Bright colours might be in, but fashion and glamour have a dark side, with textiles and accessories being a major contributor to environmental damage.

Today we speak with Aisling Byrne, co-founder of Nuw, a clothes-swapping app built on community ideals. We open the conversation by taking a look at Nuw’s inception, as Aisling details the characteristics of fast fashion and why it’s so important to adopt a new model of fashion.

Aisling then rips the sheet off and exposes a problem which hides in many of our cupboards. She goes on to explain the toxic creation process that goes into creating the 100 billion new pieces of fashion and glamour that are made every year, before touching on the broader impacts of this industry.

You’ll learn about the production methods behind cotton, silk and polyester, and how each has a consequence on water consumption as well as on chemical and plastic pollution.

We then look at the end of fashion and glamour’s lifecycle, as Aisling touches on landfills and supplies us with startling facts about donations and clothing charities. Yet, the future is bright, and it looks fabulous as well! Aisling shares simple solutions to this fashion crisis and forecasts what’s next for Nuw. 

To hear more from Aisling, be sure to tune in with us today.

Did you know that 99% of the things we buy are thrown away within 12 months of purchase? When it comes to pollution, the world is in a post-crisis state, and recycling alone won’t be enough to bring us out of it.

Yet, Stephen Clarke says that we can start taking achievable and cost-effective measures to reverse our damage. As the Head of Communications at TerraCycle and Loop Europe, Stephen argues that a zero-waste concept is the answer to pollution.

In this episode, we talk with Stephen about TerraCycle and how it’s able to recycle virtually anything, as well as its new shopping platform, Loop. 

We open the conversation by taking a look at the current pollution problem before diving into detail about Loop’s great effort to not only reduce waste but to eradicate it.

You’ll hear about how the Loop ecosystem works, with Stephen touching on big-name companies they’ve partnered up with, what kinds of packaging materials they use, and how their delivery system operates.

Stay tuned as Stephen talks about how Loop uses a deposit cycle to keep clients and brands accountable, and why you shouldn’t be shocked if you see plastic in your Loop basket. 

To find out about smart bins, how plastic isn’t the villain it’s made out to be, and why you never ask your dentist if his utensils are clean, be sure to tune in to this episode! 

The vast majority of material resources are lost into landfill or leaked into the environment after consumption. Some companies see a real opportunity to bring together the biggest global brands across a variety of industries, using insights and data intelligence to understand the impact of materials throughout their lifecycle and create a more sustainable future.

Welcome back to Season 5 of Happy Porch Radio, which is concerned with digital solutions in the circular economy.

Today’s guest is Michael Groves, CEO and Founder of Topolytics, a leading data insights business that uses machine learning and geospatial analytics to make the world’s waste visible, verifiable, and valuable. In this episode, Michael addresses why data is a waste problem and the opportunity that Topolytics has seen in the waste industry to use data in a better and more sustainable way in the future. Michael shares how his company plans to do this, from the tools they use to aggregate, clean, and analyse data, to the industries they address to tackle the waste problem, and the types of waste they deal with.

He also explains why he doesn’t believe that environmental benefit and profit are mutually exclusive, why the future of waste involves reducing the volume of material that enters the system first, and he shares his vision for the future of Topolytics, and how others can contribute to that vision.

All this and more, so make sure to tune in today!

Continuing our exciting exploration of the circular economy, we are joined by Ellekari Klaasse and Mariëlle van Hemert, the brains behind Circular Stories.

The organisation is a magazine and online platform for the sharing of inspiring stories of companies and individuals in the circular space.

Our guests see their role as connectors in the greater picture of circularity and by promoting these examples, they can help both the brands they work with and others who connect with their content. They have a strong focus on the human aspect of what they do, aiming to show the person behind the story and their work has an emphasis on aiding the entrepreneurs they work with, creating media that can be used for funding or growth in other areas.

We have a fascinating chat with Ellekari and Mariëlle, covering their personal backgrounds, perspectives on the circular economy at present, and the lessons they have learned in the time since starting their exciting project.

What began as a journey of exploration, two new friends road-tripping across Europe, has evolved into a platform with amazing potential for impact and connection, be sure not to miss this wonderful conversation!

Along with some of the other big problems with the fast fashion industry, the incredibly high volume of textile waste is a major one. These materials end up burned or buried, but there is one company here to rescue them, resurrecting an age-old model to try and solve it in a brand new way.

Today’s guest is Stephanie Benedetto, a corporate attorney turned fashion tech and sustainability entrepreneur. Stephanie is the Co-Founder of Queen of Raw, a marketplace to buy and sell unused textiles, keeping them out of landfills, and turning pollution into profit. Prior to starting Queen of Raw, Stephanie worked as a lawyer in the fashion, media and entertainment, startup, and technology industries, and co-founded a sustainable textile manufacturing facility.

In this episode, Stephanie describes the two-sided marketplace they use to buy and sell dead stock, and the additional background technology that allows businesses to understand where their waste is and what it is, in real-time.

She also talks about the digitisation of inventory management and stock systems to understand that information, sell and to use waste, make sure it stays in circulation, and to actually reduce waste longer term.

Stephanie shares her passion for reducing the waste in fast fashion, acknowledging the challenges that businesses face, and the opportunity to be found in that challenge.

Tune in to find out more!

In this episode of Happy Porch Radio, we speak with a circular economy pioneer and the co-founder of Circular IQ, Roy Vercoulen.

Circular IQ helps their customers to transition towards a restorative and regenerative circular economy through their digital platform and circularity programs.

One of their many successes includes having developed the CTI Tool for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, allowing businesses to measure their circuit performance using a framework that is globally recognised.

Roy explains why measuring circularity is imperative and what components they look for in pursuit of this objective, and gives his perspective on the extent to which governments, businesses, and consumers are responsible for sustainability. On the topic of their biggest challenges, Roy talks about the financial implications of circularity, why many companies are still reluctant to transition, and what cultural barriers they have to overcome to get their clients’ buy-in.

Listeners will learn more about their consulting processes with clients, the questions they ask them, how they help them to define what success looks like, and how they go about translating theoretical ideas into actionable steps.

Tuning in, listeners will also hear what Roy envisions for the future of the circular economy and how measuring circular performance will have to be a globally recognised framework that still accommodates for the unique values of each company.

The impact that the circular economy would have is so broad that no single conversation can quite cover its reach.

Today’s conversation with Craig Melson, Program Manager at techUK, touches on many topics, proving an excellent overview of how technology is moving us towards the circular economy.

We open by talking about Craig’s role and what techUK is doing to help the tech industry embrace more sustainable practices.

Craig then shares examples of innovative tech companies that are driving material reusability, or even basing their entire model on circular economy practices. From data privacy concerns to the dangers of dealing with pollutants, we discuss the biggest challenges blocking our progress to a circular economy.

After touching on the Material Focus project, Craig provides insight into how government regulation and Brexit affect circular economy practices.

Following this, he expresses his optimism about how companies are heading in the right direction along with his hope that the circular economy will eventually become our default economic model.

Near the end of the episode, we touch on the benefits of learning from international perspectives and what techUK is doing to advocate for greater diversity before Craig gives listeners some final advice on what they can do to push for a sustainable economy.

Tune in to hear more about tech and the circular economy.

Achieving sustainability requires that companies know what’s in their product, know their suppliers, and understand their direct and indirect environmental impact.

By digitising the life cycles of products and supply chains, iPoint is driving industry transparency and empowering business to achieve sustainability. T

Today we speak with iPoint CEO Joerg Walden about how digitising processes is a key step towards the circular economy.

Early in our conversation, Joerg highlights how expanding knowledge around digitising life cycles can drive new business models. A significant theme this episode, Joerg shares how a mindset shift, and not only tech, is critical in fostering sustainable practices.

We then discuss the challenges presented by innovation-based product cycles before diving into the intersectional nature of product design, and how only a shared information system can ensure product compliance.

A tricky subject for many organisations, Jorge explains the strategic benefits of becoming more transparent and how this can generate solutions to many issues that plague different sectors.

Near the end of the episode, we touch on the opportunities created through digitisation, and how sustainability is affected when companies are responsible for providing a service usage to consumers, instead of selling products.

Tune in to hear more about what iPoint is doing to drive transparency through digitisation.

As-a-service business models align the priorities of the vendor and the customer, while also having the potential to drive sustainability and the circular economy. 

Today’s guest is Dave Mackerness, Customer Success Lead at Kaer, a firm based in Singapore that sells air conditioning as-a-service throughout Asia.

We talk to Dave about how Kaer has shifted to the as-a-service rubric and in so doing has baked sustainability and circularity into their business model while driving their profits higher at the same time!

Dave talks about the history of the firm and the different models they have adopted over the decades, and how they decided to put all the data they have gathered to a different use after drawing inspiration from the world of SaaS.

Dave discusses what this looks like in real terms, explaining how Kaer installs air cooling systems in the buildings of their clients and sells them cool air, rather than the systems themselves.

This approach has allowed Kaer to use data to build more efficient systems, saving them money to invest in technology that further optimizes their infrastructure. It also shifts the burden of sustainability onto Kaer’s shoulders rather than those of the client. This drives higher profit while saving a huge amount of energy too.

We also talk to Dave about incorporating data science and machine learning into their cooling systems and the benefits this presents as well as concerns it raises.

Another big takeaway is about the possibilities the as-a-service business model presents to companies becoming more disruptive.

Tune in for this fascinating conversation about circularity and the world of as-a-service today!

 In circular economy terms, reverse logistics involves the collection of goods, transportation to a given location, and sorting prior to remanufacturing, refurbishing, reusing or recycling or failing that, disposal.

Today, we are joined by Paul McSweeney, who is the Founder and CEO of the ZeroNet, an app that allows households to simply and quickly donate unwanted items and have them collected right from their front door.

In this episode, Paul shares his long-story-short with us, getting to the point of having launched a pilot in Stirling, Scotland, and an upcoming project in Brighton in the UK.

We also discuss what the platform looks like, recycling versus reuse, data recovery when it comes to e-waste, and the surprising householder enthusiasm for a collections service like this, as well as what has kept Paul motivated throughout the development and whether or not he thinks ZeroNet could encourage excess consumption.

For all this and more, make sure to tune in today!