Located just below the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden, Skellefteå has a long tradition of timber building—this was the primary inspiration behind the international competition winning design for Sara Cultural Centre. Opening to the public in 2021, the building is at the forefront of a global movement towards Carbon Neutral construction. The use of timber has reduced the climate impact of the construction and acted as a key driver for environmental, economic, and social sustainability in a broader sense. The regional forest industry and construction knowledge played an important role in the project and is complemented by recent developments in engineered timber (CLT) technology. The advancement of research in engineered timber has unleashed a world of previously unimagined design possibilities. 

New York's forward-thinking state and city governments, thriving tech sector, and massive scale make it one of the top startup clean tech economies in the world. The city has become the ideal laboratory for creating sustainable solutions to the world's most pressing climate challenges. For a fifth year, the Urban Future Lab will me hosting the Urban Future Prize Competition, which brings the brightest climate tech entrepreneurs together with mission-driven investors, policy leaders, and the NYC community for our annual competition and summit. This year, three winners will be awarded $50,000 cash prizes and will receive admission into New York's longest-running and most successful climate tech program, the ACRE Incubator.

The Circular Economy needs a boost in skills, education, and awareness in order to effectively initiate the transition process. This is where particularly the Material Flow Analysis, developed by the Circular Economy Research Center (CERC) of the École des Ponts Business School, comes in as a handy tool. The Material Flow Analysis is an instrument to fuse the upskilling and re-skilling process. Moreover, it is a quantitative material accounting practice where the flows of materials throughout the economy are mapped. It allows for managing the materials efficiently and helps to find ways of reducing the environmental impact and costs of materials. On the application front, MFA can be incorporated in the non-financial reporting of organizations to make their operations more circular. Additionally, online platforms can be created for flow accounting where it is easy and convenient to identify for example hotspot materials. As such, the fundamental principle behind the tool is to track and use data extracted by the tool to know where resources are currently being deployed and how we using them to prevent them from getting wasted. 

A new survey commissioned by ReLondon—a partnership between the Mayor of London and the London boroughs to improve waste and resource management—highlights the desire from local authorities and SMEs for the circular economy to be a higher priority going into the future, both for their own organizations and for UK policymakers. The study, with 300 senior decision-makers in local authorities and small businesses across England, found that 77% believe that accelerating a global circular economy should be a high priority for policymakers in the build-up to COP26. 

Ör Centrum is a new residential building not far from the center of Stockholm that creates synergy with the natural environment through the timber-led construction approach. Its walls and floors are made with cross-laminated timber, which manages to capture aesthetics and comfort while sequestering approximately 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Timber was sourced locally when possible, which served to further reduce the environmental impact of the project by limiting carbon emissions associated with the transportation of materials. When completed it will be one of the largest all-wood neighborhoods, consisting of close to 4,200 cubic meters of wood. Through careful planning and preparatory work, the on-site production time will be shortened by around half compared with prefabricated concrete construction and will create less disturbance to adjacent properties.

FABSCRAP is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending commercial textile waste. FABSCRAP provides a pre-consumer textile recycling service to hundreds of companies in the apparel, interior, and entertainment industries. In less than five years, they have diverted over 650,000 pounds of material from landfills. These materials are sorted for reuse or recycling with the help of thousands of volunteers. Small pieces are recycled into shoddy and reusable materials are available for free or for sale at their Brooklyn Warehouse, Manhattan Shop, and Online Store. FABSCRAP also offers educational presentations and Digital Workshops.

Ocean Conservancy has partnered with the University of Georgia’s New Materials Institute (NMI) to implement the Institute’s Circularity Assessment Protocol (CAP). The CAP includes collecting data that can empower cities in decision-making and answer important questions such as how plastic is used and disposed of and how circularity can be increased. The material of focus is consumer plastics, primarily single-use plastics, with the goal of reducing any plastics that reach waterways and oceans. Since 2019, the CAP has been initiated in 10 countries and 26 cities, including in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Panama, and Mexico. Ocean Conservancy and NMI are looking forward to expanding the CAP to Miami and two cities in Chile this year.

New Yorkers throw away an estimated 1 billion takeout containers every year, generating an estimated 414 billion pounds of waste. DeliverZero is a service that makes it easy to order takeout and delivery from local restaurants in reusable containers that you can return right at your door. Return the containers to a DelierZero delivery person next time you order from any restaurant on DeliverZero, or schedule a time to drop them off at any restaurant they work with. It doesn’t cost extra, as long as you return them within 6 weeks. Now through March 31st, you can use the code CIRCULARCITY10 for $10 off your order. 

Rheaply is a technology for connecting organizations and their employees to available workspace resources, catalyzing the transition toward the circular economy. As the only market solution that combines an asset management system with an online marketplace, Rheaply’s Asset Exchange Manager (AxM)™ enables organizations to manage and transact physical assets (furniture, equipment, electronics, and other salvage) more effectively, eliminating unnecessary waste and spend. Since 2016, Rheaply has diverted over 14.5 tons of workplace resources from the landfill, saving organizations – from Google to MIT to the City of Chicago– over $1.6 million.

The world is in dire need of good design. Design that considers not just product utility, but the full lifecycle, from birth to rebirth. Biodesign Challenge is an education program and competition that supports classroom exploration of biodesign - an emerging discipline that bridges art, design, and biology. Students create projects that ask how fashion, food, medicine, materials, or energy might be better designed for both people and the planet. By harnessing the tools and creative applications of biotechnology, students reimagine what a more sustainable future might look like.

The partnership between TRUE Certification and the Battery Park City Authority is one that promotes the triple bottom line; people, planet, and profit. Battery Park City Authority has been able to reach TRUE Gold Certification by participating in a circular economy that emphasizes reduction, reuse, and closing the loop in its zero waste practices. The tools and guidance provided by the TRUE Certification team make this a fun and innovative learning experience that can be applied to any organization looking to improve its impact on our environment while saving money in the process.

Ten Danish partners have recently started a new research and development project ‘DecomBlades.’ This is a three-year project which seeks to provide a basis for the commercialization of sustainable wind turbine blade recycling. The combined expertise of these partners will be leveraged to address three recycling processes: shredding and recycling wind turbine blade materials, using shredded turbine blades in cement production, and developing a method to separate the composite material under high temperatures. The hope is that this project will serve to establish a robust recycling industry for turbine blades and that the international nature of the partner organizations will allow for these innovations to be implemented on a global scale. 

At Agritecture, their goal is to design economically feasible solutions while considering the environmental impact of the food system. In an article written by Alberto Lopez, he provides his perspective on what an integrated circular agricultural system should look like, and how it can achieve a sustainable balance between economic, social, and environmental aspects. Here, Alberto Lopez dives into a CEA integrated systems analysis, where he explores the agricultural system and the possible interactions. With an aim to integrate a closed-loop agricultural system, he argues that the strategies to achieve this balance involve “the creased circularity and durability of relevant inputs throughout the system, the increase of the value of the outputs by transformation, and the availability of horizontal couplings with other systems. These paths can be applied to any circular scenario, as long as there is a proper understanding of the system interactions, inputs, and outputs”.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals represent both an obligation and an opportunity. Not only does pursuing these goals make sense for society and the planet but sustainability is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions in untapped opportunities. Unfortunately, sustainability is often treated as a side effort under the Corporate Social Responsibility umbrella. Last year Rainmaking spoke to industry leaders and innovators from GANNI and Circular IQ who are frontrunners in circularity and are working to implement innovative approaches supporting the move from linear to circular value chains. Their discussion is available as part of Rainmakings series of Webinars and Panel Talks.  

It is estimated that more than 60 million tons of food are wasted in the United States each year. Thankfully there is a proven circular economy solution to manage food waste while producing renewable energy and recycling nutrients: anaerobic digestion. Trenton Biogas is a dedicated food waste anaerobic digestion facility with depackaging capabilities located in Trenton, New Jersey. It has the capacity to process 400 tons/day of commercial, municipal, industrial, and agricultural food waste streams. Trenton Biogas is collaborating with Danish companies and U.S. investors to determine how their technology can be harnessed for a more circular future. 

Globally, one-third of all food is lost or wasted. This equals 1.6 billion tons of food with a value of approximately $1.2 trillion according to a Boston Consulting Group report from 2018. Reducing food loss and waste is therefore not only a necessary step towards sustainable development, but also a good business model. Since the Danish start-up company Too Good To Go launched its app in 2016, 64.9 million meals from 78,858 cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, bakeries, and more have already been saved by more than 34.1 million users all around the world. Too Good To Go’s food waste mission is now entering the American market.

Barnard College, a liberal arts college located in uptown Manhattan, aims to build a "Circular Campus." Alongside BLOXHUB and Rheaply they are building a holistic approach based on circular economy principles, designed to reduce waste, emissions, and costs while transforming consumption patterns on campus, and increasing access and affordability for students. The Circular Campus framework is divided into five major areas of focus: Design and Construction, Green Spaces, Reuse and Sustainable Purchasing, Waste Diversion, and Food and Dining. By shifting to a regenerative model, they expect to play their part in reducing emissions, educating and innovating on interdisciplinary challenges, and fostering a sharing and inclusive environment.

NYC, otherwise known as the “Concrete Jungle,” consumes about 3 million tons of concrete per year. This comes at a cost: For every 1 ton of cement, 1 ton of CO2 is produced. The solution? Urban Mining Northeast’s (UMNE) glass pozzolan, which reduces the environmental impact of both standard concrete and glass waste, and creates a stronger, longer-lasting, and more resilient product for NYC’s landscape. The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business’ (CSB) Invest NYC SDG Initiative is working with city agencies to establish UMNE’s second plant for developing this green concrete locally. In doing so, the initiative is building a high-value circular economy for NYC’s glass waste stream, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and helping achieve NYC’s goal of zero waste to landfill by 2030.

Parsons Healthy Materials Lab has been researching HempLime, a fully circular, natural, healthy, carbon-neutral building material. Their initial research is gathered in a guidebook called Hemp + Lime, which examines the feasibility of precast HempLime block production through demonstration projects. It illustrates how healthier building materials can be incorporated in the construction industry, especially for healthier affordable housing. This publication includes introductions to industrial hemp cultivation, hemp and lime use, the potential of manufacturing hemp-based products for a complete cycle of block production. It explores the potential of new jobs in agriculture and the construction industry in underserved rural communities.

The Circular Economy Research Center (CERC) at the Ecole des Ponts Business school is leading cutting-edge research in the domain of Circular Economy. The Center has been a frontrunner in the establishment of the domain from its earliest stages. Their research focuses on technologies, skills, and education curriculums that can expedite the transition from the linear model to the circular model with numerous prestigious grants awarded in niche Circular Economy research themes. 

The agriculture and food industries rely on technology to reduce energy and water consumption, minimize food loss, and recycle wastewater and heat. Denmark is a global role model for high production yields and resource efficiency and, as such, a major exporter of technology that supports the green transition. A new white paper from Food Nation explores how technological innovations from Danish suppliers will shape the sustainability agenda and support the transition towards a more circular food system. 

According to the United Nations, more than 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced worldwide every year, of which only 9% is recycled. Reloop identified a gap in recycling legislation—there were no laws mandating a minimum percentage of recycled content in plastic packaging. In order to address this gap and increase the proportion of plastic waste being recycled into new products, Reloop conducted an analysis through interviews with industry experts and an in-depth literature review. A coalition of European legislatures has used this study’s culminating report and recommendations, as the basis to push for increased recycled plastic content targets. Today, the Single Use Plastics Directive includes a 25% target for recycled content in PET bottles by 2025 and at least 30% in all plastic bottles by 2030.  

ASHRAE believes that achieving climate neutrality through CO2 emissions reductions in the built environment is a lofty, but achievable goal.  However, a major shift in the way architects, developers, engineers, and municipalities think about building design, codes, and legislation will be necessary. Circular energy systems and design execution using a ‘bottom up’ approach is a proven concept championed by Nordic principles that could help designers and owners in New York City achieve these goals.  ASHRAE New York is committed to promoting circular design practices and strategies to help achieve New York City’s and the State of NY’s goals for carbon reduction.

Denmark has a longstanding tradition for developing green and sustainable solutions. The next generation of which is likely to be generated through a transition to a circular economy and resource efficiency. CLEAN–Environmental Cluster Denmark, has developed a program together with Danish partners called Green Circular Transition. This program enables SMEs to be at the forefront of this development and prioritizing customer’s needs. CLEAN's mission is to create innovation and growth within Danish companies that have or need environmental technology solutions. In order to do this, the cluster connects the public and private sectors with research institutions and facilitates projects which accelerate innovation and spur the green transition.

In a world faced with climate change and an ever-increasing demand for natural resources, Reloop Platform aims to advance policy that promotes a world where resources are kept in continuous use and waste and pollution are eliminated. When it launched in 2015, Reloop’s initial focus was on bringing together stakeholders in industry, government, and NGOs to shape waste reduction policy in Europe. The organization has since become one of the leading organizations for technical expertise around circular economy policy and in 2019, began a global expansion with the launch of Reloop Pacific, followed by Reloop Americas in 2020. Reloop Americas will initially cover Canada and the U.S.A., with possible expansion into Latin America in the future.

A core focus of Working in Support of Education (W!se), a non-profit organization, is to help high schools prepare students for college and the workplace. Given environmental, economic and social challenges facing many countries, readiness for the future means having a foundational knowledge of sustainability. W!se’s Engineered Green Economics initiative was developed to meet the growing demand for workers to understand sustainable and circular practices and to nurture the next generation of talent with the capacity to influence change. W!se also continues to work with teachers to build these new learning opportunities that help students explore the circular economy and build new innovations and practices. Young people need to know that while the current issues may seem overwhelming, they will enter the work world just when the demand for talent in sustainability job fields is rising and they will be ready.

The average amount of time between when a single-use plastic bag is received and discarded is 12 minutes. 12 minutes leading to decades in landfills, or worse oceans. Closed Loop Partners’ Beyond the Bag Challenge seeks to develop innovative solutions for replacing the plastic shopping bag. 9 winners of the challenge were recently released—with solutions spanning reuse and refill models, innovative materials, and enabling technologies. Solutions include “Fill it Forward,” which creates a tag that connects bags to a mobile app where users track their environmental impact, help give back to charitable projects, and offer rewards that encourage reuse. Another winner is GOATOTE, which offers a kiosk system that provides easy access to clean reusable bags, as well as a return system. 

The United States generates 600 million tons of construction and demolition debris annually—twice the amount of municipal solid waste. Only an estimated 22% of this material gets reused in new products, with the rest going to landfills or turned into aggregate or fuel. This is a missed opportunity, as material reuse reduces greenhouse gas emissions, conserves natural resources, and has the potential to protect public health and create jobs. AIA New York’s Committee on the Environment hosted a roundtable during Circular City Week to discuss how material reuse can be collaboratively activated by designers, municipalities, and reuse organizations to help reduce waste and carbon impact, and to create an increasingly circular built environment.

As a passionate steward for the environment and a pioneer of the concept that interior design sits at the intersection of human health and wellbeing, Laurence Carr's mission is to educate as many people about the circular economy as possible. She believes that a regenerative approach to interrupting the climate crisis must be taken from within the industry and that interior designers have the responsibility to consider how their choices can aid in the move toward a more sustainable future. Interior designers should seek to deeply understand how material production impacts human health and the natural environment—making ethical and circular design choices. Embracing a more circular economy where design is regenerative and waste is designed out of the process, can contribute radically to planetary health and peoples' wellbeing.

The transition to a circular economy presents both unique challenges and tremendous business opportunities in the US and Canada. This week Enel North America, a leading sustainable energy company, published a report describing the company's viewpoint on the challenges and opportunities for the circular transition through analysis, examples, and partner case studies. The pater details how the application of circular economy principles is evident across the full value chain of Enel's operations and the company's long-term strategy. As a leader in the energy sector, and an enabler of greater energy circularity among Enel's cross-sector partners, the company has committed to continuously drive towards the achievement of greater circular outcomes throughout its projects and products. Enel has extended its commitments to creating shared value in the communities where it works and lives - applying regenerative land-use models for solar and enabling its costumers and partners to achieve their sustainability goals. 

The vast majority of all waste is industrial waste. This is often in better condition than household waste, and therefore holds the potential for high-value reuse. Yet, industrial waste collecting and processing contracts are privately concluded, and data about these waste flows has to date been used mostly for control and enforcement purposes. Researchers of the AMS Institute have been granted access to this data and turned it into comprehensive maps and graphs, which moreover provide insights on its broader impacts in relation to transport and economic sectors. This has resulted in the spin-off geoFluxus, which now assesses the impact of different waste scenarios, as well as enables matchmaking between supply and demand of secondary materials.

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag launched by Closed Loop Partners' Center for the Circular Economy opened the Beyond the Bag Challenge in August, inviting entrepreneurs, designers, suppliers and problem-solvers to submit solutions that replace the current single-use plastic bag. Through the Challenge, the Consortium brings to light future-forward, tech-enabled solutions that can help build a new system that serves the function of the retail bag in a sustainable, affordable and inclusive way – helping transport goods from store to destination in a way that aligns with diverse retail systems and delivers ease and convenience for all.

Just Salad has released its annual sustainability report announcing new steps to support the Circular Economy. Just Salad is now piloting a digital version of its reusable bowl program, the world’s largest and longest-running program of its kind. Under the pilot, now live at Just Salad’s 600 3rd Avenue location, customers can order food for pickup from orderjustsalad.com in a Green Reusable Bowl and return the container for professional washing and sanitation. The report also discusses Just Salad’s carbon labeling initiative and no-plastic meal kit brand, Housemade. You can use code CIRCULARJS5 for $5 off at orderjustsalad.com or the Just Salad app. Use code HOUSEMADECCW10 for $10 off your 2nd order on gethousemade.com.

The Circular Economy Alliance, a consortium of stakeholders from industrial, academic, and consumer organizations, was established with the sole aim of bringing together stakeholders with a genuine interest in supporting the transition from a linear to a circular economy. Given the scarcity of resources and environmental degradation caused by the current linear model, it is clear that such a transition is necessary. The transition can only be expedited in a focused and targeted way from the actual users and beneficiaries. This alliance is committed to enabling this bottom-up transformation by identifying gaps, defining requirements, proposing solutions, sharing expertise in enhancing the efforts in upskilling, and reskilling people of any age and working level. 

It’s time to reimagine the future of compostable packaging. It’s 2030, and facilities are composting more food and packaging than ever before. We’ve started building sustainable food, packaging, and land systems to tackle climate change through avoided emissions and stored carbon. Today’s discussions are narrowly focused on the packaging and foodservice industries and how to transition compostable packaging into a larger, beneficial system. Better data on contamination, food waste legislation, and a renewed focus on carbon sinks can help pave the way.

The fashion industry’s harmful social and environmental impact has driven consumers, brands and nonprofits to spawn the sustainable fashion movement, sparking improvements in working conditions, raw materials, and waste mitigation. At the same time, a much more nascent—but equally crucial—sustainable furniture movement has emerged but has not yet galvanized the public like fashion. mebl | Transforming Furniture is exploring how the lessons learned from the sustainable fashion movement can be used to increase circularity within the furniture industry, bringing the industry into the future. 

Last fall BLOXHUB, a Nordic Hub for sustainable urbanization, and Danish Cleantech Hub in New York put out an open call to New York companies and organizations interested in incorporating circular economy solutions into their construction or urban planning projects. Barnard College’s “Circular Campus” project was announced last week as the winner of this call. Through this initiative, Barnard seeks to rethink campus living and reduce emissions and waste. They have set an ambitious goal: to become the first Circular Campus in the United States. BLOXHUB is partnering with Barnard to facilitate this process and to help create meaningful solutions based on circular principles. Additionally, this partnership hopes to identify a Circular Campus model that can be applied to other institutions of higher learning. 

The Carbon to Value (C2V) Initiative will unlock a new carbontech economy, bringing innovative solutions to scale as rapidly as possible through the creation of a robust, powerful, and collaborative new ecosystem. Applications are now open for startups to join the first C2V accelerator cohort, which will run from May - November 2021. Startups selected to participate in the program will have the opportunity to engage with the Carbontech Leadership Council, an invitation-only group of executive leaders across diverse industry sectors driving the future of carbontech. 

It is estimated that one-third of today’s existing building stock will be demolished by 2050, while the equivalent of an entire New York City will be built every month for the next 40 years. A linear approach to demolition and construction means that this global construction boom will generate an astounding amount of waste. But building materials don't have to be wasted! Component parts can be dismantled for reuse through deconstruction. Material reuse diverts construction waste away from landfills, reduces natural resource depletion, and lowers greenhouse gas emissions created by the manufacture and transport of new materials. Build Reuse is a network of deconstruction and reuse professionals, architects, preservationists, engineers, and craftspeople finding creative ways to build a world without waste. They welcome everyone to join their network by becoming a member.