Our 5 most admired circular innovations

Oct 25

Recently we wrote a primer on the circular economy, where we shared the basics about what it is and why it’s so important. ICYMI, you can find that blog post here. Today, as a follow-up, we’re sharing some of our most admired circular businesses and products. From reusable rockets to sustainable travel to rented wardrobes, keep reading to see how some companies are tackling our take-make-dispose problem with truly innovative solutions!

A luxury getaway that’s sustainable too

You’ve probably seen dreamy photos online of The Blue Lagoon in Iceland, which is a luxury geothermal spa and hotel that’s an obligatory stop when visiting the country. While luxury and sustainability may seem opposing, The Blue Lagoon is an example of how the two can go hand in hand with careful and thoughtful innovation. Each building on site is designed to merge with the land and materials used are durable, repairable, and environmentally friendly. Pathways are also carefully designed so as to not harm floral and geological features. When it comes to energy use, the sole source of electricity, heating, and hot water is geothermal energy and lighting throughout the facility is provided by LED and OLED technologies. Finally, all of the food served at The Blue Lagoon is locally and sustainably sourced as are the components of skin care products sold by the spa. All of these innovations, when utilized with the purpose of promoting harmony in nature, make for a truly sustainable experience!

A reusable rocket for space exploration

Over the last several years, SpaceX has been developing technologies to facilitate the reuse of space launch vehicles in much the same way that we are able to reuse aircraft for multiple flights over many years. To understand how a rocket is reused, we’ll use an example of the April 2021 Crew-2 launch. This launch sent four astronauts to the International Space Station on the Falcon9 rocket, which is the first orbital class rocket capable of re-flight. The booster of the rocket was reused from the 2020 Crew-1 launch while the spacecraft was reused from a 2020 NASA flight that was the first to launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida since the US space shuttle era. To date, the Falcon9 has made 125 launches and 85 landings - so cool!

Home appliances as a service

BlueMovement, which operates alongside home appliance giants Bosch and Siemens to name a few, goes beyond selling appliances and instead offers them as a service. What this means is that they deliver, install, move, repair, adjust, and pick up appliances at the end of a contract, kind of like a rental! Not only does this keep appliances out of landfills by promoting repair and reuse, it also lightens the load on the mining of resources required for many home appliances and alleviates the burden of broken appliances for consumers! Although only available in Europe currently, we hope this can serve as a model for North American companies to adopt to bring a more planet-friendly approach to the home appliance market.

Renting a sweater, couch, or even a treadmill

Loopt is a Toronto-based company pioneering the circular economy in fashion. Through Loopt’s platform, brands can fully own and run a rental subscription service, renting out their products to customers alongside the option to buy. This allows customers to attain items that they may only want or need for a short time, transforming the take-make-dispose model into a rent-use-return model. In the process, companies can benefit from recurring revenue outweighing one-time sales by over 6 times. Among the companies utilizing Loopt’s technology are furniture, clothing, kids and baby, outdoor, and fitness brands to name a few. It just makes so much sense!

Eliminating food waste with ugly produce

Another Toronto-based company, Flashfood, is on a mission to reduce food waste and they do this in a couple of ways. First, they help grocers sell soon-to-expire food at a steep discount to consumers who will actually use the food. Second, they help producers offload food that is misshapen to consumers (again) at a steeply discounted rate simply because misshapen food does not meet the grocer’s strict aesthetic standards despite the fact that the food is perfectly fine to eat. They do this through their ugly produce box, which is filled with healthy but quirky fruit and vegetables! All this effort diverts food from landfills where it would typically pile up, anaerobically decompose, and create methane gas, a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions globally.

All of these innovations are a great example of how the circular economy works, and you may have noticed that in each case, it is a clear win for consumers, the company, and the planet. It just takes a shift in how we do things to get off the ground.

Don’t forget that when it comes to take-out, you can dine more responsibly using Suppli’s zero waste containers. Currently available through major food delivery apps, simply add a Suppli container to your bill when ordering from participating restaurants and receive all of your dishes in reusable, stainless steel containers, then return your containers to a conveniently located return bin near you! With cuisines ranging from sushi to Indian to Thai, you’re sure to find something that hits the spot without hitting the landfill! Sign-up today for free!

Cover photo courtesy of Nasa