The circular economy playbook

In this episode, Ali and Graeme interview guests Alessandro Figueroa, head of SMB business for commercial solutions at Visa Europe and Linda Weston, managing director, head of commercial issuing at Barclaycard Payments about the vast economic opportunities for circular “recommerce” business models.They discuss both Visa's and Barclaycard’s research measuring the significant and ever growing contribution of recommerce businesses – such as resale, reuse, repair and rental businesses – to the economy; and how businesses are already measuring the fiscal benefits of switching to recommerce revenue streams to meet consumer demand.They also outline the role that payment providers and card issuers can play in supporting circular recommerce businesses to thrive in a changing world, with shifting consumer demands and wider motivations around sustainability, and their role in making people’s experience of recommerce shopping smooth and frictionless.Resources mentioned throughout the episode:Visa - Recommerce hubBarclaycard Payments research – Recommerce RevolutionRepair Week – 130+ events taking place across London from 11-17 MarchFat Llama – Rent (almost) anything Library of Things – Borrow useful Things for your homeBundlee – Rent baby and toddler clothesThe Seam – Care and repair services for clothing and accessoriesSplendid Stitches – Clothes repair serviceEON – Track your clothing or product’s lifecycle with a digital passportAgain - Making reusable packaging as affordable, accessible and scalable as single useBack Market - Global marketplace for refurbished devicesVinted - Online marketplace for buying, selling and exchanging new or second-hand items, mainly clothing and accessoriesLoma – Second-hand and rental site aggregatorTwice – Sell, rent and resell circular commerce marketplaceDecathlon – Free Bike Health Check Repair Week workshop at various London storesSOJO – Door-to-door clothing alterations and repairsREWORK – White goods refurbishment project in WandsworthCorrection: Alessandro Figueroa is head of SMB business for commercial solutions at Visa Europe, not head of strategy and B2B partnerships as stated in the intro.

In this episode, Ali and Rachel interview guest Nish Parkekh, co-founder of KAPDAA – The Offcut Company. KAPDAA creates unique, sustainable products from the beautiful offcuts and excess materials generated by fashion and interior designers, textile weavers and mills.Ali and Nish discuss how KAPDAA navigates the technical challenges of fibre-to-fibre processing, why the brand is diversifying into other parts of the supply chain to collect post-consumer waste, and why it's crucial that we develop the infrastructure and technology required to deal with our end-of-life textile processing here in the UK.Resources mentioned throughout the episode:Case study: KAPDAA – The Offcut Company: Giving new life to textile wasteReport: Citizen Insights: Clothing Longevity and Circular Business Models Receptivity in the UKNUW: Swap platform for pre-loved clothingGOOD: Circular, pre-loved fashion clothing Love Not Landfill: ReLondon campaign to encourage fast fashion fans to buy second-hand, swap, recycle and give to charityLove Not Landfill: Pre-loved charity fashion pop-up shop, with collections from Cancer Research, FARA, Shelter and HURR Collective, from 29th June - 2nd July 2023, Angel Central, 21 Parkfield Street, London N1 0PS

In this episode, Ali and Wayne interview Sarah Mukherjee MBE, CEO of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, known more simply as IEMA. IEMA is a global membership body for sustainability professionals, helping connect business and individuals across multiple industries, sectors and borders to make the world greener. 

In this episode for Repair Week 2023, Ali and Rebecca interview three special guests championing the repair movement in different ways: Jaime Greenly from Make Mee Studio; Tandi Tuakli from ReVivo, the reuse and repair arm of footwear brand VivoBarefoot; and Andy Hilton from Manchester Bike Kitchen.

In this episode, Ali and Sarah chat with Marie Cudennec Carlisle, CEO and co-founder of social enterprise Goldfinger.

In this episode, Ali and Antony chat with Philip Dobson, founder of social enterprise upCYCLE.

In this episode Ali and Andrea speak to Roy Fishwick, managing director of Cleveland Steel & Tubes Ltd. Having worked in construction for over 30 years, Roy has been at the forefront of championing for a sustainable and transformational shift in the industry, from innovation and problem solving, to legislative change. Ali and Roy discuss the challenges of sourcing reuse material and the barriers to normalising its reuse in the built environment, and how the UK is leading the way in creating circular economy practice across the construction sector, narrowing the gap between assumption and acceptance of reclaimed materials.For more information on circular construction, check out CIRCuIT, a collaborative project between ReLondon, and partners in Copenhagen, Hamburg and Vaanta looking at how cities can drive a more systemic shift to more circular construction approaches.

In this episode Ali and Lamia speak to Safia Qureshi, founder of returnable takeaway packaging service CLUBZERØ. Ali and Safia discuss how CLUBZERØ was conceived and how the business is revolutionising the takeaway food industry by making circularity easy for consumers.