Insights

C'mon People,  Let's  Repair!

C'mon People, Let's Repair!

Do you have a sweater you really like, but so do moth which left a clear trail on it? Did your children break the toy train they got as a Christmas present? Do you have to reposition your bicycle br...

Disruptive Design

Disruptive Design

  It has become increasingly normal for businesses to manufacture products that are specifically designed to lose value over time, dramatically so in some cases, with the intent to manipulat...

A Bioethanol-Fuelled Bioeconomy

A Bioethanol-Fuelled Bioeconomy

Abundance of non-food biomass, soil and vast availability of natural resources, a biodiversity almost unmatched anywhere else in the world and a biotechnological and chemical industry focused on inn...

Barcelona, Fab City

Barcelona, Fab City

There is a new idea of a society that is catching on in many cities, from Paris to Boston, Amsterdam to Barcelona. Actually, it is more of a movement stemming from the very principles of the circula...

Amsterdam, the Circular City

Amsterdam, the Circular City

The city of Amsterdam has made a major step in the transition to become one of the world’s first circular cities. The goal? Minimize waste, innovate product-as-a-service business, boast new bu...

Pollution as Blue as Our Jeans

Pollution as Blue as Our Jeans

In Tehuacán there are over one hundred industrial laundries, some legal and others illegal. For over thirty years the city, in the region of Puebla, has been a cornerstone of the textile...

A Textbook Case

A Textbook Case

Analysing internal industrial processes and finding the keys to make them sustainable. This is one of the most interesting and hardest challenges of the circular economy because if sustainability do...

The Lazarus' Effect: The Second Life of Patagonia Clothes

The Lazarus' Effect: The Second Life of Patagonia Clothes

  Product Life-Extension is an oft-talked pillar of the circular economy, many talk the talk, but less walk the walk. Patagonia, the famous outdoor fashion brand from Ventura, California, ha...

The Need for a  Perspective Change

The Need for a Perspective Change

“All packaging plastic must be recyclable by 2030.” This is the appeal launched by Brussels at the beginning of 2018. A strategy aimed at drastically reducing plastic waste while creatin...

The Landfill, a Model for Economic  Participation

The Landfill, a Model for Economic Participation

The story of Belvedere SPA started in the past century. Founded in 1997, for the last 20 years, it has managed the waste disposal site for the Municipality of Peccioli, in the Province of Pisa. A un...

The Indian Way towards Zero Waste

The Indian Way towards Zero Waste

The Saahas Zero Waste model comes from Bangalore, India’s technological capital. It concentrates on partnerships with large companies, Extended Producer Responsibility and recycling to formali...

Upcycling our Buildings

Upcycling our Buildings

In architecture it is possible to combine aesthetics, sustainability, quality and harmony with the surrounding environment. Out of Denmark emerges the example of Lendager Group, an architecture firm...

Stop Death (of Objects)

Stop Death (of Objects)

  If Ellen MacArthur is the dame of the circular economy, Walter R. Stahel (born June 5, 1946) can be well awarded the title of father of this economic model. Stahel has been influential in ...

Closing the Circle is Just One Option

Closing the Circle is Just One Option

Photo by Mirjam Verschoor   Two Germans in the kingdom of the Netherlands. A great big slice of the Dutch circular economy is based on the vision of Thomas Rau and ...

Water vs. Coal. South Africa's Filthy War

Water vs. Coal. South Africa's Filthy War

Photography: Fausto Podavini Research: Marirosa Iannelli Top image: Witbank. In a coal mine a woman collects coal for personal use. Coal is the only resource for locals.    “Do y...

The Bioeconomy is the New Force de Frappe

The Bioeconomy is the New Force de Frappe

France has finally taken its place at the table alongside other European countries with a national bioeconomy strategy. Announced in June 2015 and presented on 18 January of this year, Une Strat&eac...

Towards Circular Public Procurement in France

Towards Circular Public Procurement in France

edited by Institut de l’économie circulaire, Parigi www.institut-economie-circulaire.fr   Public procurement is considered as a top policy lever as it represents a sign...

Brewing with Leftover Bread

Brewing with Leftover Bread

Call it a hype if you will, but the circular economy is here to stay: it is gaining traction around the world, and the strategies it provides can solve our current dependence on finite resources. By...

Fashion, Cannibals and Forks

Fashion, Cannibals and Forks

Top image: Details of Besani’s knitted textile.   “Is it progress if a cannibal uses a fork?” John Elkington is asked at the beginning of Cannibals with Forks, one of t...

Jeans for Rent

Jeans for Rent

Swedish label Filippa K has been one of the leading companies in sustainable, circular fashion since 1993. As its founder, Filippa Knutsson, claims “inspired by my needs, I have created a bran...

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