Closing the recycling loop using Reverse Logistics with Marcelo Cairolli

Marcelo Cairolli is a production engineer from Brazil with a background in logistics. In the past, Marcelo has been involved in several logistic sectors, but he is now specializing in reverse logistics for electronic products.

Reverse logistics is commonly known as a sector that deals with the transportation of products from their "end-of-life" back to "production". But in this podcast, we discovered that reverse logistics has a broader meaning. It is the motor of circular economy, the enabler of all the R's, and also creates the social value of "We messed a lot with plastics and now need to clean up"!

In this podcast, Marcelo taught us about the different approaches to reverse logistics, and how to make the end of life of electronics more circular. We also had interesting discussions about the role of governments and education in closing recycling loops.

You can find out more and reach out to Marcelo via LinkedIn.

Upcycling Plastic Waste: How is it Possible? - with Jasper Munier from Clariter

Jasper is the Business Development Manager of North West Europe at Clariter, a clean-tech innovation company found in Poland that upcycles plastic waste into value-added chemicals. He has 18 years of experience as a consultant in finance and economics, and was also a coach at Yes!Delft, where he helped young entrepreneurs to set up their businesses.

With his expertise in finance, Jasper decided to become a part of the transition of the petrochemical and plastic industry. In this podcast episode, we talked about the importance of upcycling plastic waste, chemical recycling, and how it is financially feasible. We also discussed some important aspects of the development of bio-based polymers, and how statistics influence the perception of recycling rates. Additionally, we reflected on some insightful points about energy security and the dependency on fossil fuels and gas.

You can find out more about Clariter at https://clariter.com/ or reach out to Jasper via LinkedIn.

From Marine Litter to Valuable Goods - with Cyrielle Feumetio from Waste Free Ocean

Started by studying Business Economics, Cyrielle integrated her passion for entrepreneurship with sustainability by working with Waste Free Ocean in a mission to tackle the problem of marine litter. Waste Free Ocean is an organization that aims to close the loop by collecting, sorting and converting ocean plastic waste into various products. Starting back in 2011, the organization has now been operating in 5 continents.

In this podcast, we followed Cyrielle's fascinating journey in developing recycled goods, organizing educational roadshow campaigns, and performing partnerships with companies. She also spoke to us about her strategy to avoid greenwashing. We together discussed the importance of creating value from waste, how it impacts the society and its benefits for the younger generation.

You can find out more about Waste Free Ocean at www.wastefreeoceans.org or reach out to Cyrielle at LinkedIn.

Correctly valuing materials and why it is time for the Circular Era - with Nick Gonios from Circulist

In this episode, we spoke to Nick Gonios from Australia, a visionary entrepreneur on the mission to drive us from what he calls “industrialists” to become “circulists”. To turn words into action, Nick founded Circulist a circular platform for product designers and manufacturers that aims to accelerate the implementation of efficient circular product design.

With us, Nick spoke about concepts that are necessary to change the way how materials and resources are being valued in today’s economic frameworks in order to accelerate the shift to Circular Economy - something that Nick coins “Circular Economy Version 2”.

You can find out more about Circulist at www.circulist.com or reach out to Nick at LinkedIn.

From scary climate movies to the development of a plastic accounting protocol with Dominic Santschi from Ampliphi

Dominic Santschi is a talented young entrepreneur from Switzerland. Following his passion for protecting the environment, he is on the mission to tackle the plastic crisis with his company, Ampliphi. In this podcast, he takes us on his journey starting with his childhood in the beautiful heart of Switzerland over the insurance business and a couple of other career stages into the field of sustainability straight to the development of a system that helps companies to calculate their plastic footprint.

We speak about the importance of measuring the impact of plastic consumption in order to generate trust via transparency, which is necessary to create science-based and measurable strategic progress towards a circular economy.

It’s time to act!

You can find out more about Ampliphi at www.ampliphi.io or reach out to Dominic at LinkedIn.

A world made of biopolymers and the holy grail of biodegradability - with Jörg Dörrstein from Biofibre

Jörg Dörrstein is the CEO of a German company called Biofibre, which is developing sustainable plastic solutions out of renewable raw materials, ensuring that those resources do not compete with food production. Jörg tuned in from South of Germany to talk with us about the potentials but also complex challenges of industrializing bio-based plastic solutions.

We uncovered some myths about bio-based and biodegradable materials and talked about adopting new perspectives to lead us from the current non-sustainable plastic age into a future where we are able to tune the biodegradability of the materials that we produce. Understanding that the entire world is made out of biopolymers is one of such perspectives.

You can find out more about Biofibre at www.biofibre.de or reach out to Jörg at LinkedIn.

Japanese water goddess, sports-bras and producer responsibility - with Claudia Glass from Swijin

Claudia Glass has accomplished an inspiring journey from being a high-school teacher to becoming an innovator in the field of sustainable performance apparel. She is the co-founder of Swijin, a Swiss startup that develops sustainable performance swimwear, and joined us from Zurich to speak about her mission to innovate a quick-drying "swimrun suit". We discover what a Japanese water goddess has to do with feeling good, and also discuss how important it is for entrepreneurs to take responsibility for the products that they introduce to the world. We also talk about the challenges emerging from complex supply chains for polymers that are used in fiber production, and why transparency is the only way to true circularity and reduction of green house gas emissions.

You can find out more about Swijin at www.swijin.com or reach out to Claudia at LinkedIn.

Rethinking Climate and why communication between consumers and industry matters - with Asia Guerreschi

Asia Guerreschi was actually our first guest in our podcast series!!!. Asia is the founder of Rethinking Climate a youth-led non-profit organization that tries to open conversations about complex and overlooked climate issues. She founded Rethinking Climate out of a personal motivation to improve sustainability communication, and now works with a team of young international activists to bring different perspectives to a learning journey and show that there is a space for everyone in the climate movement.

Next to it, she is currently doing her PhD about integrated innovations for the circular economy and decarbonization in production with the University of Ferrara in Italy.

To us, she spoke about her activities with and for Rethinking Climate, especially how important it is to bridge the gap in sustainability communication between consumers and policymakers. Plus, we got highlight some fun facts on sustainability options for plastics in the sex toy business.

Demystifying 2021 and above ground hydrocarbon - The Xmas Edition from John & Mat

Enjoying a little mystic atmosphere on December 24th, we are reflecting on 2021 and the fact that one of the outcomes of starting this podcast was correlating the two topics circularity and recycling due to our own professional backgrounds. This last episode in 2021 is delivering some thoughts on circularity in the recycling sector and demystifying above ground hydrocarbons.

Happy New Year to Everyone

Peaceful activism based on science - with Lola Segers the Belgian Youth for Climate Voice

Lola Segers from Antwerp, Belgium, has been a climate activist with Youth for Climate Belgium for two years. As she told us, till then she was not really concerned too much about climate. Today she’s the spokesperson, and coordinator of communication of Youth for Climate in Belgium and is active in organizing strikes, actions and projects with the movement on an global and international scale.

With us she spoke about global responsibility and the importance of creating a science-based dialogue across industry, politics and the future generations.