Projects Supporting Circularity

As a regenerative materials consultant, I am working to support the circular economy. I encourage everyone to ask what happens at the end of life of a product, and how can the end be a new beginning. In many industries we produce more than we could possibly consume, and we are racing to consume as much as we possibly can.

Luckily, people around the world are coming to see that there is no such thing as "waste". Below are projects that are looking at our consumption and how to change the linear system in which most products exist. 

FabScrap: Fabscrap is a Brooklyn non-profit that collects the local fashion industry scraps and separates them into still usable (sold at their warehouse) or scrap (to be recycled into carpet padding, moving blankets, or insulation). Since 2016, Fabscrap has collected over 100,000 pounds of textiles in NYC that would have been sent to the landfill. My question is, can we make added-value products with the scrap? Can we make a market for post-consumer fibers?

Side note: France is working on making fashion part of the circular economy. 

Cupclub has made a solution for single use coffee cups. Currently, piloting around London, these plastic cups are designed to be ordered by a cafe, used by a customer, and dropped in a cupclub bin, where they will be washed and reused by a cafe a set number of times before being recycled into a post consumer product. watch an explanatory graphic video here :)

Carpet America Recovery Effort: This non-profit is working across the country to recover carpet that would normally be thrown in the trash. Since CARE's inception in 2002, over 3.6 billion pounds of carpet have been diverted. California has a law regulating this and brings funding to support the development of products made of post-consumer carpet. 

Let's keep discussing this topic. Please join me in Davenport, CA at ONE Salon Hike and Lunch on the topic of consumption. Tickets at https://one-consumption.eventbrite.com