Circular, But How‪?‬ Circular, But How?

Daniel Böckin is about to finalize his PhD on environmental assessment of circular solutions at Chalmers Technical University in Gothenburg, Sweden! A great moment to share his knowledge and critically discuss the challenges of truly decoupling environmental impacts from profits through circular solutions. If you are curious how to look at environmental impacts and financial value in circular business model design more systematically, listen in and hear Daniel explain his new method - The Business Model LCA - that helps assess whether a circular business model design results in decoupling or not, taking the example of a Swedish company that is shifting from sales to rent of outdoor gear.

01:00 An introduction to the idea of decoupling in a circular economy // 01:50 Is the idea of decoupling in a circular economy enough to address the environmental crises we experience? // 04:20 Why should businesses care about decoupling their environmental impacts from profit generation? // 06:09 The importance of focusing on environmental impact reduction when designing circular solutions // 06:44 Hear about Daniel’s PhD journey // 07:46 Businesses Daniel consulted during his PhD // 10:37 Why is it sometimes not enough to only do a life cycle assessment? // 12:00 Why profit generation is a good basis of comparison to assess decoupling of circular business models? // 13:00 An example of a case study of a rental model for outdoor gear // 14:48 Daniel’s summary of the Business Model LCA method// 16:45 Daniel’s suggestion for tools and softwares to help develop circular business models // 18:38 Hear Daniel’s call for action.

Lyndsey Parette, Environmental Coordinator at DUNI, shares how circular economy can be applied to single use and disposable products. Duni is Scandinavia's market leader in take-away solutions and single-use tableware, but single use products are not really what we strive for in a circular economy. It is very unlikely though that we can get rid of all single use products. But how can these be made more 'circular' and less impactful? Hear about Lindsey's experiences with reducing the environmental impact of single use products through circular economy approaches.

03:10 Duni's products// 04:17 Why circular economy is important for Duni// 05:00 Challenges of applying circular economy to single use products// 05:50 Different strategies for applying circular economy to single use products// 07:05 Sustainability challenges of compostable products // 08:50 Success criteria for developing circular solutions// 09:50 How to balance between different performance criteria of products (e.g. sustainability, affordability, etc.) // 11:30 How to understand what happens with products at the end-of-life? // 13:45 Defining what circular economy and sustainability means for one's organisation // 14:50 Circular economy in global value chains // 17:55 Lindsey's recommendations for tools for circular innovation// 24:40 Lindsey's call for action.

Prof. Anne-Marie Tillman, co-author of the book a 'Hitchhikers' Guide to LCA' and Professor for Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers University in Gothenburg in Sweden, explains how looking at product characteristics can help choose a circular economy strategy that reduces the product's environmental footprint. If you have felt that the waste hierarchy (Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, Recover, Dispose) is of limited guidance to identify a suitable circular economy strategy, you may want to listen in and hear how understanding product characteristics can help you make the right decision.

04:20 Why is the waste hierarchy insufficient guidance to make products more circular? // 05:05 Why is it important to look at product characteristics when choosing a circular economy strategy? // 07:20 How can different types of products be classified? // 09:00 What are the different circular economy strategies? // 15:27 Which circular economy strategies fit which type of product? // 19:05 How to combine different circular economy strategies? // 20:37 How to use Anne-Marie’s framework as guidance? // 21:45 The importance of considering environmental trade-offs of each circular economy strategies // 23:05 Anne-Marie’s call for action

Morten Risom Nielsen, engineer and product developer at Lendager Group in Copenhagen, explains the process for developing upcycled products that can bring down CO2 emissions while being price competitive in the market.

02:48 Successful upcycled products // 03:55 Mindset for making upcycling happen // 05:00 Opportunities for upcycling // 06:45 Key difference when developing upcycled products compared with primary products // 08:30 The workflow for developing upcycled products // 13:10 Key consideration for securing environmental benefits from upcycling // 17:15 Low-hanging fruits for environmental benefits // 19:30 Key considerations for securing business benefits // 23:05 Low-hanging fruits for business benefits.