Episodes

  • 181 Dr. Meital Peleg Mizrachi: the rebound effects of second-hand fashion platforms

    181 Dr. Meital Peleg Mizrachi: the rebound effects of second-hand fashion platforms
    May 2 2026
    When we look closely, we can see that circular solutions can end up compromising - or even cancelling out - sustainability benefits. In this episode, we’ll discuss research into the psychological concept of moral licensing, and the rebound effect. Dr. Meital Peleg Mizrachi works at the intersection of sustainable fashion, consumer behaviour, and public policy. She is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University and an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut, and her research focuses on the environmental and social implications of global fashion systems, including overconsumption, second-hand markets, and regulatory frameworks. Meital explores how policy design, behavioural insights, and economic structures shape sustainable consumption patterns. She is a board member at the Sustainable Fashion Consumption Research Network, and her work has been published in leading academic journals and featured in global media outlets. We’ll discuss unintended consequences of circular economy solutions in fashion, including the rebound effect associated with second-hand consumption. We’ll also talk about her research into the global flows of used clothing with fieldwork in Ghana.
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    51 mins
  • 180 Building the business case for circularity: the ripple effect

    180 Building the business case for circularity: the ripple effect
    Apr 20 2026
    We’re thinking about the business case: how the circular economy addresses the problem—reducing negative impacts from business—and how it provides benefits – or, in business terminology – how it provides “value”. One way of looking at that is to think about the return we get on our manufactured assets—all the products and packaging we send out through the factory gate. When we look at value, we can think about different aspects, including creating value and retaining existing value in products and materials, as well as how our solution might avoid the destruction of value, compared to existing, linear alternatives. We'll look at why it's important to design solutions that solve real problems and make a positive impact along the whole supply-chain for 3 dimensions of affected parties: including the business, its workers, supply chain partners and investors, as well as future generations. But those who we need to support this, to buy into the business case, and to buy the product or service itself, may not be aware that there is a problem. For example, does everyone know how chemicals in plastics and other products are affecting human health? And, even if they're aware of the problem, they may not think that solutions a possible, or know where to find them. As we'll hear, that's where behavioural change and Schwartz's concept of the ‘buyer’s journey’ come in.
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    37 mins
  • 179 Dimitri Naczaj: using behavioural science to bridge the “say-do” gap

    179 Dimitri Naczaj: using behavioural science to bridge the “say-do” gap
    Apr 4 2026
    Dimitri Naczaj is a behavioural scientist and founder of Bellegarde Scientific Consulting, a research-based consultancy applying behavioural science to the challenges of the circular economy. His work focuses on understanding and changing human behaviour towards sustainable habits, such as sorting for recycling, repair and reuse, and participation to return programs. Dimitri and his colleagues design evidence-based interventions that make circular systems work in practice, on a behavioural level. Since his Ph.D., Dimitri has worked extensively on electronic devices, including collection, repair and reuse. As Dimitri explains, behavioural science helps us find ways to bridge the "say-do" gap, the gap between intentions and actions, so we can encourage circular and sustainable behaviours. Dimitri outlines three ‘moments’ of circular economy behaviours: before using, while using, and after using, and explains how our choices are influenced by a variety of factors including environmental awareness, or personal values, and information transparency. We discuss how behavioural science can support circular options such as repairing, sharing and returning products at the end of life, and if you’d like to learn more, Dimitri recommends three books to read.
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    42 mins
  • 178 Simon Cook of Reset Scenery: embedding circularity into the creative industries

    178 Simon Cook of Reset Scenery: embedding circularity into the creative industries
    Mar 22 2026
    Simon Cook is co-founder of Reset Scenery, a Scotland-based organisation working at the intersection of the creative industries and the circular economy. Simon has over 25 years in set construction and more than a decade focused on circular practice, and works to reduce waste in the creative industries by reclaiming, repurposing and rethinking scenic fabrication. Through Reset Scenery’s circular programmes, material recovery systems and industry advocacy, Simon champions practical, scalable approaches to sustainable fabrication for stage, screen and live events. Reset Scenery supports the Stage, Screen & Events sectors through reclaimed material redistribution, circular material management strategies and lower-impact construction approaches aligned with initiatives such as the Theatre Green Book. Simon and his co-founder, Matt Doolan are focusing on how to change the whole system – how best can they intervene or educate, and where in the system; how do they help people see the benefits, and make the circular option more affordable and accessible than the scenery that’s designed NOT to last. Simon explains some of the ways they embed circular principles directly into design and build processes — helping productions reduce embodied carbon, material waste and disposal costs without compromising technical standards. We’ll also hear about Reset Scenery’s circular design support for schools, helping build long-term skills and sector resilience through practical, hands-on sustainable practice.
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    39 mins
  • 177 Dan Dicker: moving the dial on reusable cup systems

    177 Dan Dicker: moving the dial on reusable cup systems
    Mar 8 2026
    Dan Dicker is the founder and CEO of Circular&Co, a Cornwall-based Circular Design brand on a mission to eliminate single-use waste. With a background in product design and innovation, Dan has spent over 20 years championing circular economy principles, designing products and systems that keep materials in use for longer. Alongside consumer products, he leads Circular&Co’s work on reuse and returnable cup systems, partnering with venues, events and organisations to drive real-world change and deliver genuine environmental impact. Dan explains how Circular&Co’s design skills are creating reuse and returnable cup systems, which are breaking the mould by not requiring an app, or a deposit, and are achieving extremely high levels of reuse by being super-convenient for the cup users, for cafes and for the local community. We hear how the systems work across a range of use scenarios, and how Circular&Co are using rich data sets to design efficient and effective systems for logistics and cleaning, and to help potential clients make a compelling business case.
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    54 mins
  • 176 Katie Allen – why healthy clothing starts with healthy soils

    176 Katie Allen – why healthy clothing starts with healthy soils
    Feb 22 2026
    Katie Allen, a regenerative farmer, maker and educator, who is creating healthy textiles, plant dyes and leathers and helping fashion students and others discover what soil health means for us, our food and our clothing. Katie Allen farms organically at Great Cotmarsh, in the UK. The farm produces lamb and beef in a 100% pastoral system and is implementing projects to improve soil health, increase biodiversity and embrace agroforestry. Under the brand ‘Katie Cotmarsh’, she creates award-winning knitwear using the fleeces from the flock and cultivates colour by growing plant dyes. Katie has developed a beautiful classroom space on the farm, to connect the future generation of designers with the story behind soil and give them a new perspective of what true circularity looks like, particularly in the face of an ever shifting climate and demand for new cradle-to-cradle models for fashion design. Katie tells us how she was first inspired by the Fibershed movement, and what it means to create a local, regenerative clothing supply-chain.
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    48 mins
  • 175 Stephen Fitzpatrick: remanufacturing as a strategic capability

    175 Stephen Fitzpatrick: remanufacturing as a strategic capability
    Feb 8 2026
    Stephen Fitzpatrick is Director of the Digital Factory at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, based at the University of Strathclyde, and Director of the Remake Value Retention Centre, a new £10m initiative commissioned by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). A key focus of Stephen’s work is developing solutions that enable a circular economy, particularly in high-value, high-integrity sectors. ‘High-integrity sectors’ are industries that require strict adherence to safety and reliability standards, often because the potential consequences of failure are huge – we can think about aerospace, automotive, nuclear power, wind, and other industries where ensuring safety, performance and up-time is critical. Stephen believes that combining digital technologies with remanufacturing is crucial, both to maximise the life of existing products, and to support designing and manufacturing new products in a way that optimises circular opportunities and value. Stephen leads a multidisciplinary team of 75 engineers and scientists, specialising in Digital Manufacturing, Design Engineering, Additive and Repair Manufacturing, Robotics and Metrology Systems.
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    53 mins
  • 174 Sydney Harris and Jennifer Carrigan of Upstream: effective, equitable reuse systems

    174 Sydney Harris and Jennifer Carrigan of Upstream: effective, equitable reuse systems
    Jan 25 2026
    We learn about driving change towards an effective, efficient and fair reuse economy, with Sydney Harris and Jennifer Carrigan of Upstream, a nonprofit that works to support sustainable, equitable reuse systems across North America. Upstream works to normalise reuse, to support the expansion of the reuse sector, and to help create supportive policy measures. It was founded over 20 years ago, and is seen as an early visionary, realising that reuse is better from an economic perspective as well as better for people and planet. Upstream works across industry sectors in the US and Canada.
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    37 mins