♻️ #003 — Circular Economy

Waste is a resource to be captured and reused to reduce costs and carbon emissions

November 07, 2022

Hey folks,

Welcome to this week’s deep dive. This is part of a 10-episode series on the latest climate tech and trends.

Check out previous episodes ⬇️

Today we’re talking ♻️ Circular Economy ♻️

📣 TLDR

A circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design. Waste is a resource to be captured and reused or reduced that can reduce costs and carbon emissions.

😬 Problem

Products are made, used, and disposed of in landfills or incinerators.

🎯 Solution

A circular economy keeps products and materials in use for as long as possible. This reduces waste and environmental impact, which reduces costs.

💪🏼 Organizations

Big Business

Startups

  • ThredUp and The RealReal enables resale of second-hand fashion.

  • Huue is creating sustainable dyes for textiles, food and cosmetics and raised $14.6M Series A.

  • Rheaply provides a platform that enables organizations to exchange materials and resources effectively.

  • Apeel develops plant-derived shelf life extension technology for fresh produce that improves quality and reduces food waste.

  • LanzaTech reduces carbon emissions from meat to airplane fuel and makes new products for a circular carbon economy.

  • Evrnu recycles cotton garment waste to create premium, renewable textiles.

  • Bolt Threads makes lab-grown fabrics.

  • RecyclePoints is a waste recycling and social benefit project in Nigeria.

Non-profits / government

⚡️ Opportunities

  • Remanufacturing of used parts and materials

    • Renault has a reverse logistics ecosystem of partner companies resulting in 40% less expensive parts.

  • Regenerative agriculture

    • Regrow Ag combines agronomy and scenario planning with monitoring, reporting, and verification.

    • Propagate is a software, development and financing ecosystem that makes it easy for farms to transition acreage to agroforestry

  • Build SaaS platforms that power the circular economy

    • Arrive Outdoors raised $4.75M for gear rental platform.

    • Lizee enables brands and retailers to incorporate circular rental models that help lower the volume of discarded textiles.

    • Trove powers trade-in and resale for world-class brands, delivering sustainable and profitable growth at scale

  • Design products to be reused, repaired, or recycled.

    • Patagonia has a worn wear line and uses recycled materials.

  • Market sustainable products.

    • Sourceful provides a sourcing and supply chain platform that helps clients find environmentally sustainable packaging for their products.

  • Sell recycled materials

⚠️ Challenges

  • Supply chain networks are complex.

    • H&M is redesigning their entire value chain and operations around a circular economy.

  • Existing supply chain networks optimize for cost and efficiency, not transparency and resilience.

    • Circulor is building traceability for industrial supply chains, focusing on electric vehicles.

  • Supply chain disruptions like global pandemics and hurricanes make a circular economy less likely.

  • Recycling requires advanced sorting.

  • Some materials can't be recycled in a cost efficient manner, and it can be more expensive to recycle or reuse materials than to simply discard them.

  • It can be more difficult to find a market for recycled or reused materials.

😈 Devil’s Advocate

Waste as a resource encourages increased demand, creating more waste.

Demand for products exists whether or not the products are produced sustainably.

Sustainable fashion is just fast fashion greenwashing their environment impact.

Buying less does more. But we need clothing and food to live. May as well be from recycled materials when possible.

🚀 Takeaways

  • Consumer goods are a major contributor to emissions. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions and second biggest consumer of water.

  • Products produced via recommerce, remanufacturing, and regenerative agriculture either reduce waste or reuse.

  • Supply chain networks that can support recycling are key.

🔗 Dive Deeper