Circular Economy Podcast

What if a circular packaging solution could fit seamlessly into existing systems, provide a better user experience, and deliver important sustainability benefits? Victor Ljungberg is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Meadow, a Stockholm-based startup that is collaborating with major packaging companies to provide refillable, recyclable solutions for big brands. Meadow's packaging solution transforms aluminium beverage cans into refillable cartridges combined with reusable dispensers. The system aims to reduce single-use packaging and plastic waste, by leveraging aluminium's high recyclability and low material use. Meadow’s system focuses on convenience and premium user experience, and is designed to be scalable and compatible with existing supply chains. Victor Ljungberg is an entrepreneurial leader with a background in marketing and sales, and a passion for social impact. Victor is also a founding board member at Sparks Generation, a social impact platform that helps young people discover and explore their passions, to avoid isolation and fight mental illness. The MEADOW KAPSUL™ offers a lightweight, user-friendly alternative to linear packaging across multiple industries, including personal care, beauty, food, and beverages. We’ll hear how partnering with global leaders like Ball Corporation enables Meadow to deliver scalable, sustainable packaging solutions that combine environmental impact reduction with enhanced consumer experience.

Sean Petterson explains how Supersede delivers a true 1:1 replacement for plywood and OSB that outperforms wood on durability, safety, cost stability, and supply predictability, without the need for manufacturers to change how they build. Sean Petterson is Supersede’s Co-Founder and CEO, and after beginning his career in construction, Sean has developed and secured multiple patents in manufacturing systems, material science, and applied technologies, with a focus on scalable production and real-world deployment. His experience spans polymer engineering, high-volume manufacturing, and commercialization of hardware and software systems. Supersede is an advanced materials company transforming how structural building products are designed, manufactured, and deployed across marine, RV, specialty vehicles, and construction. Supersede’s products are made from extruded industrial plastic waste, reducing supply chain risk, avoiding import tariffs and providing consistent pricing and reliable availability. Currently, Supersede is focusing on the boatbuilding, recreational and specialty vehicle markets, with additional verticals--including housing construction--coming soon. Sean explains how Supersede’s combination of durability, circularity, and operational efficiency makes sustainability economically compelling for its clients – it solves multiple problems and improves on the existing alternatives for performance and price. We’ll hear about some of Supersede’s many innovations, including micro-plant production units and its offcut buy-back programme, and how its local approach appeals to employees, clients and feedstock providers.

We’re all seeing how geoeconomic tensions are affecting the supply of key resources, including mined minerals and fuels together with food and other biological resources. My guest, Dr Jack Barrie, is the lead author of a recent World Economic Forum white paper, The Future of Materials Systems: cooperation opportunities in a Multipolar World. In the context of today’s world of competing regions and powers - where the multilateral system is really struggling to make progress – Jack and his contributors set out to answer an important question: how do we keep progress going? Dr Jack Barrie is an independent global advisor and researcher specialising in the circular economy, with more than 15 years’ experience working at the intersection of policy, international trade, and material value chains. Most recently, Jack led the Global Materials Collaboration at the World Economic Forum, developing scenarios for international cooperation on materials and circularity to support economic resilience, climate action, and nature-positive outcomes. He has held several global advisory roles, including as a member of the UK Government Circular Economy Task Force and as a specialist advisor to UNECE on ESG traceability of sustainable value chains in the circular economy. Jack is also a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Global Circularity Protocol. He holds a PhD in circular economy innovation policy from the University of Strathclyde, alongside further degrees from the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, and Aalborg University. We’ll discuss the findings of the World Economic Forum white paper, including its key recommendations and how we make those tangible. Jack also shares some surprising insights about how governments are using the circular economy, and why he sees some of those strategies as deeply problematic.

When we look closely, we can see that circular solutions can end up compromising - or even cancelling out - sustainability benefits. In this episode, we’ll discuss research into the psychological concept of moral licensing, and the rebound effect. Dr. Meital Peleg Mizrachi works at the intersection of sustainable fashion, consumer behaviour, and public policy. She is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University and an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut, and her research focuses on the environmental and social implications of global fashion systems, including overconsumption, second-hand markets, and regulatory frameworks. Meital explores how policy design, behavioural insights, and economic structures shape sustainable consumption patterns. She is a board member at the Sustainable Fashion Consumption Research Network, and her work has been published in leading academic journals and featured in global media outlets. We’ll discuss unintended consequences of circular economy solutions in fashion, including the rebound effect associated with second-hand consumption. We’ll also talk about her research into the global flows of used clothing with fieldwork in Ghana.

We’re thinking about the business case: how the circular economy addresses the problem—reducing negative impacts from business—and how it provides benefits – or, in business terminology – how it provides “value”. One way of looking at that is to think about the return we get on our manufactured assets—all the products and packaging we send out through the factory gate. When we look at value, we can think about different aspects, including creating value and retaining existing value in products and materials, as well as how our solution might avoid the destruction of value, compared to existing, linear alternatives. We'll look at why it's important to design solutions that solve real problems and make a positive impact along the whole supply-chain for 3 dimensions of affected parties: including the business, its workers, supply chain partners and investors, as well as future generations. But those who we need to support this, to buy into the business case, and to buy the product or service itself, may not be aware that there is a problem. For example, does everyone know how chemicals in plastics and other products are affecting human health? And, even if they're aware of the problem, they may not think that solutions a possible, or know where to find them. As we'll hear, that's where behavioural change and Schwartz's concept of the ‘buyer’s journey’ come in.

Dimitri Naczaj is a behavioural scientist and founder of Bellegarde Scientific Consulting, a research-based consultancy applying behavioural science to the challenges of the circular economy. His work focuses on understanding and changing human behaviour towards sustainable habits, such as sorting for recycling, repair and reuse, and participation to return programs. Dimitri and his colleagues design evidence-based interventions that make circular systems work in practice, on a behavioural level. Since his Ph.D., Dimitri has worked extensively on electronic devices, including collection, repair and reuse. As Dimitri explains, behavioural science helps us find ways to bridge the "say-do" gap, the gap between intentions and actions, so we can encourage circular and sustainable behaviours. Dimitri outlines three ‘moments’ of circular economy behaviours: before using, while using, and after using, and explains how our choices are influenced by a variety of factors including environmental awareness, or personal values, and information transparency. We discuss how behavioural science can support circular options such as repairing, sharing and returning products at the end of life, and if you’d like to learn more, Dimitri recommends three books to read.

Simon Cook is co-founder of Reset Scenery, a Scotland-based organisation working at the intersection of the creative industries and the circular economy. Simon has over 25 years in set construction and more than a decade focused on circular practice, and works to reduce waste in the creative industries by reclaiming, repurposing and rethinking scenic fabrication. Through Reset Scenery’s circular programmes, material recovery systems and industry advocacy, Simon champions practical, scalable approaches to sustainable fabrication for stage, screen and live events. Reset Scenery supports the Stage, Screen & Events sectors through reclaimed material redistribution, circular material management strategies and lower-impact construction approaches aligned with initiatives such as the Theatre Green Book. Simon and his co-founder, Matt Doolan are focusing on how to change the whole system – how best can they intervene or educate, and where in the system; how do they help people see the benefits, and make the circular option more affordable and accessible than the scenery that’s designed NOT to last. Simon explains some of the ways they embed circular principles directly into design and build processes — helping productions reduce embodied carbon, material waste and disposal costs without compromising technical standards. We’ll also hear about Reset Scenery’s circular design support for schools, helping build long-term skills and sector resilience through practical, hands-on sustainable practice.

Dan Dicker is the founder and CEO of Circular&Co, a Cornwall-based Circular Design brand on a mission to eliminate single-use waste. With a background in product design and innovation, Dan has spent over 20 years championing circular economy principles, designing products and systems that keep materials in use for longer. Alongside consumer products, he leads Circular&Co’s work on reuse and returnable cup systems, partnering with venues, events and organisations to drive real-world change and deliver genuine environmental impact. Dan explains how Circular&Co’s design skills are creating reuse and returnable cup systems, which are breaking the mould by not requiring an app, or a deposit, and are achieving extremely high levels of reuse by being super-convenient for the cup users, for cafes and for the local community. We hear how the systems work across a range of use scenarios, and how Circular&Co are using rich data sets to design efficient and effective systems for logistics and cleaning, and to help potential clients make a compelling business case.

Katie Allen, a regenerative farmer, maker and educator, who is creating healthy textiles, plant dyes and leathers and helping fashion students and others discover what soil health means for us, our food and our clothing. Katie Allen farms organically at Great Cotmarsh, in the UK. The farm produces lamb and beef in a 100% pastoral system and is implementing projects to improve soil health, increase biodiversity and embrace agroforestry. Under the brand ‘Katie Cotmarsh’, she creates award-winning knitwear using the fleeces from the flock and cultivates colour by growing plant dyes. Katie has developed a beautiful classroom space on the farm, to connect the future generation of designers with the story behind soil and give them a new perspective of what true circularity looks like, particularly in the face of an ever shifting climate and demand for new cradle-to-cradle models for fashion design. Katie tells us how she was first inspired by the Fibershed movement, and what it means to create a local, regenerative clothing supply-chain.

Stephen Fitzpatrick is Director of the Digital Factory at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, based at the University of Strathclyde, and Director of the Remake Value Retention Centre, a new £10m initiative commissioned by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). A key focus of Stephen’s work is developing solutions that enable a circular economy, particularly in high-value, high-integrity sectors. ‘High-integrity sectors’ are industries that require strict adherence to safety and reliability standards, often because the potential consequences of failure are huge – we can think about aerospace, automotive, nuclear power, wind, and other industries where ensuring safety, performance and up-time is critical. Stephen believes that combining digital technologies with remanufacturing is crucial, both to maximise the life of existing products, and to support designing and manufacturing new products in a way that optimises circular opportunities and value. Stephen leads a multidisciplinary team of 75 engineers and scientists, specialising in Digital Manufacturing, Design Engineering, Additive and Repair Manufacturing, Robotics and Metrology Systems.

We learn about driving change towards an effective, efficient and fair reuse economy, with Sydney Harris and Jennifer Carrigan of Upstream, a nonprofit that works to support sustainable, equitable reuse systems across North America. Upstream works to normalise reuse, to support the expansion of the reuse sector, and to help create supportive policy measures. It was founded over 20 years ago, and is seen as an early visionary, realising that reuse is better from an economic perspective as well as better for people and planet. Upstream works across industry sectors in the US and Canada.

Giulio Bonazzi is the visionary leader of Aquafil, a global pioneer in circular materials including Econyl Regenerated Nylon. Giulio has been transforming Aquafil from a conventional manufacturer into a pioneer of circular design, and he tells us about the process of creating premium-quality polyamide from a wide range of nylon waste streams, including fishing nets, old carpets, and fabric scraps.

To close out 2025, I’d like to revisit a critical aspect that’s being ignored - the economy itself. Ken Webster is a leading thinker in the circular economy field, and one of his many roles is with Earth4All, where he has been exploring the benefits of a Universal Basic Dividend. Ken and Catherine discussed this, and more aspects of circularity at an economic level back in 2023, and it’s highly relevant today, as the challenges we face loom larger.

This is the 2nd part of my conversation with Tom Llewellyn of Shareable, an organization that collaborates with others to imagine, resource, network, and scale cooperative projects. • We hear about Shareable's How-To Guides, which cover a vast range of topics from how to reduce food waste to starting mutual aid funds, and Tom explains how sharing initiatives are starting to be included in city and local government policies. • And Tom offers his top tips for how we can get started with sharing and other initiatives, to improve our resilience and build stronger communities. If you didn’t catch the first episode, head back to that if you’d like to hear why Shareable has pivoted from storytelling to focus on supporting groups to replicate successful sharing solutions, what Tom sees as the key challenges around sharing, and the importance of storytelling – including the misleading narratives used by most of the media, and how these undermine our resilience.