Podcast: Podcast: Marc de Wit, The Circular Economy

EPISODE 43

On episode 43 of Supply Chain Next, Marc de Wit talks with host Richard Donaldson about:

• How Marc began studying astrophysics in 2000 and how he had an interest in how systems work
• He realized that it was too detached from the world he lived in
• He pivoted to renewable energy an earned his PhD on the BioBased economy
• Why Marc transitioned in 2010 to consulting with resource intensive organizations
• In 2012 founded the Circle Economy organization with Robert Johnson and inspired by Professor Walter R. Stahel – who coined the concept in the 1960s/70s
• Explains that it was based on many big schools of thought through biomimicry
• Describes the founding, mission, and how the Circle Economy group has morphed over 10 years of operation
• How circularity is becoming mainstream via the data coming to light supporting profitability for businesses
• The connection of human psychology being geared toward ownership and profit throughout our history naturally adopts the circular way of thinking
• Provides an example of Phillips becoming less dependent on volatile world markets by owning the raw materials and production, thus expanding profits along their value chain
• Seeing a shift away from material ownership at the consumer level sees a detachment from the product to the item itself
• Thoughts on how a circular economy can fix the divide between material need and the experience that material need filled when it was owned by the end user as the material costs to provide that experience are enormous
• What was behind the data in the infographic featured in Robert Kunzig’s National Geographic Article, Here’s how a ‘circular economy’ could save the world

An X-Ray of the Global Economy

• Circle Economy seeing adoption in academic and education circle and what KPIs have indicated the interest in the subject
• Key metrics that Circle Economy wants to aspire to as a dashboard that can be applied to any system so an organization can start engaging in the circular economy
• Moving from a static to dynamic analysis of a supply chain to better plan collaboration across the supply chain
• Prospects of the nascent space-based supply chain industry
• Actions the Circe Economy group plans to take to double circularity in the next decade

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