5 companies making a difference
What is a circular company?
Imagine a society where everything is recycled or shared with little or no waste, where landfills are only used as a last resort.
A circular economy is defined as a system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. Although currently it is nearly impossible to produce a zero waste flow, it is possible to come close.
The furniture industry
At Zenkki we like to promote our circularity, in the way that furniture is rented out to customers, then returned, refurbished and re-used- giving it several lives more than it would have had otherwise. But even the lifecycle of an item in circulation, although extended, has an end. It is therefore not a complete circle.
And although we try our hardest to chose suppliers that are focused on sustainability, we can't control all aspects of their business, manufacturing and transportation. From an environmental point of view, we also need to take into account the time and materials needed to refurbish pieces, the people we employ and their footprint, the pieces damaged beyond repair and disposed of, as well as the energy consumed through storage and transportation.
Adding up all the carbon and waste produced and offsetting it via charitable donations and giving back to the community, is one way to tackle this.
But to truly become 100% circular we should look to recycle all the parts of the furniture. For example a sofa is made up of wood and upholstery, maybe some metals. The wood can be broken down and turned into chipboard, the upholstery can be recycled and metal can be melted down and reused. By using electric vans, helping our employees live a sustainable lifestyle, offsetting the emissions produced by our storage facility, producing zero excess waste such as no printing, recycling all our trash, only sourcing sustainable furniture and replacement parts etc, the list goes on.
There are many companies which claim to be zero waste, granted the manufacturing process offsets the carbon and waste production. But what happens to the products once they are in circulation and in peoples homes? What is the life-cycle of these products? The companies must have responsibility in the product once it has been relinquished by them, eventually most products will end in landfills.
The furniture industry still has some way to go, and we look forward to continuing being part of the solution.
Our 5 favourite circular businesses
Without further adieu, here are our 5 favourite companies making big moves in terms of efficiency and after-life of products:
1. Patagonia
This fashion brand has moved well away from being a company which sells clothes, they see themselves more as a movement which is completely devoted to saving the planet, they promote and host events and marches which bring awareness to climate change, as well as provide in-house services for recycling old clothes.
2. Tesla
Of course we all know Tesla as a household name and the flagbearer for electric cars, and clearly going electric is a step forward for the environment. There is however a caveat as although during it's lifetime, an electric car will produce less emissions than a standard petrol car, they still use up a lot of resources to manufacturer. But as cars are not likely to go away any time soon Tesla is still taking a progressive step in the right direction by promoting the environment and championing the move away from petrol as a resource. The technology is still in its infancy and we are sure as time goes on it will become more efficient, along with the power plants which are used to power the production of these cars.
3. Beyond Meat
Most of us are by now very aware of the environmental impact cattle and livestock farming has on the environment. Beyond meat are trying to address that as well as lead the charge for the vegan meatless revolution by creating meatless… meat. Is this the future of meat consumption?
4. Toast Ale
Toast Ale makes beer out of waste bread, and it's good quality beer. They collect bread from bakeries and sandwich chains which is in turn used to brew beer. Additionally they donate 1% of profits to charities that work in the food system. In 2018 they were awarded the B Corp, which is a accolade of sustainability, transparency and green credentials.
5. Biobean
Biobean boasts to be the worlds largest recycler of coffee grounds. The UK only consumes 95 million cups of coffee every day, so you can imagine the amount of coffee ground waste produced every year. Bio-bean figured out that the used grounds contain oil and can be used as a fuel source, and so bio-bean was born. They collect used grounds from companies and turn it into energy as well as other innovative coffee related products.
There are of course a long list of other companies not on the list this time. What are your favourite sustainable brands? Let us know by adding a comment below or reaching out to us on social media, we'd love to know.