Circularity.fm

Do you know how a waste-to-energy plant actually turn household waste into electricity, heat, and steam?

Philipp Böhm, Managing Director of NEEW Ventures walks through the full process at a plant in Premnitz, from the truck pulling up at the gate to energy entering the grid.

What you'll hear in this episode:

This is the first episode in "Incineration in the Circular Economy," a series sponsored by NEEW Ventures.

People

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

Founded in 2021 in Berlin, NEEW Ventures builds startups that use data, AI, and digital tools to create value from waste. Its portfolio includes Wasteer, which uses AI-based waste composition analysis to cut emissions and operating costs at incineration plants, and Minimise, a digital traceability platform for e-waste recycling. NEEW Ventures also runs the Circularity Hub for startups, researchers, and industry professionals, and the Waste & AI Hub (WAIH), connecting AI experts with waste industry operators. Find out more at: neew-ventures.com

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One-page Summary

How do circular practices enable better risk management and what's that means for insurance premiums?

Nadin-Shirin Zimmermann from Nexarus breaks down the business logic of insurance products and where circularity changes the equation. Before founding Nexarus, she spent years as a corporate underwriter at Allianz and XL Capital.

What you'll hear in this episode:

Listen now to understand why staying linear may be the largest uninsurable risk a company faces.

This is the last episode in the series Enabling Circularity Through Insurance.

People

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

Its approach is built around connecting business reality with circular value creation and working alongside client teams rather than only advising from the outside. Nexarus also works with a network of partners across innovation, sustainability, compliance and circular economy, and stays in exchange with research and innovation ecosystems.

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One-page Summary

Can an insurance company make repair the default choice across the entire supply chain?

Søren Frederiksen from Tryg explains how a repair-first claims policy was built and scaled across Denmark, starting from a market where nine out of ten damaged car bumpers were replaced instead of repaired.

What you'll hear in this episode:

You’ll also learn why making repair financially attractive for suppliers, not just environmentally preferable, is what moves adoption in practice.

This is the second episode in the series Enabling Circularity Through Insurance. The series looks at the concrete levers insurance companies hold, from risk assessment and advisory services to product design and claims policies, and how these can enable circularity.

People

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

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One-page Summary

How does climate risk exposure connect to supply chain decisions, and where does circularity come in?

Michael Bruch, Global Head of Risk Consulting Advisory Services, and Lena Fuldauer, Head of Resilience & Business Development at Allianz Risk Consulting, talk about how companies can assess climate risk across their locations and supply chains, and what role circular strategies play in strengthening supply chain resilience.

What you'll hear in this episode:

This episode opens the series Enabling Circularity Through Insurance. The series looks at the concrete levers insurance companies hold, from risk assessment and advisory services to product design and claims policies, and how these can enable circularity.

People

Lena Fuldauer, Head of Resilience & Business Development at Allianz Risk Consulting

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

Allianz Risk Consulting (ARC) provides the technical and advisory side of risk management, helping companies identify, assess and mitigate operational and strategic risks through services such as engineering surveys, risk assessments, loss prevention and technical guidance. In the context of circular economy, Allianz Commercial and Allianz Risk Consulting engage with circular business models as part of broader work on resilience, risk reduction and sustainable value creation, including contributions to the 2024 white paper The Business Case for Circular Economy.

Further Links

https://commercial.allianz.com/content/dam/onemarketing/commercial/commercial/reports/business-case-for-circular-economy.pdf

One-page Summary

How can a reuse marketplace for unused industrial assets reduce costs and waste at scale?

In this episode, Nathalie Clement, Amanda Fiorillo, and Bernd Schmid from Airbus Defence and Space explain how Airbus built SecondLife, a digital platform where employees trade unused equipment. In three years, 160 tons of waste were avoided and 1,600 tons of CO₂ were saved.

What you'll hear in this episode:

Featured in this episode is also Heiko Tullney from Indeed Innovation as co-host. This is the final episode of the Irresistible Circular Business series, produced in partnership with Indeed Innovation, the global design and innovation firm pioneering the circular economy.

People

Amanda Fiorillo, Business Digital Improver for Industrial Systems

Bernd Schmid, Program Manager Transformation Space Systems at Airbus

Heiko Tullney, Executive Director at Indeed Innovation

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

Convinced that digital technology is a powerful accelerator for sustainable transformation, Airbus developed SecondLife, an internal digital marketplace that allows employees to give unused industrial assets a new purpose rather than sending them to waste. The platform is part of Airbus's broader "Digital for Green" strategy and has expanded across all major divisions, with ambitions to eventually open to external partners.

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One-page Summary

Can the value of a product increase over time instead of declining?

In this episode, Aurelia Figueroa, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Gianfranco Gentile, Global Head of Heritage at Breitling, discuss how heritage, repair, and brand identity interact to create a circular model where product value appreciates over decades. The episode is co-hosted by Karel J. Golta, Executive Director at Indeed Innovation.

What you'll hear in this episode:

This is the fifth episode in the series Irresistible Circular Business, sponsored by Indeed Innovation, the global design and innovation firm pioneering the circular economy. The series showcases business practices that deliver irresistible commercial and circular results, with examples from different industries across different R-strategies.

People

Gianfranco Gentile, Global Head of Heritage at Breitling

Karel J. Golta, Executive Director at Indeed Innovation

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

On circularity, Breitling frames its strategy as “sustainable luxury,” structured around the pillars Product, Planet, People, Process and Prosperity. Its circular-focused actions include using recycled and responsibly sourced materials where possible, reducing waste and plastics in packaging and operations, and treating long-lasting, repairable watches and heritage-oriented collections as a core sustainability lever by designing products to be maintained, serviced and kept in use.

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How can a 100+ year old linear company transform its processes to make circularity commercially irresistible?

In this episode, Patrick Lerou, Global Lead for Circularity, and co-host Florian Witt, Director of Technology at INDEED Innovation, discuss how Philips built a circular system for high-value medical equipment that turns trade-ins into revenue, parts harvesting into supply chain resilience, and refurbishment into a competitive advantage.

What you'll hear in this episode:

This episode covers the operational mechanics and commercial logic behind enterprise-scale circularity, including how to navigate fragmented global regulations and connect data points.

This is the fourth episode in the series Irresistible Circular Business, sponsored by INDEED Innovation, the global design and innovation firm pioneering the Circular Economy. The series showcases business practices that deliver irresistible commercial and circular results, with examples from different industries across different R-strategies.

People

Florian Witt, Director of Technology at INDEED Innovation

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

In its circular-economy work, Philips runs “Circular Edition” and other circular equipment portfolios that supply refurbished and pre-owned medical systems restored to “as-new” quality, along with refurbished consumer products where appropriate. The company also offers take-back for all professional medical equipment it sells directly, prioritizing refurbishment and parts harvesting, and using certified recyclers at true end-of-life to extend product lifetimes, reduce virgin material use, and avoid landfill.

Further Links

More on Philips Factory: https://www.philips.de/a-w/about/news/archive/standard/news/2025/202503-philips-werk-hamburg-gewinnt-nachhaltigkeitsauszeichnung.html

One-page Summary

How do you build a successful certified refurb program for major appliances?

In this episode, Samantha Truesdell, Enterprise Circularity and Climate Strategy Manager, and Caio Doranti, Global Sustainability Senior Manager at Whirlpool Corporation, explain how Whirlpool launched a certified refurbishment program for large home appliances, selling returned units direct to consumer through brand websites. The episode is co-hosted by Karel J. Golta, Executive Director at INDEED Innovation.

The conversation looks at how Whirlpool evaluated circular business model opportunities and why certified refurb was selected as one of the first to execute.

What you'll hear in this episode:

The episode also covers internal stakeholder alignment, pilot-phase KPIs, and what Whirlpool expects to learn as geographic coverage expands in phase two.

This is the third episode in the series Irresistible Circular Business, sponsored by INDEED Innovation, the Global Design and Innovation Firm pioneering the Circular Economy. The series showcases business practices that deliver irresistible commercial and circular results, with examples from different industries across different R-strategies.

People

Caio Doranti, Global Sustainability Senior Manager at Whirlpool Corporation

Karel J. Golta, Executive Director at INDEED Innovation.

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

On circularity, Whirlpool is integrating circular-economy principles into product design, use, and end‑of‑life, focusing on durability, repairability, recycled content, and recovery of materials. The company runs certified refurbishment centers that restore a large share of returned appliances for resale, helping extend product lifetimes and keep materials in use, and it complements this with initiatives such as water‑filter mail‑back recycling and take‑back of old appliances and packaging for material recycling instead of landfill.

Further Links

Whirlpool Corporation Corporate Responsibility Resource Center:

One-page Summary

How can take-back programs move beyond compliance to become a primary sales driver and scaling mechanism?

In this episode, Daniel Unger, Environmental Sustainability Manager at Johnson & Johnson MedTech Germany, and Michael Leitl, Executive Director at Indeed Innovation, discuss how J&J’s collection system solves a core operational problem for its customers: the waste management costs for hospitals.

The conversation explores how their take-back program functions as a crucial sales and commercial lever.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

This episode covers the practical trade-offs and operational shifts required to build a financially and environmentally viable take-back business model, despite regulatory and cost constraints.

This is the second episode in the series Irresistible Circular Business, sponsored by Indeed Innovation, the global design and innovation firm pioneering the Circular Economy. The series showcases business practices that deliver irresistible commercial and circular results, with examples from different industries across different R-strategies.

People

Michael Leitl, Executive Director at Indeed Innovation

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

About

On circularity and sustainability, Johnson & Johnson MedTech operates take-back and recycling programs for single-use devices and components that recover metals and plastics from items such as instruments, loaders, and other hardware so those materials can be reused in non-medical applications rather than going to landfill or incineration. These programs are active in multiple regions including Europe, the UK, the US, and markets such as New Zealand and Switzerland.

Further Links

Refurbishment Guide: Scaling operations and circular revenue: https://www.indeed-innovation.com/refurbishment-the-ingredient-for-future-growth/

Circular Feasibility Study: Strategies to eliminate clinical waste: https://www.indeed-innovation.com/the-white-dot-2024-medtech-circular-economy-feasibility-study/

”The White Dot” Initiative, Practical hospital circularity via ZUKE Green, INDEED, and CIRCULARMED: https://zuke-green.de/initiative-weisser-punkt/

One-page Summary

How do you scale refurbishment through existing dealer networks?

In this episode, Rolf Keller, Head of Circularity, explains how Vitra built its circular model around buying back, refurbishing, and reselling furniture through its dealers, saving 60 to 90% CO2 compared to new products.

Co-hosted by Heiko Tullney, Executive Director at Indeed Innovation, this conversation focuses on:

The episode also covers how replacing seat covers solves stock mismatches in contract orders and how Vitra embeds circularity requirements into new product development.

This is the first episode in the series Irresistible Circular Businesses, sponsored by Indeed Innovation, the global design and innovation firm pioneering the circular economy. The series showcases business practices that deliver irresistible commercial and circular results, with examples from different industries across different R-strategies.

People

Heiko Tullney, Executive Director at Indeed Innovation

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

About

Within this broader design-driven profile, Vitra increasingly connects its long-standing focus on durable, high-quality furniture with circular-economy initiatives such as refurbishment and second-life programs like Circle for Contract, which return used furniture to professional use instead of disposing of it. These activities sit alongside the company’s emphasis on long-term relationships, sustainable growth, and products whose longevity supports lower resource use over their life cycle.

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One-page Summary