Circular Talk with Linda Grieder-Kern, Founder of RethinkResource
«Many companies have huge unused potential»
«Turning Waste into Opportunities»: With her company RethinkResource, Linda Grieder-Kern advises companies from all industries on the topic of circular economy – and is now contributing her knowledge to CLIMATEX as a board member. In this Circular Talk, she provides exciting insights.
CLIMATEX: You founded RethinkResource in 2016. How did you make the switch from legal advice to the circular economy?
Linda Grieder-Kern: During my studies, I provided legal advice to young companies and start-ups, which sparked my fascination for entrepreneurship. When I came across an ambitious team working on a circular economy concept about nine years ago, I found my passion.
Almost a decade ago, what was driving the industry?
A lot of it was about classic recycling and "industrial symbiosis", i.e. how to link different production processes to make efficient use of resources. At many events, I noticed that I always met the same players – research institutes, universities, associations and foundations. Only industry representatives were rarely to be found. This led to the idea of creating a marketplace for the so-called by-products of industrial production. This "waste", i.e. goods from overproduction, residual products and side streams, should be traded as raw materials.
«Kreislaufwirtschaft hat nicht nur einen nachhaltigen Impact, sondern bringt auch wirtschaftlich sinnvolle Innovationen in Unternehmen.»
Linda Grieder-Kern
CEO & Founder RethinkResource
Can you explain this?
I quickly realised that at the time hardly anyone had any idea what these side-streams were and what their value could be. There was no transparency, no open market and therefore no competition. It took a lot of work to convince companies of the potential until I presented the concept to the CEO of Swissmill, a division of Coop, at a trade fair – and we were then approached for a consultancy mandate.
Is that what got RethinkResource off the ground?
Yes, this was followed by more enquiries from companies wanting to know what potential they had in the circular economy and whether they could process their own side-streams. So we started visiting production sites across Europe, analysing materials and developing recycling options. What I love about the circular economy - and in particular the recycling of by-products – is that not only does it have a sustainable impact, but it always brings commercially viable innovation to the business. They increase efficiency, implement new business models and develop new products. However, I am surprised that many companies still don't see this or don't associate it with this topic. They often shy away from the initial investment, even though it almost always has a positive economic impact in the long run. This is a point that still surprises me. Many companies have enormous untapped potential - whether through ignorance or a lack of courage or focus to tackle these issues. I hope that political pressure and legal standards, among other things, will help to put these issues on the agenda in the coming years and make them a more integral part of corporate strategy. We are happy to provide support here as well.
What challenges result when waste is considered a valuable raw material?
Our motto is "Turning waste into opportunity". But I don't like the word "waste" because it implies that these materials are worthless. And that is the biggest challenge: to see side-streams and waste as valuable raw materials. Once the value is recognised, it quickly becomes clear that these materials need to be stored or processed differently in order to retain their value. This creates new business models, opportunities for diversification and margin optimisation, and a huge field for innovation. It is important that all stakeholders are involved in the new value creation process.
How do you deal with inquiries?
If we see potential in raw materials and side-streams that is not being used or for which no high-quality application has yet been found, we analyse the value of these materials. In the case of textiles, for example, we look at whether they can be separated by type or whether individual recyclable materials can be extracted. We test food for nutritional value and more. Once we have identified an inherent value, we look for applications that make the most of it. This may involve cross-industry approaches, technologies or processing methods.
Can you give us some specific examples?
For example, the production of soya milk produces a solid that remains after the beans are pressed. We wanted to find a sensible use for this hard-to-process, moist and unstable material. We did this using technology from the automotive industry. We were able to liquefy this solid and reintegrate it into the milk, resulting in a milk in which the bean was processed completely and without waste. Another exciting example is an Italian company that produces yarn from orange peels. In my opinion, such cross-industry applications are particularly interesting and forward-looking.
«Basically, we are a kind of creative hub that applies scientific knowledge to the circular economy. It takes a lot of creativity to rethink the connections.»
What is your view of the situation in the textile industry?
In the textile industry, I am primarily interested in the further processing of recycled raw materials. The biggest obstacle so far is often that the materials are mixed or can only be separated poorly. This makes high-quality further processing difficult. What fascinates me about CLIMATEX is that the technologies make it possible to separate materials by type in order to ensure further processing. This is crucial for our work, because many approaches, such as the use of recycled yarns, do not solve the problem at the end of the life cycle. CLIMATEX and the circular design approach offer forward-looking solutions here.
How does progress in the textile industry differ from other sectors such as food or architecture and construction?
In the food sector, consumers have become very aware of the issue of food waste. This has also made producers more conscious. We are seeing similar developments in the packaging and construction sectors. A lot has happened there in recent years, partly due to the increased focus on the issue in education and the media. In the textile industry, however, we have not yet reached that stage. Fast fashion dominates, many important changes are happening slowly and sustainable or circular knowledge is not as widespread among young designers as it is in other industries. You need a network where recyclers, designers and producers work together. And you need to build supply networks, set up take-back systems and communicate with partners and their customers to enable separation and reuse.
How do you explain this difference in development?
The textile value chain is complex and global: Designers, manufacturers, suppliers and processors are spread across the globe, which can make it difficult to pursue common goals, traceability and recycling. There are also questions such as: Who is ultimately responsible for taking back materials? How is the value chain, the business case, structured around returned goods? So we need a best practice example that demonstrates the feasibility and the business case along the whole value chain. Such a case would help us to understand where value is created and where it is lost. This would lead to a clear potential for sustainability and circularity in the textile industry.