🌍 Is circular the new sustainable? ⭕
A quick and easy guide to circularity + the people doing it well
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This week’s theme is… circular design ⭕
You’ve probably seen the word circular used a lot recently when it comes to fashion, design and the economy. Circular is the new sustainable – a buzzword that started out with great intentions but that is now often, but not always, misused to bamboozle us into thinking that a product is better for the planet when perhaps, it’s not really (which is why the s-word is usually banned at BRiMM). So we thought we would use this week to have a simple look at circularity in order to empower us all to spot when a brand really is doing some fantastic circular things that are worth celebrating (and when it’s actually not). We’re all for supporting the good guys, after all.
A great place to start is the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the organisation whose whole ethos is to encourage designers in all industries to design waste out of products at their very inception. “In industries like fashion, food and plastics packaging, products and systems are designed in such a way that most materials are destined for landfill, incineration or leaked into natural environments,” they explain. “Through design, we can eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials and regenerate nature, creating an economy that benefits people, business and the natural world.”
The majority of production currently uses a linear model, which in simple terms means that items are destined for landfill once the consumer no longer wants them or they’ve worn out: for example, a single-use plastic coffee cup and lid, which is thrown in the bin and not recycled once that oat chai latte has been drunk. A reusable cup is undoubtedly a better option, but what happens to that cup once it no longer works efficiently? If it’s thrown away, that’s not circular either. The very best choice is a circular reusable cup, like these from Circular & Co. Made from recycled materials like fabric, fishing nets and even bubble gum, they’re designed to last for 10 years and – this is the crucial bit – the brand accepts the cups back at the end of their useful life to responsibly recycle them.
Over on our Enough Store, we stock the aptly named UpCircle, whose beauty and wellness products fit the circularity bill nicely. They use upcycled ingredients, like apple pulp, orange peel and coffee grounds. They also use glass jars, which you can refill with UpCircle goodies at many zero-waste shops when you’ve used up the lovely product inside. And since glass is infinitely and easily recyclable, even if you don’t refill them, there’s no need for the containers to ever go to landfill.
Unlike straight recycling, circular design puts the onus on the producer, not just the end user, to take responsibility for the product’s end of life as well as its beginning. Just because something is recyclable, doesn’t mean it’s easy for us to find a reliable way to do so. A nicer way of looking at it, perhaps, is that the people who design and make the product take care of the full life span of the materials they use to make it. Asking one simple question (OK, two) before you buy – “what’s going to happen to this when I don’t need it anymore? And how?” – should help you to make some genuine circular choices. After all, everyone knows, what goes around, comes around…
Team up, tune in and let’s turn the tide,
BRiMM x
Plastic is hiding in your wellness routine – in your creams, lipsticks and haircare. As beauty journalist Lisa Oxenham explains over on our Journal, it’s not just the packaging that fills our bins, but it’s inside the products themselves. “Hidden as microplastics, waxes and liquid polymers, these plastic-derived ingredients have infiltrated nearly every corner of our wellness world – from shampoo and SPF to lipsticks and hair serum,” she says. In this feature, we find out where it’s lurking and how to avoid it.
At BRiMM we’re obsessed with taste. Our products have to be delicious to make it onto our online store. Which is why it’s no surprise that many of our curated brands are Great Taste award winners. Great Taste is the world’s largest and most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme, which has been championing independent food and drink retailers and the producers, and the wholesalers and distributers that supply them since 1995. Check out some of our favourite Great Taste winners – and shop them – on the Enough Store now.
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The BRiMM Life Questionnaire: Susanna Bowers
This week we caught up with Susanna Bowers from My Global Pantry to find out her low-impact living tips, like this absolute gem: “I pickle my leftover vegetables before I go away on a trip – coming home to brilliant pink cabbage just makes my day.”
Read the full interview over in our Journal now.
FROM THE COLLECTIVE
Becky has been loving her Butter & Crust Sunday morning breakfast delivery by bicycle, full of premium London and UK produce
Zoë has been listening to The Tipping Point podcast, a fascinating delve into the story of some young scientists who, 50 years ago, predicted the climate crisis and were largely ignored
Hannah has become mildly obsessed with mending things – she just received back some Birkenstock-style clogs from The Boot Repair Company. They had worn straight through the sole but have now been returned to their former glory, thanks to these skilled geniuses
We love to hear what our collective is finding. Share your links with us in our Substack chat or send us an email
THIS WEEK’S LINK RECCOS
KNIT ONE, LOOP ONE
John Lewis has just launched a range of circular knitwear in collaboration with British wool recycler, iinouiio. The collection, which is called the Closed Loop Initiative, features beanies, scarves and jumpers made using recycled wool from John Lewis’s own takeback scheme FashionCycle, as well as other UK-based takeback schemes.
→ WRAP UP
MATERIALS WORLD
Published earlier this year, Circular Materials, by British architect Joe Gibbs, explores innovative ways of reusing materials in fashion, design and architecture. It highlights creative strategies for repurposing waste and replacing traditional materials with low-impact alternatives.
→ BUY THE BOOK
WILD DINING
While local, seasonal dining is nothing new, Wild, which has just opened in Berkhamsted, takes it a step further with a closed-loop system. All vegetable trimmings from the kitchen are returned to their own farm to be composted and fed to the next crops, creating a closed-loop system between farm and kitchen. The farm is also completely no-dig, regenerative and chemical- and pesticide-free.
→ BOOK A TABLE
MEAT-FREE DISH OF DREAMS
This one is a favourite of Susanna Bowers. “My courgette pasta recipe is inspired by spaghetti alla nerano, but I like to grate the vegetable to maximise the opportunity for caramelisation, and then use its bright green juice for a boost of freshness. It’s so creamy once you add the liquid that you don’t even need cheese, but no judgement if you want to throw some in there anyway.”
→ MAKE ME
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