ICEC 2020: Conference Program

Ensuring a Sustainable Circular Economy using Life Cycle-based tools

Speakers:

Melanie Haupt ( Chair for Ecological Systems Design at ETH Zurich )

Nicola U. Blum and Catharina R. Bening ( Chair for Sustainability and Technology at ETH Zurich)

WHY JOIN?

The session in a nutshell

Content: The session provides insights on how to assess the sustainability of circular value chains by using Life Cycle-based tools, incorporating an environmental, a social and an economic perspective.

Format: Three presentations (one on each of the above mentioned sustainability perspectives) followed by a workshop where we discuss sustainability indicators and their application in industries that the participants are working with or on. There might also be time that we discuss exemplary policy interventions with regard to the three sustainability perspectives.

Five years of Circulus research – What’s next? An exchange on future research ideas and potential interdisciplinary collaborations

Chairs: Sina Leipold, Anna Petit-Boix, Hanna Helander, Anran Luo, Machteld Simoens (University of Freiburg)

WHY JOIN?

In this workshop, the Circulus research group (2016-2021) will present its scientific results from different disciplinary angles and propose directions for future research . We aim to share the most critical lessons from our work and debate new challenges and issues that arise from our findings.

The workshop will start with a short presentation of our main findings. After that, we would like to discuss ideas for future research and interdisciplinary collaboration with you . We would like to plan the next steps after the Circulus project in a way that involves collaboration with the wider circular economy (e.g. in the form of a monthly colloquium, a yearly conference, a platform for the joint project development of project proposals or publications). To do that, we would be happy to receive your feedback on where you see the most potential for collaborative efforts across disciplines (in terms of topics and formats). The outcome of the workshop will ideally provide a starting point to develop a more institutionalized effort of interdisciplinary collaboration on the circular economy.

Panel discussion: Enabling circular B2B-textiles

Chairs: Ria Müller and Sabrina Schmidt (Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW))

Panelists:

• Ina Budde, co-founder of the start-up circular.fashion
• Martijn Witteveen, quality management at Dibella
• Fabian Takacs, University of St. Gallen
• Kai Nebel, Reutlingen University

WHY JOIN?

What about a closed-loop textile industry with functioning recycling processes and corresponding infrastructures? How about textile rental/leasing replacing the purchase of workwear?

This is a participatory panel discussion examining circular economy in the business-to-business textile sector. Why? Workwear leads to enormous quantities of identical textiles – with serious consequences for the environment. Picture applications in health care, tourism or uniforms for police and transport operators. Five expert panelists present both current scientific findings and practical solutions to transform the market. Get involved in discussions on “design for circularity“ and “innovative business models“. See also https://www.ditex-kreislaufwirtschaft.de/english and here .

The untapped potential of packaging reduction in supply chains

Chairs: Doris Knoblauch and Linda Mederake (Ecologic Institute)

Presenters:

• Sabrina Schmidt, Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) : Innoredux – Business models for reducing plastic waste along the value chain: Towards innovative trends in retailing

• Britta Frommeyer and Julia Koch (Universität Münster) : Eco-friendly and reusable packaging in e-commerce – an analysis of consumer preferences

WHY JOIN?

Large amounts of plastic waste are generated along the supply chains of products such as textiles or food. Alternatives to current practices do often not prevail, because companies would have to (partially) reorganise their production and supply chains to be able to significantly reduce plastic packaging, let alone operate plastic-free. In this workshop, two joint research projects of the BMBF research focus "Plastics in the Environment" present their scientific results on innovative business models and environmentally friendly packaging and transport solutions for textile products. We want to show that it is possible to develop and implement innovative packaging solutions in both, distance and stationary trade, and thus to avoid or reduce plastic waste along the supply chain. After the two presentations, speakers and audience will enter into discussions.