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Catherine Weetman talks to Christian van Maaren, co-founder of Excess Materials Exchange, based in the Netherlands. Excess Materials Exchange is saving the planet by running a dating site, which at first sounds improbable, and then sounds intriguing!
Christian describes himself as a chronic optimist, always looking at possibilities to achieve the seemingly unattainable. He is driven by making the world inclusive and circular and is convinced that the Circular Economy plays a paramount role in the energy-climate challenge whilst delivering sound business results.
We talk about Christian’s background working for Shell, and how he’s switched from corporate life to being an entrepreneur.
Christian believes the circular economy is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to achieve the Paris climate goals, and we hear how Excess Materials Exchange helps customers measure the value of their exchange options, in financial, environmental and social impacts.
Their analysis shows exchange is better for your profits as well as our planet, with material flows typically increasing by 110 per cent in financial value, and ecological footprints reducing by an average of 60 per cent.
Christian tells us about the kinds of companies and materials they match up, using a combination of blockchain and AI, and how they actively match supply & demand for materials to ensure high value re-use.
Podcast host Catherine Weetman helps businesses use circular, regenerative and fair solutions to do better, with less.
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Read on for more on our guest and links to the people, organisations and other resources we mention.
Links we mention in the episode:
- Excess Materials Exchange website: excessmaterialsexchange.com
- On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/excess-materials-exchange/
- Christian van Maaren on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cvanmaaren/
- Excess Materials Exchange Co-Founder, Maayke Aimee Damen’s TEDx talk from 2020 https://youtu.be/7A8x_cIjG1o
- PRé consultants – https://www.pre-sustainability.com/
- Copper8 (circular procurement) https://www.copper8.com/
Other podcast episodes about materials exchange:
- Episode 8 Elaine Kerr – industrial symbiosis https://www.rethinkglobal.info/elaine-kerr-how-industrial-symbiosis-oils-the-wheels-of-the-circular-economy/
- Episode 26 – Katie Briggs of the Textile Review https://www.rethinkglobal.info/episode-26-katie-briggs-of-the-textile-review/
- Episode 31 – Tom Fecarotta of Rheaply https://www.rethinkglobal.info/episode-31-tom-fecarotta-of-rheaply/
Christian van Maaren
Christian, as a chronic optimist, always finds possibilities to achieve the seemingly unattainable. With his sense of humor and ability to see the bigger picture he is able to successfully align unconventional stakeholders over complex challenges, as he did many years for Shell. His vision, curiosity and wit make him a skillful entrepreneur. Driven by making the world inclusive and circular he brought light in remote places with Global Himalayan Expedition and now the Excess Materials Exchange is his new venture. He is convinced that the Circular Economy plays a paramount role in the energy-climate challenge whilst delivering sound business results.
“Before Excess Materials Exchange I worked for Shell. That was a completely different world. However, during my early years for Shell, I got the opportunity to go on an expedition to Antarctica with Sir Robert Swan, and a group of highly motivated change makers from all over the world.
This experience turned out to be life-changing. It made me decide to focus my work on sustainability. I first did this inside Shell, by managing their green infrastructure and natural capital program for North- & South America. On that program, I was working together with a lot of NGO’s and also got acquainted with the circular economy topic.
I realised that the circular economy was one of the quickest and cheapest ways to reach the Paris Agreement climate targets. So when Shell decided to cut back on the program I worked on, I decided to leave the company and be more directly involved with sustainability. This is when I met Maayke Damen (my co-founder) through an organisation called the Young Club of Rome. The rest is – as they say – history.”
Excess Materials Exchange is a dating site for secondary materials and waste. We use a combination of blockchain and AI to actively match supply & demand, and materials with technologies that can ensure high value re-use.
If you’re new to the circular economy, you might like the ‘getting started’ playlist. There’s also an interactive podcast index, making it easy to find episodes on each of the key circular economy strategies or for a specific market sector. And to dig deeper, please check out Catherine’s award-winning A Circular Economy Handbook, published by Kogan Page.
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