The Circular Economy Show Podcast

E-waste is our fastest-growing waste stream, expanding five times faster than we can recycle it. But it's also one of our greatest untapped opportunities.

With the demand for critical minerals showing no signs of stopping, recovering materials from the billions of dollars’ worth of mobile phones hibernating in our drawers is increasingly important.

In this episode, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Danielle Holly, Executive Lead for North America, and Wen-Yu Weng, Executive Lead for Critical Minerals, join Pippa to explore how the circular economy can transform how we produce, use, and recover electronics, and the critical minerals inside them.

Find out more about the Foundation’s work in Critical Minerals.

Sign up to the Foundation’s North America newsletter.

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Why is it that despite the success of individual circular business models, we simply aren’t seeing a wider shift across the entire economy? In this episode Lou is joined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Strategic Finance and investment team, Emily Healy and Joe Rodgers.

Together, the team explores how systemic investing and capital orchestration could be the tools we need to take this transition forward, and look at where we are currently seeing this thinking brought into ‘on the ground’ demonstration projects.

Emily and Joe also explain how in many cases the right financing is out there, but more thoughtful allocation and coordination could result in better, more resilient outcomes. 

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In a world of rising tariffs and supply chain disruption, could circularity be one of the smartest business moves a company can make? Danielle Holly, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s North America Lead, is joined by Tensie Whelan, founder of the Center for Sustainable Business at NYU Stern and former President of the Rainforest Alliance, to explore this and more.

Tensie explains the ROSI (Return on Sustainability Investment) framework, developed at NYU Stern to help companies track and monetise the full value of sustainability strategies. This includes operational efficiency, risk reduction, new revenue and customer loyalty. Together, they explore how circular approaches can shorten supply chains and reduce exposure to tariffs and geopolitical shocks.

They also tackle the harder questions: why do most companies still not act, even when the numbers stack up? And what will it take to bring finance, governance and the boardroom along for the journey?

Sign up to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's North America newsletter to keep up with the latest on circularity in North America. And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review or share it with a colleague to help us spread the word.

What if buying second-hand felt exactly like buying new?

In this episode of the Circular Economy Show, we explore how IKEA is embedding circular principles into its core commercial strategy. Fin is joined by Conor Hill, Global Director for Circular and Sustainable Living at IKEA, who shares how the brand is delivering measurable impact, all while making circularity affordable and accessible for their customers.

Watch the full episode to find out how implementing a Buyback & Resell model has enabled IKEA to:

Allow their consumers to become active participants in the circular economy. 

Use tailored marketing tactics to drive increased brand awareness and business resilience. 

Use data to understand friction points, optimise loyalty strategies, and keep customers engaged.

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In a circular economy, products may not be sold just once, but multiple times. This enables businesses to generate more revenue from one item. As a result, businesses are shifting their metrics beyond short-term profit to embrace the long-term strategic advantages of circular business models.

In this episode of The Circular Economy Show, host Fin is joined by Emily Hill, Director of Sustainable Transformation Practice at Kantar, to discuss measurement guidance that will allow marketing teams to support the shift to circular business models and behaviours at scale, while delivering on their key priorities.

Emily explains how marketers can redefine success across four key areas: Commercial, Brand, Creative, and Consumer Insight. From building a compelling business case for pilots, to using creative campaigns to shift consumer behaviour, we explore how measurement can be a powerful tool to unlock resources for circular initiatives.

If you enjoyed this episode, then please share with your colleagues, or leave us a review or comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Learn more about the measurement guidance, developed in collaboration with Kantar

Explore 'The marketing playbook for a circular economy'

Other episodes on the marketing playbook:

Ep 176: Driving demand for circular economy: What marketers need to know | Kantar and Swapfiets

Ep 185: How can marketers turn ideas into impactful action?

Ep 186: How do we make circular behaviours irresistible?