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Teamwork makes the dream work
Radical change takes radical collaboration. Not only to understand how we can change course, but also to ensure that we understand the bottlenecks for organisations seeking to implement the circular economy.
As a partner in the transition, we are able to convene the most unlikely of allies in complex multi-stakeholder projects.
Sometimes, all it
takes is to get the
right people around the same table –
we make it easy for
them to do so.
Over 100
knowledge and business
partners in our network
and thousands more in our orbit.
OUR
MEMBERS
48 organisations
across several sectors, including
textiles, capital equipment,
and the built environment
A problem shared is a problem halved
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Manufacturers of capital equipment – hardware products such as servers, medical scanners, and ships – consume more than seven billion tonnes of raw materials per year. This includes more than half of all metals, making it critical to find circular strategies to manage capital equipment stocks.
The Capital Equipment Coalition (CEC) is a group of eight businesses - including Philips, Cisco, and Dell - which have pledged to apply circular economy principles to preserve and recover value throughout the lifecycle of their products. The coalition meets four times a year, hosted by a member, to address common challenges and share best practices.
The Capital Equipment Coalition is an initiative of the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), with Circle Economy acting as the group’s facilitator. We design and research the sessions, support collaboration between members, and collect key learnings from the workshops. These insights are published, under Chatham House Rules, to inspire other companies to define their own commitments to transformation of the capital equipment sector.
Mutual
accountability
In January 2018, every CEC member company committed to a series of bold pledges to close the loop in capital equipment. From 100% circular operations to the adoption of new business models, these commitments were an essential first step by leading multinationals.
SHARED LEARNING
The coalition reports on progress against members' pledges, and published its first summary of key learnings in January 2019. Members meet quarterly to address shared problems and build the business case for circular projects, including factors such as internal decision-making, key circular value drivers; and how to approach organisational change.
AT A GLANCE
8
members
accounting for a sizeable amount of the capital equipment pledge market
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6
WORKSHOPS
Including a workshop held at an EMF CE100 member event in May, with 15 attendees from multiple backgrounds and organisations (Cap Eq, non Cap Eq, non-profit)
What’s next?
The coalition has focused three of its four annual workshop sessions on specific, function-oriented insights to facilitate rapid learning. We encourage businesses in the production and supply of capital equipment goods to embark on their own journeys towards circularity. For further enquiries, please get in touch below:
Make denim great again
Denim is loved across ages, genders, countries and styles. It’s the undisputed champion of fabrics, but its reliance on virgin cotton means that its production consumes vast amounts of water, insecticides, and pesticides. Its dyeing and finishing processes are also energy, chemical, and water intensive, and a notorious source of pollution. These sustainability issues are too complex for denim brands and manufacturers to address in isolation.
The Alliance for Responsible Denim brought together representatives from the entire denim value chain in a pre-competitive collaboration to make the denim industry smarter and cleaner.
Circle Economy joined forces with Made-By, and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences to convene the Alliance for Responsible Denim (ARD) and drive the project forward.
maKING the denim industry
SMARTER
Denim Finishing
The Denim Finishing working group aimed to reduce the overall impact of denim finishing in the industry. Made-By, in close collaboration with Jeanologia, worked to assess and improve the wash recipe of denim brand's 'Never Out Of Stock' jeans, through the adoption of new chemical and/or machinery and water reduction. A supply chain questionnaire, built to support brands in assessing areas of improvement, is open access and available to the industry here.
Post-Consumer Recycled Denim (PCRD)
The PCRD working group had the ambition to stimulate the adoption of PCRD in the market and grow demand. Circle Economy worked to educate X brands on post-consumer recycled denim and develop standardised PCRD fabric briefs according to their needs. These briefs were translated, by 10 global denim mills, 2 yarn suppliers and X recyclers into 40 PCRD styles, with a recycled content of 7% - 40%, for the brands to integrate into their collections. This PCRD directory can be downloaded here.
AWARENESS
RAISING
RAISING
&PRIORITISATION
The Alliance for Responsible Denim showcased our work during the July 2018 High-Level Political Forum at the United Nations headquarters in New York
Travis Rice, who managed the project, was featured in Rivet’s Influential 50 for his work with the alliance, an index of the most creative and forward-thinking leaders driving the global jeanswear industry
The Denim Democracy Exhibition toured Europe with displays in Amsterdam and London.
At a glance
Over
40
new recycled fabrics created by participating denim mills that brands can incorporate into their collections
8
brands started or expanded on sourcing
recycled denim for their collections
14
brands
and
and
10
denim
mills
mills
joined the Denim Alliance, including Asos, Gap, Arcadia group and Nudie Jeans
Over
2,300
visitors to the Denim Democracy Exhibition across different locations in Europe
