Sustainable Business Covered podcast: How do we make the circular economy a reality?

Episode 116 of edie’s flagship Sustainable Business Covered podcast is all about accelerating the transition to a circular economy – an economy in which less natural resources are extracted, products are designed to last, repairing and sharing are key and upcycling always comes before recycling.

Crucially, this episode looks at how the circular economy can be demystified for the general public and how businesses can collaborate to create economies of scale for innovative materials and business models, thus making circular options accessible and affordable to the point they become the default.

This episode sees senior reporter Sarah George and content editor Matt Mace walking listeners through a morning routine with circular economy elements.

First up, starting with your bathroom routine, the team interview Upcircle Beauty co-founder Anna Brightman. Upcircle was founded in 2016 and is widely regarded as the brand behind the growing interest in using upcycled by-products from the food and drink industry to create beauty products. The brand is also a champion of reusable and plastic-free packaging, and Anna is on hand to discuss the practicalities of adopting this approach to packaging.

Second on the agenda is getting dressed. Sarah and Matt highlight the fashion industry’s waste and carbon challenges before speaking with Allbirds’ director of materials innovation, Romesh Patel, at the brand’s Covent Garden store. Romesh talks us through the multi-year process of developing and launching innovative shoes and explains why the circular economy is about more than just materials science.

Then, the time has come to head to the office, which is stocked with hardware that has been refurbished and remanufactured. On hand to discuss how we can close the loop on electronics and electricals is Cisco’s director of circular economy, Katie Schindall. Cisco is aiming for full product take-back as soon as possible and Katie explains how that journey is progressing.

edie is hosting this podcast as part of Circular Economy Week 2022, our annual editorial campaign supporting readers to create a world without waste. Click here to access all related blogs, features, interviews, events and more. 

The edie podcast is available to listen to on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple and Google. You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and bookmark this page to see the full list of podcast episodes as they appear. 

Have a question about this podcast or a suggestion for future episodes? Email us at podcast@fav-house.com. Please be aware that we typically book speakers weeks or even months in advance. Our speaker schedule is currently full for July.