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Articles by Joe Iles
Circular design: not just a noun
Joe Iles Circular Design Programme Lead, Ellen MacArthur Foundation There’s a quote that summarises the sometimes elusive realm of design well. Carl Steinitz, of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, likes “to think of design as a verb as the asking of questions, and design as a noun as the character of the answers.“ Many of us intuitively have a good idea of what ‘design’ is and how it manifests.
The New European Bauhaus and the circular economy
englishespañolfrançaisportuguês简体中文 An opportunity to demonstrate the potential of circular design By By Joe Iles, Circular Design Programme Lead, Ellen MacArthur Foundation on July 15, 2021 From the very beginning, the circular economy has been a design-led agenda, which encourages upstream solutions that build to systemic change.
Turning dung into gold
How biodigesters empower Guinean communities with sustainable energy Abdoulaye Oularé, 30, shows the outlet basin of his Biodigester. Naby Silla, 70, and Abdoulaye Oularé, 31, may be from different generations, regions and backgrounds, but they have many things in common. Both men decided to return to their hometowns to become farmers at a turning point of their lives.
Lessons from HP's experiment in 3D printing of spare parts on demand
Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - 12:45am A 3D printed lever for a Bugaboo stroller. As part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy 100 platform, HP, Teleplan, IKEA, Philips and iFixit recently embarked on a year-long collaborative project (Co.Project) exploring new applications of 3D printing technology. The project focused specifically on spare parts. Today, it can be difficult for brands and manufacturers to know when and how to deal with spare parts.
The massive emissions-cutting and cost-saving potential of chemical reuse
Tuesday, July 2, 2019 - 12:45am Chemicals used in products such as plastics and fertilizers are scrutinized for their negative impact on the environment and human health. Surprisingly, chemicals used for acids and lubricants receive much less attention, yet when managed improperly, the detrimental effects of these processes are no better. Most industrial sectors use chemicals at some stage in their processes, from automotive to life sciences, and consumer products to oil and gas.
The circular designer’s secret weapon: policy
Friday, June 21, 2019 - 1:00am Since its inception in 2010, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has placed design as crucial to achieving a circular economy. In fact, the very first initiative from the foundation was Project ReDesign, which invited thousands of students to rethink products and systems for a circular economy.
HouseZero: Renovating a 1920’s house to make it energy net positive
A 1920’s house in Cambridge, Massachusetts is currently being refitted in a way which could transform the building industry. The headquarters of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities has been equipped with a number of contemporary technologies, as part of an attempt to prove that ordinary houses can be renovated to a point where they are almost entirely self-reliant from an energy perspective, all while cutting costs in the process.
Why reverse logistics is an essential part of a circular economy
For a long time, reverse logistics has been seen only as logistics going in the “wrong direction”. But that should no longer be the case. Today return flows are becoming the norm rather than the exception. In the last 15 years, more than 260 Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies, which drive return flows, have been adopted worldwide.
Could eBay become your ‘personal inventory of things’?
Optimise resource yields by circulating products, components, and materials at the highest utility at all times Sound familiar? Whilst it might not roll off the tongue, it’s a core principle of the circular economy, and basically, means that we should keep products and materials in use where possible.
Weaving the future of textiles with spider silk
Earlier this month, Patagonia announced that it will make its next jacket out of “spider silk”, or at least a laboratory based copy. For the company behind that innovation, California’s Bolt Threads, the jacket is only the beginning and could be the start of a material transition in the fibre industry more broadly.
What does material innovation look like in a circular economy?
Impressive technological and innovative individual business solutions have been developed throughout the industrial revolution, and more recently, many of those are taking advantage of the additional value propositions created by the circular economy model.
Reversible reaction: Even chemicals can be leased
At least 140,000 chemicals are used globally in a wide variety of products and processes. While they largely contribute to the economy, they expose human health and the environment to major risks. Image: Dipali S / stock.adobe.com For a long time, organisations have undertaken incremental measures to marginally reduce those risks, but are often bumping up against the limits of what they can accomplish using a traditional approach.
Ikea to sell affordable solar battery solution
A new announcement on the availability of batteries by Ikea could make solar electricity more attractive to potential customers, potentially reducing electricity bills by hundreds of pounds. Ikea, in partnership with UK panel provider Solar Century, has said that it will start selling batteries for rooftop solar panels as part of a new solar system. Storage technologies have been typically expensive in the past, a key obstacle to wider adoption of solar power.
Working toward a world without plastic waste
Expanding the circular design ideation process through biomimicry It’s estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. This is one of many haunting statistics that makes clear the fact that plastic and packaging waste is a pressing global challenge that won’t be solved without unprecedented innovation and collaboration across industries.
Journey to the Circular City
There’s a growing belief that cities are taking the place of nations as the dominant economic and political entities of our times. As well as being concentrators of money, knowledge, skills and services, their sheer scale can be mindblowing. Some megacities or ‘urban archipelagos’ can accommodate the bulk of a nation’s population, like Japan’s Taiheiyo Belt: home for two-thirds of Japanese people, the area also accounts for a similar share of the country’s economic output.
Circulate on Fridays: Bees, the Internet of Things and more…
Every Friday, Circulate rounds up a collection of interesting circular economy related stories and articles. This Friday, what role can the Internet of Things play in saving bee populations? An Uber for buses and much more… In natural capital terms, honey bees are vital to the global economy. They play an essential role in the world’s ecosystem pollinating two thirds of the 100 most widely eaten crops globally, which feed 90% of the world’s population.
Organic Matters
Cities are places of ingenuity and delight as well as engines of economic growth and opportunity. However, they are also great concentrators of organic material that is often landfilled at high cost or leaked into the environment, causing a host of environmental problems. This throughput is a missed opportunity: if cities could effectively recover and valorise their organic waste they could save costs, realise new revenue streams and regenerate natural capital in the process.
Which country is leading the circular economy shift?
Photo by Himesh Kumar Behera on Unsplash Which country is winning the race to a circular economy? It’s not something one country can achieve by themselves, but in recent years, certain nations have taken the lead by clearly embarking on major circular economy agendas. The motivations can vary, from creating a more competitive economy or meeting the needs of a growing population, to complying with emissions targets and better social outcomes.
Why large scale indoor farms will be crucial to feed our fast growing cities
Technological innovations are enabling a new way of producing food transforming indoor environments into places where fruits and vegetables can be grown without soil, close to the city, with an extremely short supply chain, fully independent of weather fluctuations, while reducing demand on water and chemicals.
Why biology holds the key to the future of design and manufacturing
It is becoming increasingly apparent that transitioning towards a more restorative and regenerative economic model that decouples economic prosperity from the consumption of finite resources will necessitate the breaking down of the silos created across business, education and the broader economy, on which a linear, take-make-dispose system has thrived. The emerging discipline of synthetic biology sits at the crux of the intersection between design, biology, computing and manufacturing.
5 innovations that could end plastic waste
There's no love lost for plastic packaging. Whether it's complicated recycling instructions on the products we buy, startling images of the impacts on wildlife or simply the economic value lost through waste, plastics have been climbing the international agenda for years. So how do 8 million tonnes of plastic still end up in the ocean each year?Searching for the right solutionsThe urgency of the issue has led to brands, governments, NGOs and celebrities promoting a host of solutions.
H&M walks the runway towards 100 percent circularity
Now in its third year, the Global Change Award will select five entries that could revolutionize the way we design, make and use clothes. If selected by a judging panel including Ellen MacArthur, submissions will proceed to a public vote to decide how the prize purse will be split.
Italian government releases strategic paper on the circular economy - Circulate
The Italian government has published a strategic paper on the development of a circular economy in Italy, with a supporting manifesto signed by leading businesses. Verso un modello di economia circolare per l’Italia – ‘Towards a circular economy model for Italy’ – was recently presented in Rome at an event organised by banking group Intesa SanPaolo and energy company Enel.
4.5 misconceptions about the circular economy
For some, a circular economy is a renaming of some very familiar activities, like recycling, going to zero waste or making something useful from waste. That all seems pretty easy to grasp, and once people realise this must be about closing the loop then they get busy with marketing the new label. Unfortunately this interpretation is incomplete, and misses out on the most powerful aspects of the circular economy and its potential to transform the way our economy works.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation: 9 ways to design the circular economy
In recent years, the concept of circular economy has entered mainstream discussion, with large businesses, startups, designers, academics, students and policymakers embracing this positive framework for change.The vision of an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design and truly works in the long term has captured the imagination, acting as a powerful stimulus for innovation and encouraging business leaders to find new circular opportunities that have been hiding in plain...
Circulate on Fridays: Two great podcasts and much more
It’s Friday, which means that we have a selection of circular economy content recommendations to be enjoyed at your leisure this weekend. Cream of the crop this week is the latest episode from the excellent How I Built This podcast on NPR. The company under the spotlight this week is Rent the Runway, and Guy Raz is joined by co-founder Jenn Hyman.
Three stories from the frontline of circular design - Circulate
If you don’t look too closely, you could convince yourself that the linear economy kind of works on a day to day basis. Inertia is understandable: the circular economy might seem like a great idea for the future, but making meaningful investments in re-thinking, re-designing and re-tooling now can seem like a risk. Incumbent business can, should and are taking a leading role in the shift to a circular economy, and will get attention for doing so.
Our current economy is based on 'physics envy' & more
Spring has officially arrived here at Circulate’s HQ in Cowes, Isle of Wight, and we hope to share some of that sunshine with one of our richest Friday circular economy roundups featuring some of the best reading, viewing and listening for you to enjoy this weekend.
Is the digital economy in danger of becoming the taking economy?
Sharing economy firms like Uber and Airbnb may be leveraging their access to information, gained by facilitating trusted transactions between strangers on a digital platform, to disadvantage their participants and avoid regulation according to a new research paper co-published by a law professor and a technology ethnographer at the University of Washington.
Singapore company introduces new air conditioning as a service model
The world needs to re-think how it stays cool and Singapore-based company Kaer Water may have the answers. They aim to revolutionise air conditioning building management by combining a breakthrough technology with a new business model that has already been trialled successfully in other sectors, including lighting. Rising temperatures and a rapidly expanding global middle class are increasing demand for air-conditioning worldwide.
Disposable plastics banned from Delhi - Circulate
While a number of cities, states and countries around the world consider mechanisms by which to manage some of the growing challenges relating to the plastics, India’s capital city Delhi has made the headlines by placing a blanket ban on all disposable plastics. Far from being altruistic, the city’s decision has been made out of practical necessity.
Profiling Patagonia, Obama on self-driving cars and mushroom leather
Remember all those “I’ll read this later” articles you bookmarked this week? We’ve got you covered. In Circulate on Fridays, we pick out the most essential circular economy coverage from the past five days. Enjoy! Self driving cars have been in the news again, and it seems Uber’s recent launch in Pittsburgh has accelerated the debate.
The promise of a digitally enabled circular economy
Where is innovation heading in the 21st century? For every new technology poised to reinvent the way we live, work and interact, there seem to be many more incremental or even superficial improvements, rolled out by businesses wrestling for customer dollars. Enter the circular economy: a rich and largely untapped seam of innovation that not only works for businesses, citizens and governments, but also can support the switch to a positive development path for the global economy.
In GIFS: How a Mars Colony Would Work – How We Get To Next
In GIFS: How a Mars Colony Would Work To suggest that space is a harsh environment is an understatement. It’s a place of extreme and unusual temperatures, unpleasant atmospheric toxins, and it’s lacking in the resources to which humanity has become accustomed. Actually, doesn’t that sound a bit familiar? Planet Earth can be a harsh environment, too. The fundamentals needed to support life—air, water, materials, energy, and food—are under threat.
open source modular design: the business benefits
When we talk about the circular economy, we often talk about encouraging materials cycles, similar to those in nature. This analogy works great for materials recycling but, breaks down if we think about modular design. We can’t remove the branches of a tree, and rearrange them to make two smaller trees. But with modular design of technology, facilitated by an open source approach, we could do the equivalent – and it could lead to a new way of doing business.
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