Smashing the Cannibalization Myth: How Decathlon Proves Circular Models Drive New Customer Revenue

If your leadership team is holding back on sustainability initiatives, it is likely because of one deep-seated fear: will our second-hand options eat into our new product sales? But what if the data proves the exact opposite?

In this episode of Going Circular Pays Off, hosts Sandra Horlings and Marjolein Oyen sit down with Laurens Nolet, Circular Leader for Decathlon Netherlands, to share one of the most inspiring business stories in retail. Together, they look past the myths to show how building a sustainable business actually unlocks completely new customer revenue through circular business models.

Laurens shares the exact customer-centric strategy they used to turn the internal narrative around, dismantle the fear of cannibalization, and demonstrate that focusing on the consumer can make a circular business case a powerful commercial driver. It’s a masterclass in green entrepreneurship that delivers results both in the boardroom and on the balance sheet.

🎧 Chapters & Key Topics:

• (00:00) Introduction: Driving real sustainable business stories

• (01:13) Meet Laurens Nolet: Democratizing the circular economy

• (02:50) Transitioning to 4 circular business models: Reuse, repair, second life, and rental

• (04:40) How customer demand wins linear meters on the retail shop floor

• (05:37) Smashing the cannibalization myth: Why 90% of circular sales are incremental

• (07:22) The Aha-Moment: Shifting from a planet-focus to a customer-focus

• (09:37) The economic rationale behind Decathlon's greener business strategy

• (12:00) Opening the ecosystem: Why Decathlon repairs bikes from competitor brands

• (13:43) Supply hurdles: Overcoming lumpy supply in circular assortments

• (15:43) Replacing entry-level products with sustainable Second Life alternatives

• (17:15) Case study: "No Tent Left Behind" & festival rental partnerships

• (19:40) The Magic Formula: Tying monthly financial bonuses to circular KPIs

• (21:50) Matching different product categories to specific circular models

• (23:25) Future Outlook: Standardization, B2B growth, and C2C solutions

• (25:40) Conclusion: Creating profit to be proud of through sustainable business practices

💡 The Takeaway > "When I realized that the customer unites us and that Circular is actually not about the planet, but more about the customer... we turned around the story. Through those customers, we can save the planet in a way that we can change shopping behavior and reduce our footprint." — Laurens Nolet

Stop letting assumptions dictate your business model. Tune in to arm yourself with the data and arguments needed to shift your company from volume to value. Listen to these ecofriendly business stories now on your favorite podcast platform!

👉 Ready to bring a customer-first circular strategy to your business? Share this episode with your network and visit innoboost.com for practical tools to make circularity work for you.

Show notes

• Discover more about how ⁠Decathlon⁠ keeps customers close with circular business models.

• Follow ⁠Laurens Nolet⁠ on his journey going circular.

• Visit⁠ Innoboost.com⁠ for more insights, research and tools on going circular. Drop us a note if you want to share your story via ⁠[email protected]⁠

  
  

CreditsThis is a podcast by Innoboost | Creating Profit to be proud of

• Hosts: Sandra Horlings & Marjolein Oyen

  
  

• Production & Edit: Malou van der Starre

  
  

• Sound: Joris van Grunsven, Studio Takt

In this episode, Rose VanHecke, Sustainability Director at Electrolux for Europe, APAC and MEA, shares one of the most inspiring business stories in the appliance industry. Discover how making new fridges from the recycled plastic of old ones helps close the resource loop, while creating a highly unique selling point and a thriving circular business model.

The result? A distinctive greige color that couldn't be hidden. Instead of hiding it, Electrolux leaned in. When consumers understood where that color came from, something remarkable happened: they didn't just accept it. They wanted it.

Listen to this masterclass in green entrepreneurship to hear how transparency about materials turned a technical constraint into a competitive edge, a new industry benchmark, and how closing the loop on fridges became proof that going circular pays off. Literally.

🎧 Chapters & Key Topics:

• (00:00) Introduction: Going Beyond Brand Heritage

• (01:31) Meet Christian & The Overarching Manufacturing Challenge: Supply Chain Resilience

• (02:26) Meet Rose VanHecke: Driving Strategic Partnerships and Trust

• (04:00) Consumer Expectations: Why Product Performance and Materials Matter

• (05:13) The "Aha" and "Oh No" Moments: Turning a Gray Recycled Plastic Constraint into Customer Demand

• (07:05) Measuring Success: Moving from a Sustainability Gimmick to Factory-Wide Integration

• (07:44) The 2017 Origins: How the Product Care Team Initiated Recycled Plastics

• (08:52) Food Safety Protocol Challenges and the 70% Recycled Target Explained

• (10:35) Convincing Stakeholders: Aligning Design, Business Scale, and Trade Partners

• (12:35) The Regulatory Landscape: Leveraging European Standards as a Sustainability Leader

• (14:07) Building Durability and Repairability into the Core Brand Value

• (16:11) Design for Recyclability: Collaborating with Recycling Plants to Stop Gluing and Start Screwing

• (18:00) Supply Chain Control Points: Setting Contract Requirements for Direct Raw Materials

• (19:50) Raising the Bar: Managing the Sourcing Ecosystem and Joint Preparation for Legislation

• (22:00) The Modern Business Case: Shifting to Fixed-Price Repairs, Extended Warranties, and AI

• (23:54) Profit to be Proud of: Green Financing, Operational Cost Efficiencies, and Variable Cost Reduction

• (26:11) Hindsight and Boldness: Making Sustainability Foundational in a Tough Business Climate

Do you also want to make going circular work and worthwhile? This series explores real sustainable business stories from leaders who are building a sustainable business that is cleaner, greener, more just, and future-proof. Tune in to learn how to create resilient value chains and launch a successful greener business with a compelling value proposition at its heart. At Innoboost, we see that a strong, circular business case drives real change in many sectors—creating profit to be proud of through actionable sustainable business practices.

Listen now on your favorite podcast platform and get inspired by these ecofriendly business stories!

Show notes

• Discover more about how ⁠Electrolux⁠ sets a new industry benchmark for the use of recycled plastics.

• Follow ⁠Rose Vanhecke⁠ on her journey going circular.

• Visit⁠ innoboost.com⁠ for more insights, research and tools on going circular. Drop us a note if you want to share your story via [email protected]

  
  

Credits

This is a podcast by Innoboost | Creating Profit to be proud of

• Hosts: Sandra Horlings & Christiaan Kraaijenhagen

• Production & Edit: Malou van der Starre

• Sound: Joris van Grunsven, Studio Takt

"In the linear economy, you buy what you need. In a circular movement, you have to work with what is already there." In this episode of Going Circular Pays Off, hosts Sandra Horlings and Jaden Panetta sit down with Mark Lina, Business Developer for the Circular Economy at Manutan. Together, they explore how a European leader in B2B e-commerce, warehouse equipment, and office supplies is scaling building a sustainable business across 17 countries.

Mark shares a powerful perspective shift: coming from a traditional commercial mindset, he viewed other circular players as rivals. Today, those same competitors are Manutan's vital logistical and architectural partners. Tune in to discover how Manutan turned an office redecoration hurdle into an innovative 'Refurbishment as a Service' model, proving that green entrepreneurship expands market share and unlocks budgets clients didn't know they had.

🎧 Chapters & Key Topics:

• (00:00) Introduction: The shift from technical challenge to human mindset.

• (01:34) Meet Mark Lina: Driving the linear-to-circular transition at Manutan Europe.

• (03:00) Corporate Intrapreneurship: Growing the internal circular team from 9 to 24 specialists.

• (04:00) The Aha Moment: Transforming customer budget constraints into refurbished furniture wins.

• (04:55) Full-Package Logistics: Solving existing office furniture waste before bringing in the new.

• (05:35) Data-Driven Impacts: Meeting the growing market demand for validated traceability reports.

• (07:22) Co-opetition: Why local circular manufacturers became Manutan's main supply chain partners.

• (08:44) Overcoming Customer Bias: Rebranding "old garbage" into high-quality, certified workplaces.

• (09:33) Inside the Hubs: Operational refurbishment, metal work, and painting in Paris and Wapenveld.

• (10:52) Guaranteed Quality: Offering 3-year warranties and product environmental footprint tracking.

• (11:32) The PI Score: Guiding purchasers with an automated A-to-D environmental impact rating.

• (12:12) Opening New Doors: Using circular services as the ultimate commercial foot-in-the-door.

• (12:55) Social Sustainability: Partnering with external companies to hire people distant from the labor market.

• (13:50) Refurbishment as a Service (RaaS): Upgrading 490 office chairs along the way.

• (14:48) Navigating the Sales Team Hurdle: Proving cheaper circular alternatives drive additional turnover.

• (16:20) The PI Score Combined: Merging customer decarbonization data with traditional category management.

• (17:03) The Sit-Stand Desk Case: Saving a key account's budget by retrofitting existing components.

• (18:25) Digital Mouth-to-Mouth: Leveraging LinkedIn to create joint sustainability awareness with clients.

• (19:35) Next-Gen Talent: Future readiness and why younger generations demand resource circularity.

• (20:53) Mark's Call to Action: Start small, track the baseline, step by step.

💡 The Takeaway

"I came from a commercial mindset, so I was looking for our competitors. But now I see that in the circular economy, they can be a really good partner because you cannot do everything yourself. You need each other to be successful and you both grow." — Mark Lina

Listen now on your favorite podcast platform and get inspired by these ecofriendly business stories!

👉 Want to unlock new business pipelines through circularity? Share this episode with your network and visit innoboost.com for actionable toolkits to embed sustainable business practices into your commercial model.

Show notes

• ⁠Discover more⁠ about circular services at Manutan.

• ⁠Follow Mark Lina ⁠on his journey, Going Circular.

• ⁠Visit innoboost.com⁠ for more insights, research and tools. Drop us a note if you want to share your story via [email protected]

Credits

This is a podcast by Innoboost | Creating profit to be proud of

• Hosts: Sandra Horlings & Jayden Panetta

• Production & Edit: Malou van der Starre

• Sound: Studio Takt - Joris van Grunsven

When "End-of-Use" Is Just the Beginning

What if a hospital’s old MRI machine wasn’t waste, but an opportunity?

"Good players win games, great players break records, legends change the game." In this episode of Going Circular Pays Off, host Sandra Horlings and co-host Christiaan Kraaijenhagen sit down with Patrick Lerou, Global Lead Reclaim & Trade at Philips. Together, they dive into the world of large-scale professional medical equipment, like MRI and CT scanners, to prove how building a sustainable business drives massive commercial value.

Patrick explains why you can no longer isolate circularity in a single P&L. By taking back medical systems, Philips doesn’t just resell refurbished equipment; they enable new equipment sales and long-term service contracts. It’s a masterclass in green entrepreneurship that shifts an established, 125-year-old linear giant into a thriving, resilient circular business.

🎧 Chapters & Key Topics:

• (00:00) Introduction: Transforming single-use medical devices to multiple users.

• (01:50) Meet Patrick Lerou: The day-to-day reality of taking back large medical equipment.

• (02:30) The Replacement Trigger: Why hospitals trade in functioning 7-year-old systems.

• (04:40) The "Aha" Moment: Why circularity is a 'double socket sale' (equipment + service contracts).

• (05:54) Customer Retention: Moving from Net Promoter Score to proving circular value in tenders.

• (07:05) Group Sustainability: Linking commercial decisions to ESG material re-usage and emission targets.

• (08:35) Overcoming Hurdles: Managing quality, regulatory systems, and proving refurbished is 'as good as new'.

• (10:48) Budget vs. Innovation: Addressing different hospital segments and increasing access to care.

• (11:58) Eco-Design: Partnering with R&D to embed circularity into future product lifecycles.

• (12:35) The Linear-to-Circular Process Flip: What happens when a customer becomes a supplier in SAP.

• (14:35) Global Legislation Challenges: Navigating loose regulations from France to Japan and India.

• (16:40) Future Outlook: Shifting toward a fully embedded strategy where 'regular business is circular business'.

• (18:24) Relevant in 5 Years? How to recruit internal ambassadors for sustainable business practices.

• (19:15) Profit to be Proud of: How regionalized supply chains build resilience against tariffs and economic turmoil.

• (20:30) Backward Engineering: What established giants can learn from circular startups.

• (21:28) Cross-Industry Inspiration: Why Philips looks at Caterpillar and Patagonia to change the healthcare game.

💡 The Takeaway

"If you start isolating circularity by itself, it might hardly be profitable. But if you see what circularity contributes to a business, that's amazing... You cannot isolate circularity anymore. It needs to be an integral part of your strategy." — Patrick Lerou

Listen now on your favorite podcast platform and get inspired by these ecofriendly business stories!

Do you also want to make going circular work and worthwhile? This series explores real sustainable business stories from leaders who are making their organization a cleaner, greener business that is more just and future-proof. Discover how to implement actionable sustainable business practices that focus on reducing harm and actively restoring the world around us. And the best part? It works! At Innoboost, we see that a strong, circular business case drives real change in many sectors. Creating profit to be proud of through these ecofriendly business stories.

Show notes

• ⁠Discover how Philips is creating value with sustainable impact.

• Follow ⁠Patrick Lerou⁠ on his journey going circular.

• Visit ⁠innoboost.com⁠ for more insights, research and tools on going circular. Drop us a note if you want to share your story via ⁠[email protected]⁠

Credits

This is a podcast by Innoboost | Creating profit to be proud of

• Hosts: Sandra Horlings & Christiaan Kraaijenhagen

• Production & Edit: Malou van der Starre

• Sound: Joris van Grunsven, Studio Takt

How a Dairy Giant Tackles Waste in Asia

What does a dairy producer have to do with waste collection in Asia? Plenty, as it turns out.

In this episode, Marieke Nispeling, Sustainability Lead, Asia, at FrieslandCampina, shares her circular journey, focusing on collecting and recycling packaging in Southeast Asia. From mapping where food packaging ends up to reimagining waste systems, she reveals how a global dairy leader is driving systemic change while delivering high-quality nutrition. This is one of those inspiring business stories that shows the global scale of building a sustainable business.

You’ll hear how packaging waste becomes a circular opportunity, even in complex markets, and what it truly takes to lead a system shift toward responsible waste management. It is a must-listen for sustainability leaders, supply chain innovators, and anyone interested in how green entrepreneurship can tackle global challenges.

🎧 Chapters & Key Topics:

• (00:00) Introduction: Driving systemic change in the value chain.

• (02:00) Meet Marieke Nispeling: Mindful consumption and FrieslandCampina's purpose in Asia.

• (02:54) Project "We Own Our Waste": Mapping the packaging footprint (beverage cartons, sachets, tin cans).

• (04:22) Collection Pilots & The Ground Reality: Landfills and the informal waste economies in the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

• (07:22) The "Aha" Moment: Why circular design fails without local collection infrastructure.

• (09:34) Overcoming Hurdles: Lacking waste systems, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and mitigating future financial risks.

• (11:47) The Role of a Sustainability Lead: Bridging commercial drivers with sustainable business practices.

• (12:35) Next Steps: Circular design, supplier collaboration, and driving collection at scale.

• (13:40) Steep Learning Curves: Using data to make bold, choiceful decisions.

• (15:26) Vision for 2035: Scaling recycling for packaging while ensuring food safety and affordability.

• (16:55) Keten-samenwerking: The eagerness of suppliers and peers to join circular coalitions.

• (17:48) Marieke's Golden Tip: How to get started and identify where you can make a true difference.

A must-listen for sustainability leaders, supply chain innovators, and anyone interested in how green entrepreneurship can tackle global challenges. Tune in, rethink your supply chain, and learn how a circular business approach can solve the waste crisis!

Do you also want to make going circular work and worthwhile? This series explores real sustainable business stories from leaders who are making their organization a cleaner, greener business that is more just, and more future-proof. Discover how to implement actionable sustainable business practices that focus on reducing harm and actively restoring the world around us. And the best part? It works. At Innoboost, we see that a strong, circular business case drives real change across many sectors. Bringing you impactful and ecofriendly business stories.

Listen now on your favorite podcast platform!

Show notes

• ⁠Discover more⁠ about how FrieslandCampina is making a positive impact on farmers, society, and the planet.

• Follow ⁠Marieke Nispeling ⁠on her journey Going Circular.

• Visit ⁠Innoboost.com⁠ for more insights, research, and tools on going circular. Drop us a note if you want to share your story via ⁠[email protected]⁠.

  
  

Credits

This is a podcast by Innoboost | Creating profit to be proud of

• Hosts: Sandra Horlings & Marjolein Oyen

• Production & Edit: Malou van der Starre

• Sound: Joris van Grunsven, Studio Takt

Can You Really Make Money with Circular Kitchens?

Spoiler: Yes. And Simon Rombouts from Chainable is proving it with Kitchen-as-a-Service.

"In five years, we will provide a kitchen cheaper than the traditional linear way, because our material resources are already harvested." In this episode of Going Circular Pays Off, host Sandra Horlings and circular expert Christiaan Kraaijenhagen talk to Simon Rombouts, CEO of Chainable. This Dutch scale-up is completely disrupting the real estate and social housing sector by offering kitchens as a service.

In the Netherlands alone, 500,000 kitchens are thrown into incinerators every year. Chainable tackles this massive waste problem with a modular, circular kitchen designed to last up to 60 years. By replacing plate materials with a recycled steel frame and decoupling the long-lasting base from the aesthetic exterior, they prove that building a sustainable business is the smartest long-term economic strategy for corporate landlords.

🎧 Chapters & Key Topics:

• (00:00) Introduction: Becoming a material bank to beat linear pricing.

• (01:35) Meet Simon Rombouts: From De Kleine Aarde to embedding economic and environmental impact.

• (02:30) Linear vs. Circular Kitchens: Reusable components vs. single-use incineration waste.

• (03:15) Solving the 500,000 Kitchen Waste Problem: Helping housing corporations achieve ESG goals.

• (04:00) B2B vs. B2C Pivot: Why standardization and long exploitation timelines favor housing associations.

• (05:10) Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): Taking full maintenance responsibility for 20 years.

• (06:20) Product-Market Fit: Scaling to 400 kitchens a year with Woonpartners Helmond.

• (07:22) The Co-Founders' Story: Blending Simon's sustainable business theory with Kees's 50 years of industry expertise.

• (09:12) The Design Shift: Creating a recycled steel 'corpus' that uses 40% less plate material.

• (10:48) Shifting Incentives: Helping appliance manufacturers monetize refurbishment lines instead of sales volume.

• (12:12) The Three Revenue Models: Rental, buyback guarantees, and the hybrid appliances-only lease.

• (13:30) Supporting the Social Domain: Providing energy-efficient white goods to lower tenants' energy bills.

• (14:35) Material Passports: Utilizing QR codes and AI bots to track CO2 savings and component health.

• (15:26) Beyond Circularity: Balancing break-even growth with social return jobs in Tilburg.

• (16:03) The Chainable Forest: Planting over 40,000 trees to secure future bio-based building resources.

• (16:55) Unfair Playing Fields: Shifting the market despite cheap international linear competition.

• (17:48) Disruption: Forcing legacy incumbents to adopt sustainable business practices.

• (18:50) Simon's Golden Tip: Don't wait until it's perfect—just start chipping away.

• (19:35) Scaling Europe: Transforming from a local kitchen builder into a scalable European structural framing system.

💡 The Takeaway

"I envision it within five years that we can provide a kitchen cheaper than doing it the current linear traditional way... because I will become my own material bank for the price that I bought it for 5 or 10 years ago." — Simon Rombouts

Listen now on your favorite podcast platform and dive into these game-changing ecofriendly business stories!

👉 Ready to convert raw waste into long-term residual value? Share this episode with your network and visit innoboost.com to discover how to build a circular business case that outlasts the competition.

Show notes

• Look at ⁠www.chainable.nl⁠ to learn more about their 88% circularization.

• Visit ⁠www.innoboost.com⁠ for more insights and circularity tools. Drop us a note if you want to share your story via [email protected].

Credits

This is a podcast by Innoboost | Creating profit to be proud of.

• Hosts: Sandra Horlings and Christiaan Kraaijenhagen.

• Production & Edit: Malou van der Starre.

• Sound: Joris van Grunsven, Studio Takt.