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Writer's pictureZsofia NAGY

Innovation & circular economy - have you checked your own, personal supply chain?



This morning found me seeing dozens of articles again about innovation, that is purely serving convenience (laziness) and substituting the use of our brain.

This was accompanied by seeing others becoming over-excited about the self-driving Tesla getting out of a flooded parking lot remote controlled to avoid getting their owner's feet wet.

This is an issue, which could have been prevented by parking in the right place or by building the parking lot properly (exceptions always can come in, but we don't really put a lot of innovation money into exceptions, do we?)...or God forbid, wearing rain gear...aka rubber boots / wellies depending on where you are from.

Same could go for innovations, where for example we aim to use new energy resources, but the methods and the materials used are still creating more problems at the after-life period of the life-cycle, than the value it created during its life.

So question from me to everyone: why don't we put more money into innovations that actually help us save our Planet, rather than going "brain dead" and lazy?

Tesla sure has a lot of investors as it seems, but the ones serving less glamorous everyday purposes seem to gather less excitement on the investor front still to date.

Isn't it exciting enough to know that using products that are circularly built, will give our kids a Planet to live and by making these changes with the kids, they eventually learn how to select the right options later for themselves?

I'm not judging innovations from many years before, we are doing this together and yes, as a kid, I did not know better in many cases either (although I questioned a lot based on being brought up partially on a farm).

We have come to a point, where we cannot turn a blind eye anymore and we must act as consumers as well, re-examining our own, personal supply chains.

I listed here the latest sustainable innovation companies I got to know, where they thought the product life-cycle through from A to Z.

Feel free to check them out yourself and recommend further and/or better ones to help each other out (recommendations are still one of the best information exchange methods, even in my profession).

4 out of the 6 are startups. 2 of them are sustainable innovations, where larger companies have picked up the pace (Colgate and Henkel - I want to see more from others very fast...some of the 2030 or 2050 targets seem to be still on the lazy side while in many countries we can afford iPhones and self-driving cars or AI to help our cognitive functions).

  • https://wesmyle.com/

  • https://www.evergreen-capsules.com/

  • https://www.earthbreeze.com/

  • https://klaeny.de/

  • https://www.colgate.com/en-gb/products/toothbrush/colgate-bamboo-charcoal-soft

  • https://www.natureboxbeauty.com/en/avocado-shampoo-bar.html

I could mention more, but these will do for our purpose today.

Most of them aren't ground breaking news and some of them are an amazing upgrade on my grandma's less glamorous solutions.

Still, these are innovations, that fit a circular economy. At the same time, stylish, user-friendly and very much fit for purpose from consumer perspective.

What do these have in common? - It requires circular thinking from us.

Coming from consumers in the first place. Companies produce what we buy. We need to buy responsibly. This would create that ripple effect we are all looking for.

I have started this journey many years ago and still is in the process to get there in full, but I'm above 80% there (I did baseline my lifestyle and then measure, yes).

If you want, use the KonMari method or any other (re-purposed KonMari method ;).

I have come to a great personal method, which is also nothing new: regular revision and inventory of my life from personal supply chain perspective too (not KonMari, but as a former PMO, I re-purposed those PM, sourcing & QMS methods).

I can recommend the same for everyone. Review your personal supply chains regularly and apply the same audit methods big companies need to do, also on the front of responsible sourcing.

As for companies: my personal experience and professional expertise accumulated is available to help you build circular thinking and sustainable product/service life cycle management.

Happy review and let me know if you have questions!


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