The Circular Economy Comes Full Circle in San Diego.
A final piece in our series on Global Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Marketing.
Recent political events remind us of the ongoing debate over climate-change, sustainability, renewable energy and the economic implications moving forward. Regardless of what side of the fence you may be on politically, it’s no secret that weather patterns are changing, there are more people on the planet, consumption is at all-time high, and thus, unprecedented amounts of waste follow. It is a fact that landfills around the world are overflowing and there is less space for productive, sustainable growth. A few decades ago, industry in the US and around the world found that it was good for business and the environment to begin addressing renewable energy demands. The global conversation is now evolving from recycling to “renewing” in the truest sense of the word.
According to Renewable Energy World, one of the rising trends in 2018 will be the waste-to-energy industry. Major regions around the world, particularly in the most populated areas such as New Delhi and Shandong Province are beginning to implement processes that reconstitute waste into usable forms. A step further, the circular economy is a “regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission and energy leakage are minimized by slowing, closing, and narrowing energy and material loops.” Essentially this idea turns recycling and “upcycling” on its head by turning waste materials into wholly new things of even higher quality than what was originally in use.
One company that is trailblazing the circular economy path is San Diego-based Noble Environmental Technologies. Having started 12 years ago in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture by scraping forest floors after wildfires, their mission was to create high-performance building material from urban, farm and forest sources. Now, their patented technology turns this type of fiber and cellulose-based material into usable forms under the ECOR line of packaging, signage, display stands, and furniture. These upcycled products are borne from chemical-free processing but durable enough to replace traditional MDF solutions, a marriage of innovation and industry.
The potential for this technology is significant. In their work for the Dutch brewery Heineken, Noble was able to create ECOR packaging and signage out of excess oat fibers from the brewing process, creating in essence marketing materials with their own marketable stories. The globally-focused firm, which also holds manufacturing and R&D facilities in Serbia and the Netherlands, has done similarly unique work for Ann Taylor, TOM’s Shoes, Coca-Cola, and the trash/recycling receptacles for the City of San Diego. Oh, and they can also make coffee tables from coffee grinds. According to President Derek McSpadden, ECOR can likely outcompete any other fiber-based recycled panel product on the planet.
On a picture-completing note, this series that began with a coffee company that could create high-quality espresso without a traditional machine and continued with an innovative furniture company that provided a unique combination of scalability and customization across a line of health-conscious products ends with a company that can turn used coffee grounds into furniture. A circular economy, indeed!