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social value

Social benefits from circular approaches, including regeneration of local resources, creating jobs for disadvantaged or excluded groups, social enterprises, and so on.

Artwork for episode 174 of the Circular Economy Podcast with Upstream

174 Sydney Harris and Jennifer Carrigan of Upstream: effective, equitable reuse systems

We learn about driving change towards an effective, efficient and fair reuse economy, with Sydney Harris and Jennifer Carrigan of Upstream, a nonprofit that works to support sustainable, equitable reuse systems across North America.
Upstream works to normalise reuse, to support the expansion of the reuse sector, and to help create supportive policy measures. It was founded over 20 years ago, and is seen as an early visionary, realising that reuse is better from an economic perspective as well as better for people and planet. Upstream works across industry sectors in the US and Canada.

Artwork for 'from the archives' episode 119

From the archives – episode 119 with Ken Webster: why we need to talk about the circular ECONOMY!

To close out 2025, I’d like to revisit a critical aspect that’s being ignored – the economy itself. Ken Webster is a leading thinker in the circular economy field, and one of his many roles is with Earth4All, where he has been exploring the benefits of a Universal Basic Dividend. Ken and Catherine discussed this, and more aspects of circularity at an economic level back in 2023, and it’s highly relevant today, as the challenges we face loom larger.

Artwork for Circular Economy Podcast episode 172 part 2

172 (Part 2) Tom Llewellyn of Shareable: how sharing and cooperative projects help us thrive

This is the 2nd part of my conversation with Tom Llewellyn of Shareable, an organization that collaborates with others to imagine, resource, network, and scale cooperative projects.
• We hear about Shareable’s How-To Guides, which cover a vast range of topics from how to reduce food waste to starting mutual aid funds, and Tom explains how sharing initiatives are starting to be included in city and local government policies.
• And Tom offers his top tips for how we can get started with sharing and other initiatives, to improve our resilience and build stronger communities.
If you didn’t catch the first episode, head back to that if you’d like to hear why Shareable has pivoted from storytelling to focus on supporting groups to replicate successful sharing solutions, what Tom sees as the key challenges around sharing, and the importance of storytelling – including the misleading narratives used by most of the media, and how these undermine our resilience.

Artwork for Circular Economy Podcast episode 172 part 1

172 Tom Llewellyn of Shareable: how sharing and cooperative projects help us thrive

We discuss the importance of sharing and its many benefits with Tom Llewellyn, the Executive Director of Shareable, which collaborates with others to imagine, resource, network, and scale cooperative projects.
Tom helps communities develop Libraries of Things (LoTs) and other forms of low-cost, environmentally friendly social infrastructure that help people meet their material needs. Tom’s current work includes expanding these sharing initiatives into housing developments, universities, and post-disaster recovery areas.
He also serves as executive producer and host of the award-winning documentary film and podcast series The Response, producer of the Cities@Tufts Podcast, and communications lead for the Rural Power Coalition.
Tom has co-founded several community- and sharing-based initiatives, including: A PLACE for Sustainable Living, Asheville Tool Library, REAL Cooperative (Regenerative Education, Action & Leadership), and the worker collective Critter Cafe.
Shareable wants to see a just, connected, and joyful world where sharing is daily practice and communities flourish. Its current focus is on sharing hubs & infrastructure, Mutual Aid projects, and supporting and strengthening democratic, community-controlled cooperative businesses and organizations.
We covered a lot, and so the conversation is split into two episodes. In Part 1, we hear why Shareable has pivoted from storytelling to engagement and support for groups to replicate successful sharing solutions.
We discuss some of the key challenges and barriers to sharing, and what we can gain from sharing and other forms of mutual support
We talk about a few different types of sharing initiatives, including community infrastructure projects.
Tom explains the importance of storytelling, particularly in the context of disasters, and how the media often uses narratives that undermine our natural resilience and willingness to support each other.
In Part 2 (available now), we cover the How To Guides, which cover a vast range of topics from how to reduce food waste to starting mutual aid funds, and Tom’s tips on how to get things started. You can hear my takeaways at the end of each section.

Artwork for Circular Economy Podcast 171 with Dr Patrick Schroeder

171 Dr. Patrick Schröder: circular economy policymaking – progress and barriers

Dr. Patrick Schröder, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, assesses the progress and barriers for circular economy policymaking. Patrick Schröder specializes in the circular economy, climate change, resource governance, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). His work brings together science, policy, and media to help further evidence-based policies, communicate complex sustainability issues, and promote equitable governance solutions at the multilateral level.
Patrick is currently the Coordinating Lead Author for one of the three working groups for the IPCC Assessment Report 7, reporting on Mitigation of Climate Change, and he is also the Coordinating Lead Author for the UN Global Environment Outlook 7. Patrick holds a PhD in Environmental Studies, and is now studying part-time for a second PhD in circular and regenerative design with the Centre for Sustainable Design.
In 2024, UNIDO and Chatham House published a ground-breaking global stocktake of 75 national circular economy roadmaps featuring more than 2,800 policy actions. The first roadmap, from Japan, was published in 1999, and since 2016, as governments strive to accelerate their circular transitions, over 70 countries have published national circular economy roadmaps and strategies.
The review aims to ‘bridge knowledge gaps and shed light on critical aspects of these publications’, and the authors point to a ‘significant lack of focus on the need to ensure a just and inclusive’ transition, warning that a ‘lack of recognition of the need to work collaboratively with the global community’ risks derailing a global just transition.
Patrick tells us how he currently sees the global state of play for circular economy policies and roadmaps, where progress is happening and from a policymaking perspective, what is holding it back.
The team at Chatham House have created a micro-site – circulareconomy.earth – and Patrick tells us more about that, and how we can use it.

Episode artwork

168 Matt Paneitz of Long Way Home: Hero School – transforming trash into useful buildings

Long Way Home’s Hero School in Guatemala is a community-rooted educational initiative that transforms local trash into useful buildings. Matthew Paneitz first visited San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala, as a Peace Corps volunteer in 2002, and was deeply affected by this rural, Indigenous Maya community where 64% live in poverty and 27% in extreme poverty. People lacked clean water, reliable sanitation, resilient homes, steady employment, and quality education, and the air, water, and soil are all contaminated by waste and pollution.
Unable to put this out of his mind, Matt returned in 2004 and founded non-profit Long Way Home. One of its major projects is Hero School, a project-based, community-rooted educational initiative grounded in Education for Sustainable Development. Between 2008 to 2025, the LWH team transformed 550 tons of trash (including 35,000 used tires) into the Hero School green-built campus.

Circular Economy Podcast - Artwork for episode 166

166 Circularity Gap Report 2025: insights

Matthew Fraser of Circle Economy and David Rakowski of Deloitte unpack key insights from the 2025 Circularity Gap Report.
The Circularity Gap Report aims to provide a comprehensive ‘report card’ for the global circular economy, and shows that we are still a long way from achieving good grades.
Although the circular economy concept has gained traction—and more policies have emerged to support it—progress has stalled. You might remember the headline numbers from the first report in 2018, that the world was only 9.1% circular, described as a massive Circularity Gap. The gap has grown bigger, with the latest global circularity metric at just 6.9%.
Circle Economy sees a need for urgency: to expand access to its data and insights, dig deeper into what’s driving the decline, and to scale support for those in a position to make change happen.
Matthew Fraser is a recognised expert in the circular economy, with over a decade of experience advising governments on measurement and strategy. Matthew specialises in translating complex resource flows into actionable strategies, supporting governments in integrating circular principles into policy and investment decisions.
David Rakowski is a partner in Deloitte’s Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chain business with a focus on circular economy and sustainability. He began his career in sustainability over 10 years ago, and as a systems engineer by trade, he brings together product, business, supply chain and digital design to develop sustainable solutions.
We’ll start with a quick intro to the report’s origins and purpose, and the partnership between Circle Economy and Deloitte.
Matthew talks us through the key findings from the 2025 report, the challenges for policymakers, and the barriers and opportunities for businesses.
David unpacks some of the challenges for startups and big corporates, and the importance of making circular economy strategies both actionable and exciting.
And, we discuss how the shifting sands of resource availability, supply chain disruption and geo-economics are helping businesses see that circularity can boost resilience and reduce risks.

Circular Economy Podcast - artwork for episode 160

160 Systems and system value

One of recurring themes in the new edition of A Circular Economy Handbook (to be published in November 2025) is the importance of systems thinking and systems design. I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s book, This is Strategy, and he says successful strategies depend on two things: being conscious of the change we seek to make and the systems that can amplify or impede our progress.
In other words, we must make sure we understand the different systems affecting the things we want to change. There can be multiple systems, many of which we have little control over.
It’s also important to find the ‘leverage points’ – those places in complex systems where, as Donella Meadows said, ‘a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything.’
Pretty much every conversation in the last series gave me food for thought and insights for the book, and in this episode, I’d like to pick up on some of those.
First, we’ll recap on the systems thinking tools and approaches in Martin Tomitsch and Steve Baty’s new book, Designing Tomorrow, and think about the impact of strategies and systems – who we affect, and what kind of impacts we’re responsible for.
Then we’ll look more closely at one of the key differences between conventional and circular business models – the role of the customer, and the need for them to be active, rather than passive participants.
Finally, we’ll unpick another recurring theme from the book – system value – a term used by the Future Fit Foundation for solutions where businesses address societal needs in a holistic way, while not hindering progress towards a flourishing future.
The last series covers episodes 151 to 159:
151 Clarissa Morawski of Reloop Platform: practical policies for circular packaging
152 Markus Terho: The Lifestyle Test
153 Anette Timmer of DESSO: the beauty of circularity
154 Loic Le Fouest of Clarasys: creating circular customer experiences
155 Martin Tomitsch and Steve Baty: Life-centred design
156 Marcus Feldthus: the Post-Growth Guide for businesses
157 Liz Bui of Yulex: safer, sustainable materials
158 Steve Wilson of Compostify: bioplastics that enrich the planet
159 Kyle Wiens of iFixit: the rewards of repairability

Circular Economy Podcast - artwork for episode 157

157 Liz Bui of Yulex: safer, sustainable materials

Liz Bui takes us behind the scenes at Yulex, a material science company that’s replacing extremely useful, but problematic petroleum-based products with natural rubber alternatives.
Liz Bui is Chief Executive Officer at YULEX, based in the USA. She began her career in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry where she spent 20 years in senior roles. On top of managing all operational and business matters at YULEX, Liz is an intellectual property and transactional lawyer, a PhD scientist and also an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law.
Originally from Vietnam, at the age of six Liz escaped on the day Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) fell to the North Vietnamese forces. She and her siblings, without their parents, were war refugees aboard a fishing boat until they were rescued by a US aircraft carrier. Like other Vietnamese refugees from that period, she was granted permanent residency and a new life in the U.S.
We’ll hear about the origins and mission of Yulex and its long-term collaboration with Patagonia to develop natural rubber foam for wetsuits, replacing neoprene, a petroleum-based material.
Liz explains some of the key principles underpinning Yulex’s approach to innovation, and how these are fundamental to helping it scale out and create benefits right across its value network.
Liz talks us through some of the environmental and health issues associated with neoprene, and explains how Yulex is making it easier for suppliers to use natural rubber instead.
She tells us about Yulex’s latest material innovation, Yulastic filaments – a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based elastane, aka spandex.
And we hear how Yulex’s Equitable AG program supports rubber smallholders in Southeast Asia, distributing 50% of the profits back to them.

Circular Economy Podcast - artwork for episode 149

149 Giulia Ziino of CircularPlace: generate value from underused assets

Giulia Ziino is a co-founder of CircularPlace, a digital platform that helps organizations generate value by reusing and repurposing underutilized products and equipment.
These services are needed more than ever, by a wide range of organizations. The pandemic, working from home and now hybrid working upturned the entire concept of workspaces, and organizations need to resize, relocate or restructure on a regular basis. That usually means changing office layouts.
Manufacturing businesses may need to update or replace machinery and equipment to reflect changing specifications or what’s selling well in their product mix. And hotels and hospitality venues need to keep their furniture and equipment looking fresh and attractive – and some rooms or areas might look tired, with others hardly used.
All of this means that furniture, equipment and other items become available, and often these might be in as-new condition, or just lightly used. Even if they are more worn, they may be suitable for refurbishment, repair or remanufacturing. The CircularPlace platform is available as a white-label solution, and facilitates the sale or donation of equipment, furniture and other unwanted items, either within the company or to external buyers. This provides tax benefits as well as reducing GHG emissions and waste. CircularPlace was founded in 2021, and clients now include Microsoft France, Sodexo, Schneider and Fedex.
Giulia Ziino joined CircularPlace as a late-stage co-founder, bringing international experience and initially taking on the role of Chief of Staff, where she focused on expanding and stabilizing the brand. Now, as Chief Marketing Officer, Giulia is building a robust presence for CircularPlace in the B2B circular economy space and driving impactful storytelling around sustainability.
We’ll hear how CircularPlace helps clients with asset and inventory management, with logistics, and provides an impact calculator to measure carbon savings. We hear what’s encouraging companies to look at these solutions, and how the platform links clients with specialist resellers, improving the value recovered as well boosting the existing reuse markets.

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