How to design polymers and composites for a circular future? - with Philip Taynton from Mallinda.

If you ever wondered what butter and eggs have in common with thermoplastics and thermosets, then this podcast is for you. Philip Taynton, the CEO from Mallinda, dives with us into the world of new sustainable, recyclable and circular polymer technologies for future composite applications. On that journey, he uses the most creative analogies and tells us why Mallinda is doing “eggs that melt”…

During college, Philip clicked with organic chemistry and found his niche in the world of polymers. It then lead him into co-founding Mallinda, a company that creates a novel and innovative vitrimeric resin system called VITRIMAX™.

In this episode, we get to know Philip’s innovative approach of reversible bond exchange in polymeric networks, which led him to founding Mallinda. He motivated us with his story and explanation to rethink how we design new materials to make them reversible by design and therefore circular. We learned that thinking “out of the box”, by changing the design strategy for plastics through reversible chemistry, will help us to achieve circularity.

You can find out more about Mallinda at https://mallinda.com/or reach out to Philip via LinkedIn.

How Data Drives The Circular Economy with Andrea Canepa from Net Zero Insights

In this episode, we invited a guest who is neither a polymer expert nor in the recycling field but heavily contributes to circular economy, Andrea Canepa.

Andrea accomplished his bachelor's in economics and continued studying quantitative finance. His educational background and work experience revolve around data, and since then, he knew for sure that he wanted to do something impactful with it.

That’s what motivated him to start Net Zero Insights with a mission to create a platform to support entrepreneurs by connecting them and simplifying the search for technologies and innovative organisations developing climate positive solutions. Currently, Net Zero Insights aims to provide access to insights on climate innovation to investors, governments, policymakers, researchers, and business developers. It is a platform with a massive database of climate-positive startups in Europe and North America. The companies listed are broad-in-purpose, but have the same goal of saving the environment.

In this episode, we mainly discussed how data enables us to understand the impact of our material world on the environment and sets a benchmark for the success of our actions. It is highly needed to understand and measure the complex interrelationships between stakeholders because “If you can measure, you can manage!”

You can find out more about Net Zero Insights at https://netzeroinsights.com/ or reach out to Andrea via LinkedIn.

Using Enzymes to Biodegrade Plastics with Andrii from Enzymity

In previous episodes, we talked about mechanical recycling and inorganic chemical recycling. This time, we invited someone from another recycling domain - one that uses enzymes as chemical reaction catalysts. Unlike inorganic chemicals, enzymes are bio-based substances, namely proteins that reduce the activation energy of a reaction. The advantage is that enzymatic processes are relatively mild and can be very tuned to drive very specific chemical reactions.

Driven by his high school dream, Andrii Shekhirev, who has studied business and finance, came back to the biotechnology field by co-founding Enzymity.

Enzymity is a Latvian-based biotech start-up that aims to drive materials circularity by breaking down plastics into their building blocks through an enzymatic process. The start-up focuses to use a tool kit in engineering naturally occurring enzymes, improving them and seeking commercialization with industrial partnerships.

During the discussion, we also heard Andrii's perspective on the financial aspect of the business, and the development of the start-up environment in Latvia. He also agreed with us that solving the plastic problem requires a mix of solutions, and hoped that Enzymity will become a part of it!

 You can find out more about Enzimity at https://enzymity.com/ or reach out to Andrii via LinkedIn.

Breaking The Recycling Confusion Problem with Evan Gwynne Davies from Scrapp

Evan is an architecture engineer who found his way into the world of recycling. His journey began in 2019, when he came up with an idea to solve the problem of contamination in recycling bins by participating in a challenge. Together with his two other classmates, Evan founded Scrapp, a recycling app that helps people put trash in the right bin.

In this podcast, we talked about the importance of making conscious and sustainable decisions when discarding plastic waste, as it can save the public billions of dollars. There is currently a knowledge gap between plastic manufacturers and consumers that we have to minimize. Evan also shared with us about his experience with how difficult it is to compile data on the recyclability of our everyday plastic waste. During the podcast, we also discussed the importance of educating the young generation to get momentum on putting things into action. We agreed that Information and resources about climate change are accessible, and the new challenge is how to turn them into action. We hope that companies that produce fossil-based materials will become more responsible to find solutions and take care of the customer in an eco-conscious way.

You can find out more about Scrapp Recycling at https://www.scrapprecycling.com/ or reach out to Evan via LinkedIn.

A project with a Purpose to Clean Up The Planet with Jordi from R*Concept and Good Karma

It all began with building surfboards and then turned into a fruitful project to save the world. In this podcast episode, we invited Jordi Olivia Farriol, a passionate young man behind Good Karma Projects and R*concept. He told us how he developed sustainable alternatives, to replace petrochemical raw materials in resins.

R*concept is a company that aims to provide bio-composite solutions, and Good Karma is a non-profit organization that develops educational and environmental awareness projects.

During the podcast, we also discussed the importance of educating the young generation to get momentum on putting things into action. We agreed that Information and resources about climate change are accessible, and the new challenge is how to turn them into action. We hope that companies that produce fossil-based materials will become more responsible to find solutions and take care of the customer in an eco-conscious way.

You can find out more and reach out to Jordi via LinkedIn. Don’t forget to read more about Good Karma and R*Concept on their website!

A Journey to Enable Circularity with Jan Hommen from TOMRA

With a background in industrial engineering, Jan Hommen found his passion and interest within the circular economy field. He started by working with TOMRA during his master thesis, and he is now working full-time in the circular economy department.

TOMRA is a Norwegian company that focuses on the technology for waste collection, recycling, and also food-processing. In this podcast, we identified the challenges in achieving circularity and learned the importance of working interdisciplinary to close the loop at different ends of the value chain. Households and industries play a big role in the circular economy, as it determines the waste composition and creates the demand across the system.

We also heard exciting news from Jan that there has been an increasing trend to incorporate waste collection and recycling in business models. It is a wind of change blown by a generation that is driven by passion and a sense of responsibility for our future!

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

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.