This month’s #StartTalking will explore how better information can help deliver a circular economy that makes the most of our planet’s limited resources and designs out waste. We’ll bring together key members of the CircThread project which has piloted the idea of digital product identities that provide vital information about appliances to support a lifetime of repair, replacement and recycling.

But how easy will this be in reality?

- Are consumers willing and able to be part of this information chain?

- Are manufacturers ready to shift to digital product IDs to help the circular economy transition, or are they too entrenched in the “take, make, waste” model we have had for so long?

- How will information be formatted - do we need standards to make sure it’s interoperable and accessible across the whole supply and repair lifecycle?

Participants

• Rembrandt Koppelaar, Director of Research & Innovation, EcoWise

• Chiara Giovannini, Deputy Director-General, Senior Manager Policy & Innovation, ANEC

• Christian Rousseau, Project Officer Statistical Surveys, Test Achats/Test Aankoop

• Korrina Hegarty, Policy Director on Environment, APPLIA

• Wojtek Stitarz, Policy Officer, DG ENV, European Commission