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Catherine Weetman talks to Brian Bauer, who leads Circular Economy and Alliances at Algramo, a Chilean startup that refills consumer products by the gram from vending machines.
Algramo’s founder, Jose Manuel Moller noticed a problem he calls the ‘poverty tax’ (when lower-income consumers buy products in very small, supposedly more “affordable” formats, but end up paying up to 40 percent more for the product, compared to a larger pack size). Algramo’s refill system helps solve this problem, allowing customers to purchase the quantity of products they need at ‘bulk’ prices — making the sustainable option more affordable, equitable and convenient.
The service already operates in thousands of family-owned stores that reach over 300,000 end-customers in Santiago, Chile, and now has a mobile option using electric trikes. Algramo has recently expanded to the US with refill vending machines in New York City, partnering with Colgate-Palmolive and Clorox.
We hear how Algramo is integrating technology too, including RFID tags to monitor usage. During lockdown, Algramo has developed an app, so customers can take their empty container to the store, and use their smartphone to control the refill machine, meaning they don’t need to touch anything they haven’t brought into the store.
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:
- Algramo – https://algramo.com/
- Instagram Algramo – https://www.instagram.com/algramo/?hl=en
- Brian Bauer on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bauer-chile/
- Doughnut Economics for Ireland https://doughnuteconomics.org/news/14
- Outrage and Optimism podcast, episode 64 with Alan Jope, the CEO of Unilever https://globaloptimism.com/podcast/alan-jope-is-doubling-down/
About Brian Bauer
Brian applies his knowledge in sustainability, technology & policy into creating value by leveraging the circular economy movement into business model innovation. He connects a network of experts across industry, academia, finance & government who are keen to collaborate on innovative upstream waste management solutions.
He is keen to explore how plastic packaging can be used in a circular manner that provides the benefits of plastic, without the impacts of mismanaged plastic waste.
With Algramo, he focuses on connecting stakeholders to help catalyze reusable packaging systems on a globally significant scale. At Algramo, Brian and the team are currently working with Unilever, Nestle and other brands, on game-changing packaging as a wallet technology that enables their reusable packaging to communicate with IoT connected vending machines. This enables cashless payments and small volume purchases at bulk prices-solving the Poverty Tax. Algramo’s distribution system engineers out reverse logistics to create major economic & environmental savings.
He is proud to have had his proposals win Algramo: Top Idea in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s $1 Million Circular Design Challenge, MIT Solve Circular Economy Challenge, and the National Geographic’s Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge.
Brian has spoken at the following ocean plastic or circular economy related conferences: Our Ocean Conference in Malta; Volvo Ocean Summit in Cape Town, World Economic Forum in Davos; United Nations Science, Policy & Business Forum in Nairobi and Circularity 19. I’m proud to have helped Algramo build alliances with the World Economic Forum, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, UNEP, Harvard Business School, MIT Solve, INSEAD, EGADE and GIZ Innovation Factory.
Reach out if you are interested in collaborating: brian@algramo.com
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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