund through the £73million Resource Efficiency Circular Economy Accelerator Programme.Circle Lab has been made possible in part by a grant from the eBay Foundation, a corporate advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
by Harald FriedlWith over 90% of the raw materials used globally not cycled back into the economy, our planet is left with a massive strain on its natural resources and climate that needs to be urgently relieved. What has got us where we are today, in every sense, is the linear economy.Over decades, even centuries, since the boom of the Industrial Revolution, it has delivered tremendous living standards, wealth and comfortable lives to some people, in some parts of the world, at certain times. It has done so, though, at a high cost. That cost continues to be extracted from the planet and many of the people on it, with neither the gain nor pain distributed equally. Embedded deep within the “Take-Make-Waste,” tradition of the linear economy lies a toxic cocktail of negative consequences, ranging from social inequality to depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution and worsening of the risks and effects of climate change.Our world economy is only 9.1% circular, leaving a massive “Circularity Gap”This alarming statistic was the main output of the first Circularity Gap Report, in which we, at Circle Economy, launch a metric for the circular state of the planet. The Circularity Gap Report provides a fact-based framework to measure and monitor progress in bridging the gap, year after year.Being able to track and target performance via the Global Circularity Metric will help us engage in uniform goal-setting and guide future action in the most impactful way. The report presents a detailed metabolism visual showing how main resource groups satisfy key societal needs, such as housing, mobility and nutrition. It also presents the leaks in the system with an overview of what happens to resources after use in the economy.In truth, momentum is already building towards the adoption of circular economic models. We are witnessing circular economy strategies being embedded within businesses and adopted into government policies. On the global level, two recent examples of international collaboration, in particular, have accelerated the mainstream political and business agenda: The Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To measure economic sustainability only from an environmental perspective is to miss the point and misunderstand the purpose. By definition, managing an economy is the art and science of “how we run our global household.” An economy should be designed and run to the needs of the participants of the household, provide stability, keep societies together and the household going for future generations. In short, any successful economic model must meet the needs of the society it serves, not merely manage responsibly the natural resources it uses – it is a matter of people and planet, together. The circular economy is, therefore, an action agenda with measurable impact framework that extends beyond the remit of mere resource efficiency. As a multi-stakeholder model, its systemic approach boosts capacity and capability to serve societal needs, by embracing and endorsing the best humankind has to offer: the power of entrepreneurship, innovation and collaboration.Today’s Take-Make-Waste economic model is not fit for purpose. Embedded in this tradition of the linear economy lies a toxic cocktail of negative consequences. We now call upon businesses and governments to take leadership to develop an action agenda and contribute to the global targets set in the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. We have identified 4 steps to take action in bridging the circularity gap through leadership and action: 1) Build a global coalition for action; 2) Develop a global target and action agenda; 3) Translate global targets into local pathways for circular change; 4) Improve our understanding of how different levers for circular change affect aspects such as material saving, value retention and climate mitigation.Closing the circularity gap will reduce income inequality and improve access to basic needs and opportunities. In other words, the pursuit of the circular economy is a way to create an economy that works for everybody. The circular economy is a positive, dynamic and interconnected solutions-based framework: it builds on key human qualities, such as creativity, collaboration and entrepreneurship; and is a roadmap towards achieving the SDGs and a powerful tool in the fight against human-made climate change.This article was originally published in Renewable Matter Feb-March 2018
March 30, 2018, Amsterdam
Building on the successes of research that measured circular employment in cities in the Netherlands, Circle Economy and EHERO continue their partnership to investigate the impact of circular economy strategies on cities and their job creation potential. The project is supported by the Goldschmeding Foundation, a philanthropic foundation, with a key focus on people, work and economy.The 1-year project aims to enable city officials to better integrate circular economy strategies into their policy agendas. To carry out the systemic changes that the circular economy calls for and to ensure that policymakers and governments know how and where to implement the circular economy, EHERO and Circle Economy aim to uncover: The effects of circular economy strategies on employment in cities and what this means for labour market needs.
"Living in the era of urbanisation, cities across the globe have put employment and related skills high on their agendas. We see cities as central drivers in bridging the gap to a circular economy with enough jobs for its citizens. Therefore, insights on the future employment effects of circular policies are key drivers in defining strategies of a city"Annerieke Douma, Director of Program and Business Development at Circle Economy
The Circle Cities Dashboard ultimately will provide policymakers with insights into available circular strategies so that they will be better equipped to adopt them. Provide a methodology to model employment effects of circular economy strategies; and increase the understanding of skills gaps that might emerge in the transition to the circular economy. The first results of the project will be expected later this year.
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The Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI), Circle Economy and Fashion for Good have announced that they will form a partnership to evolve the current AMFI MA Fashion Enterprise Creation (MA FEC), launched in 2016, into the world's first master's degree focused on circular fashion entrepreneurship.
The MA FEC programme aims to inspire and equip fashion entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs with the skills to build purpose-driven fashion businesses with a societal, cultural or environmental mission at their core. This master shall build on the core belief that profound change is needed in fashion education in order to safeguard the long-term future of the fashion industry. Leslie Holden, Head of design and of the Master of Fashion Enterprise explains:“Fashion is one of the most polluting industries on earth and this is neither sustainable nor acceptable. At the same time, it’s also one of the most creative, lucrative and engaging industries. Therein lies fashion’s unique responsibility and opportunity. We need to rethink how we create, design, produce, sell and use clothing, so that the industry can be a force for good and act respectfully to the world.”The Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) is the largest fashion institute in the Netherlands and has an international reputation for sustainability. The AMFI 'Reality School' concept drives innovation within all their programmes to accommodate and respond rapidly to industry challenges and collaborate to bring change. It is for this reason, that AMFI has begun to integrate the circular economy strategy in the foundations of its Reality School. To emphasize this commitment, the Master in Fashion Enterprise Creation has been chosen by AMFI as the ideal platform to challenge the industry norms. Partnering and collaborating with industry specialists, Fashion for Good and Circle Economy, is at the heart of the success and together they can build for a better future.
"Education can no longer shy away from the vast and damaging impact that the fashion industry has and must equip the next generation of fashion professionals with the values, perspectives, knowledge (and audacity!) needed to mend this ship we have set sail on, or to build a smarter, vehicle for change. The AMFI Masters aims to do just that - and Circle Economy are honoured and excited to be part of this crucial development”
Gwen Cunningham, lead of the Circle Economy textiles team
Together, the partners aim to bring together a multi-disciplinary and international class of students, who all share in the pursuit of re-designing the fashion industry and becoming a global force for good. The programme will provide students with a strong foundation in business research, practical entrepreneurial skills, and training in all the essential components needed to develop innovative fashion concepts. This multidisciplinary focus will enable students to turn their dream - of playing a positive role in changing the fashion industry - into a reality.
About the Amsterdam Fashion InstituteThe Amsterdam Fashion Institute is the largest fashion institute in the Netherlands, teaching on all aspects of the fashion chain. Students can choose from 3 Bachelor programmes: Fashion & Design, Fashion & Management or Fashion & Branding. In addition, AMFI provides a two-year Master in Fashion Enterprise Creation. In this fast-moving industry, where fashion is in perpetual change, AMFI provides guidance and expertise in establishing more sustainable fashion brands using a ‘Reality School’ concept. Together, a group of highly skilled educators and industry professionals, guide these aspiring fashion professionals in developing skills and aptitudes that can be a force for good in the fashion world. For further information contact: Leslie Holden at l.t.holden@hva.nl
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April 5, 2018, Today the city of Bilbao, and the surrounding territory of Bizkaia, present the results of the Circle City Scan, a visual roadmap with an analysis and identification of impactful and tangible opportunities to spark the circular transition within the city and the territory. Spain’s first Circle City Scan is initiated through a consortium composed of Circle Economy, Innobasque, Bilbao Ekintza and BEAZ in collaboration with Aclima, Ihobe and Inèdit.Six circular strategiesThrough an extensive analysis of the economic and political landscape as well as resource flows of the territory, the metal, restaurant and wholesale sectors were identified to be the most influential in the realisation of a circular Bilbao-Bizkaia. Combined, they provide over 137.000 jobs (28%), add €8 Billion to the local economy and are responsible for 17% of total resource use. Building upon this, the Circle City Scan creates a Circular Vision for the territory; providing 6 strategies that fundamentally change the flow of materials and resources through the city. The vision highlights the interconnectivity between the sectors to demonstrate how circular strategies can build upon one-another to boost employment and strengthen the Bizkaian economy.
The restaurant, wholesale and metal sectors are best positioned to transition towards the circular economyA circular economy is created through action. Recognising this, the visual roadmap provides a practical and scalable roadmap to implement 6 pilot projects that have the highest transformative potential. For example, what better way to re-vitalise Bilbao’s historic metal sector as a high-tech hub for the future, than through the 3D printing of metal components, in a process known as ‘Additive Manufacturing’. Due to the lighter environmental footprint and possibilities of remanufacturing, Additive Manufacturing can be a powerful tool in transitioning the Bizkaian metal sector towards a circular economy.
“Now is the time to bring these six projects to reality. [...] We believe there is a big opportunity to make a more efficient use of resources, create jobs and growth, and develop new innovative solutions and business models, so we are willing to see how the projects jump into the next step!” - Lola Elejalde, Foresight and Internationalization Manager, Innobasque.
The strategies proposed in the report present a clear way forward for the city and the territory. To ensure the implementation of pilot projects, the next step of the collaborative project is to bring together local stakeholders to create a circular ecosystem and further propel the transition towards a circular economy.
“With this visual roadmap, Bilbao-Bizkaia starts to position itself as a frontrunner in the transition towards circularity. They are now in a prime position to capitalise on the energy of the consortium partners, to drive the implementation of innovative circular business models that operate within the planetary boundaries of our planet.” - Annerieke Douma, Director Program and Business Development, Circle Economy.
From post-industrial economy to an innovative circular hotspotRapidly re-inventing itself as a high-tech, trade and service-oriented economy, Bilbao-Bizkaia recognises the circular economy as a vital component in creating a competitive, healthy and sustainable future for the territory. By applying innovative circular strategies, companies can create new value by keeping resources in circulation for as long as possible and utilising resources, once considered waste, as inputs in a new cycle. The circular economy promises to open up new economic opportunities; boosting GDP and employment and, ultimately, create a more future-proof and resilient city and territory.
“The Bilbao-Bizkaia Circular project has allowed us to approach a methodology that helps identify market niches with high potential for circularity and to identify specific opportunities.”- Ainara Basurko Urkiri, Director General BEAZ.
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The major emissions reductions needed to achieve this heavy lift have been recognized. However, these emissions reductions often target the source of emissions. While this is a reasonable approach, additional mitigation opportunities exist beyond the point where emissions are created.Transformational ideas add new climate action possibilities to the table and increase the likelihood of staying under 1.5° C. One set of policy options, in particular, is the circular economy, offering promise for cutting the current emissions gap significantly. Circular economy policies go beyond the source of emissions to socioeconomic practices that create the demand for emissions in the first place. The strategy involves moving beyond the current linear economic models, which extract materials, produce goods, sell them for consumption, and then discard them. Undertaking circular economy strategies can be accomplished while improving livelihoods and economies, and are often attractive from a business perspective. Circular economy models have been embraced by some subnational actors, especially cities; however, they have not been examined in much detail by the international climate community.
67% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are related to material management and the excessive use of primary resources
The policy analysis brief Looking beyond borders: The circular economy pathway for pursuing 1.5°C lays out the global materials flows—including fossil fuels—and describes how a linear process of material extraction, use, and disposal drives GHG emissions. The policy analysis brief, written by Jelmer Hoogdaaz and Matthieu Bardout supported by the Stanley Foundation and Circle Economy, explores examples of circular economy policies and technologies with high mitigation potential and shows the small extent to which these are considered in climate policy or international cooperation under the Paris Agreement. Tapping into this potential requires that circular economy concepts become an integral part of national policies, international cooperation, and metrics under the Paris Agreement. Finally, this brief makes key recommendations for national policies and action under the architecture of the Paris Agreement.[cta link="http://www.circle-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Policy-Brief-on-Circular-Economy-and-Climate-2.pdf"]Download the report[/cta]
On March 14th, Smart Fibersorting in Wormerveer, Netherlands opened their doors to the public to demonstrate the Fibersort technology in action. It was the first time the project partners Smart Fibersorting, Valvan Baling Systems, Reshare, Worn Again Technologies, Procotex and Circle Economy demonstrated the unique sorting technology to the industry. Demo Day attracted more than 130 attendees from across Europe aimed to show the world the project's accomplishments so far, gather valuable feedback and openly discuss the challenges and opportunities for the textiles industry to further close the gap toward circularity.
A warm welcome was given by Carla Dik-Faber, Dutch Parliament
Industry insights: There is a need to develop more end markets for non-rewearable post-consumer textilesUsing post-consumer textiles as recycling inputs is an important focus area. To get the brand perspective on this, Demo Day featured an industry panel to provide insight into how Fibersort will support the use of these materials as inputs for high-value textile-to-textile recycling. Ellen Mensink of Brightloops (white label producer | own label Loop.a life), Hélène Smits of Recover and Antonio Roade of Circle Economy discussed the challenges of textile-to-textile recycling using post-consumer textile inputs and how the Fibersort makes this goal more achievable. The overall consensus was:
Restricted Substance List (RSL) and chemical safety issues were also discussed and it is clear more research should be done on these topics.
Industry panel with Ellen Mensink, Hélène Smits and Antonio Roade
Fibersort can detect 14 unique fibre compositionsThe Fibersort is currently programmed to detect and sort 14 different materials, including pure fibres and blends. The Fibersort consortium is evaluating the performance of the machine based on how accurately these fibres are detected and how productively the machine operates.
Machine AccuracyTransparency is often touted as being a fundamental step in circular development, and Maurtis Vandeputte from Valvan Baling Systems showed just how committed Valvan is to transparency as they develop the Fibersort technology. The throughput accuracy of the machine calculates the amount of materials detected and sorted. Maurits shared that Fibersort is programmed to detect roughly 80% of all materials. However, phase 1 testing showed that 40% of all materials processed are not being detected. Trials completed in the past week have shown improvement, and we will provide more details in the upcoming Fibersort Performance Report.
The sorted fraction accuracy figures calculate the amount of correctly sorted materials in each bin. The accuracy was calculated based on label checks and will be validated through lab testing. The lab validated accuracy of the 14 fractions, including blends, will be released in the upcoming Fibersort Performance Report. Sign up here to receive the report before the public!
Machine ProductivityTarget productivity for the machine is one piece per second. Operators are able to achieve this speed during their shift after a "warm up" period and when materials arrive at the machine untangled and easy to pick up one item at a time. One piece per second is a limitation of a human operator, as the scanning time is only a few milliseconds.
Next stepsMoving forward, the team will improve the machine's ability to sort more of the non-rewearables that pass through it and capture more value from these textiles. In the coming months, development will also be focused on improving accuracy within the individual 14 sorting categories. Beyond that, the team aims to add new functions such as colour sorting. Recycling trails are currently being conducted with partner recycling companies Procotex and Worn Again Technologies. Reshare is currently working to develop the business case for automated fibre sorting technologies, which will also be discussed in future posts.
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We are continually gathering information to guide the development of the Fibersort, help build end markets for post-consumer textiles and create a circular industry. You can write the future.
Join the project
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Today, with generous support from eBay Foundation, we are launching Circle Lab, an online platform that utilises the power of the crowd to solve universal challenges with circular solutions.
“Circle Lab is an ideation platform that leverages and combines the power of crowdsourcing with circular economy expertise, in an open access environment, to create circular solutions. If you are a problem solver, circular enthusiast, policy maker or finance specialist - Circle Lab is the place to make a real impact,"- Harald Friedl, CEO of Circle Economy
The circular economy is a concept that provides new business strategies and economic policies to create value again and again and aims to achieve inclusive economic, social and environmental prosperity within the planet’s boundaries. The launch of Circle Lab follows the news that the global economy is only 9.1% circular and that the current linear system of production is failing people and the planet.
“eBay has been at the heart of the circular economy since its founding over 20 years ago. The eBay Foundation believes that by using the power of technology to bring people together, the circular economy can help fuel the future of commerce. We are proud to support Circle Lab, a platform that accelerates creative problem-solving and entrepreneurial action towards a more circular economy,”- Amy Millington, President of eBay Foundation
During the past five years, we have worked on hundreds of business cases, and supported businesses, cities and regions in imagining a new "circular future". After bringing to life countless pilot projects, we have identified the need for a platform that not only captures ideas and encourages collaboration, but also ensures that those ideas see the light of day and are actually implemented.During a successful market validation phase last year, Circle Lab brought together a community of nearly 14,000 and co-created unique reverse logistics solutions for the mobile phone industry. Following this phase, we launched the open-access knowledge portion of Circle Lab in August of 2017. The knowledge hub has since brought together nearly 2,000 circular economy enthusiasts who are now using the hub’s 750 case studies to share and further learn about the topic."The launch of the knowledge hub and results of the market validation showed us that there is a high demand for a global community to engage and co-create circular solutions. The addition of a challenge environment is the next step,"- Harald Friedl, CEO of Circle EconomyWe aim to mobilise a global community of circular economy experts, innovative entrepreneurs, forward-thinking businesses, citizens, cities and governments through Circle Lab. The power of this online accelerator for circularity comes to life by:
Today the platform will launch its first challenge, hosted by Circular Glasgow, an initiative of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Event Campus and the Glasgow Convention Bureau and Major Events team at Glasgow Life. This challenge will focus on how small to medium-sized businesses can improve the legacy of major city events and conferences. The city of Glasgow sees the circular economy as an essential tool to ensure that the city remains liveable, offers employment to its growing population, and attracts innovation. With the help of Circle Lab, they can provide a challenge that has a broad appeal to a diverse range of sectors and industries and to tackle a challenge faced by cities worldwide, enabling solutions that arise to be implemented both locally and internationally.
“There is great potential for the circular economy to create a future-proof and resilient Glasgow through innovative ideas that will provide economic and social benefits to our city. Glasgow regularly hosts major events such as the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Celtic Connections to this year’s European Championships, and has recently achieved a hat-trick of events industry award successes, reinforcing the city's reputation. Whilst these events undoubtedly already benefit the city, there is still a significant financial opportunity for businesses to embrace and to prolong the impact made by these events. We look forward to seeing ideas from across Glasgow and the world coming together on Circle Lab to generate new methods that will change the way we host events and the way we collaborate.”- Alison McRae, Senior Director at Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
The circular economy has the power to change the world and the time is now to bring the concept to the kitchen table so that everyone, from entrepreneurs to big brands, can play a role in making it a reality. By breaking down information silos and fueling cross-industry collaboration and innovation, Circle Lab is calling upon a global community to engage and participate in creating a visionary future for the world.For more information on Circle Lab and to participate in the challenge go to http://www.circle-lab.com/.[hr]Circle Lab has been made possible in part by a grant from the eBay Foundation, a corporate advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.Circular Glasgow complements Zero Waste Scotland’s and the Scottish Government's nationwide support for SMEs to develop circular economy business ideas, including its £18million Circular Economy Investment Fund and Circular Economy Business Support Service. Both are supported by the European Regional Development Fund through the £73million Resource Efficiency Circular Economy Accelerator Programme.
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