The Circular Future - Advancing Business Circularity
Welcome to the Circular Future – a podcast that facetimes you with the challenges of e-waste and its impact on the world. Join Stephanie McLarty, Head of Sustainability at Quantum Lifecycle Partners, as she interviews industry thinktanks who share their insights on the trends in reuse and recycling of technology. This podcast is for you if you are responsible for managing your company’s electronics or are simply curious about all things e-waste, sustainability, carbon emissions, data security and more. Each episode finishes with actionable advice for business managers and leaders to do their part in helping build a circular future.
The Circular Future - Advancing Business Circularity
54. Stories of Circular Business Transformation
We explore how circular thinking creates real business value, from lower costs and resilient supply chains to new product lines and revenue. Andrew Telfer shares practical case studies and simple steps any company can take to move from linear to circular.
• industrial symbiosis turning outputs into inputs
• upcycling examples from juice pulp to ginger beer
• traditional manufacturing reusing offcuts for new lines
• circularity linked to climate action and net zero
• reduce, reuse, recycle as an operational playbook
• frontline insights to locate and fix waste
• shorter supply chains improving resilience
• product-as-a-service and subscription tools
• collaboration across sectors to unlock value
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Interested in joining us as a guest? Reach out to Sanjay Trivedi at strivedi@quantumlifecycle.com.
Listen to more episodes at https://quantumlifecycle.com/podcast, and stay connected with us on LinkedIn.
What does it really take for a conventional company to embrace circularity? Is being green from the start a must? Or can any business make the leap? Welcome to the Circular Future, showcasing stories of circularity that reshaped how businesses operate and how you can do it in your organization too. I'm your host, Stephanie McLardy, head of sustainability at Quantum Lifecycle Partners, your trusted partner in electronics circularity. We often hear that going circular through reuse, recycling, and beyond is all about resource efficiency. But what are the tangible benefits and how do they show up in practice? Today I'm joined by Andrew Telfer, director at Circular Innovation Council, who brings a bird's eye view of how organizations are embracing circularity. Their members are experimenting and innovating and proving that circularity isn't just about recycling. Here's what's exciting. While some companies started with a green foundation, like Quantum, others are more traditional and frankly less expected. And they are now adopting circular practices. And they're seeing real results, reduced waste, diversified revenue streams, and resilience in a tough economy. I'm excited for this conversation with Andrew. We'll get started after this short message. Picture this. But what about all that sensitive data on your old equipment? That's exactly where Quantum Lifecycle shines, handling everything from secure data destruction to responsible recycling. Turn what could be a compliance nightmare into a seamless transition. Go to QuantumLifecycle.com for more information. Welcome to the podcast, Andrew.
Andrew Telfer:Thank you. I'm glad to I'm glad to be here.
Stephanie McLarty:And thank you for being our first interview of season three.
Andrew Telfer:All right. I feel special.
Stephanie McLarty:You should. You should. So Andrew, we always start with peeking into your world. What would be three things that the world wouldn't know necessarily about the Circular Innovation Council?
Andrew Telfer:Circular Innovation Councils. My goodness, there's I've got so much to say, but I'll limit it to three. Three, yes. Um number one, I would say that a lot of us, a lot of people don't know that we're national. We have our roots as uh the Recycling Council of Ontario. Um, so a lot of our team is based here in Ontario. A lot of our work is in Ontario, uh, but we are national. We are uh working to develop a circular economy across Canada, and uh we are slowly expanding both our work and our team. We actually have team members from Saskatchewan to Montreal now. Um and uh our work, like I was telling you before we started recording, some of our projects are out in uh northern Alberta now. So uh uh and other provinces as well, but we're slowly getting out of um out of the uh the the the Ontario base uh as it were. Number two, I would say I think a lot of people forget that we're member-based. Uh you are a member through Quantum is, yes. Yeah, quantum uh life cycle partners. I I like to think that we add uh value or provide value through um webinars, education, engagement activities, um, communications, top top reports. Um and and and also I I hope to think that the members get value too, and and it's a very inexpensive membership fee, and it supports us in doing our work uh across the uh many sectors and the many uh material streams. So that's number two. Number three, my goodness. Oh Stephanie, I almost forgot. Number three's gotta be Circular Economy Month since we're exactly happy circular economy month. You too, you as well. Um uh start of season three, and uh uh is it all right to tell people that we're recording on October 1st? Yeah. So it's officially the the start of Circular Economy Month of 2025. So uh we're excited about that. I guess a lot of people don't know because it is a national brand, uh a lot of people don't know that it's Circular Innovation Council that's actually behind uh the programming. Um, and then also in it with an extension to that around education and engagement is our uh I should say our, but Canadian Circular Economy Summit that Circular Innovation Council uh co-produces and co-hosts with another circular economy organization, the Circular Economy Leadership Canada and whatnot. So we're the we're the organization that are sort of behind the scenes um doing the work, uh, and but those are sort of our our front-facing uh programs.
Stephanie McLarty:Yeah, and if I could add two things. One regarding Circular Economy Month. Your website, circulareconomymonth.ca, is a wonderful set of resources, which um we produce a uh a webpage at Quantum for our employees on um anything sustainability. Our topic for October is Circular Economy Month. We linked your webpage and the pledge that's on it. And I know there's tons of resources for businesses of all sizes and individuals.
Andrew Telfer:I'm glad to hear that is getting used.
Stephanie McLarty:Yeah, we're using it for Quantum. And uh the other thing is you mentioned about the Canadian Circular Economy Summit, the C C E S. We love an acronym. And we were there um at the last one in April, and Quantum had a booth, we had a pretty large presence, and our sales guys even said, this is the best conference ever because it was like it was not only bringing together like-minded organizations, but we're all like ready to take action, we're interested, we're engaged, and it seemed like we didn't have to really push the notion of circularity and why it makes sense for businesses. It's like those businesses already got it, and that was so exciting.
Andrew Telfer:A lot of people that work around me know that I like to say like it's who you know, not what you know. Um, and I think that is because my roots are as a sustainable leader. I started at Walmart Canada for over a decade. Sustainability leaders and teams tend to be small within their companies. And and so therefore, um like they have more in common with almost sustainability leaders at other companies and in other sectors than sometimes in their own company or whatnot. So I find it's very valuable for you. Like I know when I was a young sustainability leader at Walmart, Canada, it was invaluable to know the sustainability leaders around the retail industry and and just helping one another out, talk about waste diversion, talk about energy efficiency. Um, and those stay with you, and it's always good. And now in this role at Circular Innovation Council, making the uh connections and keeping those contacts within your network are invaluable because sometimes you come across an issue that you you just know enough to be dangerous, but it's like, oh, wait a minute, Joe knows more, Jane knows more, let's reach out to them kind of thing. And and that's what I love about the industry is, and you mentioned this yourself, Stephanie, is that we all get it, we all want to help one another out. In fact, I was on a uh conference call this morning with another gentleman who said, like, and he works for a municipality, it's like he's working for the benefit of his municipality, but he's also working for the benefit of the commons as well. Like he wants to affect change that's greater than himself and greater than his municipality because circular economy is is regional, it's national, it's global and whatnot. So you can't just look within your company or within your region. You have to think of uh everyone around you as well.
Stephanie McLarty:Totally, all of your stakeholders, yes.
Andrew Telfer:Yes, yes.
Stephanie McLarty:Yeah, I would totally agree with that. And I think you're in such a fortunate position at the Circular Innovation Council where you get to see all of the cool things that your members are doing. And I wanted to dive into that today because I think you've seen some really interesting examples of companies who are taking on fundamental business challenges and really applying a circular mindset to it. And on the other side, coming out with new products, new business lines, new revenue. So, Andrew, what have you seen in that regard?
Andrew Telfer:Yeah, no, and if I may, Stephanie, just add um preface the some of the examples with um we at the Circular Innovation Council were really leaning into the the economic benefits, the business benefits of the circular economy within this year specifically. It's tough economic times, um, there's economic uncertainty. Um, and also we feel, and when I say we, the team here, we feel that the businesses of Canada have to be engaged and not just the quote unquote green ones that provide a green product or green service. Every business has to be engaged and and um learn about circular economy principles because it it pertains to them. Some people think like, oh, I I build or I make something or I produce something that I look around my desk, right? I produce this pen and it's not inherently green, and so therefore, circular economy doesn't affect me or it doesn't uh I don't need to learn learn learn about it. Um but there's so many business and economic benefits. Like every time you reduce waste, you are reducing costs, and um, it's about supply chain resiliency. Uh shorter your supply chains, mitigate the risk, not having to go global for your for your uh inputs or your ingredients. Um, it's about engagement, and it's not just um uh for your customers, it's about engaging your staff or your uh regul or the regulators to show them that um what you're doing is is better for the environment and you're you are taking a sincere effort to reduce the impact of your operations or your business on on the environment. Um and yeah, and I often think like yeah, I'm very I work at home here in Guelph, Ontario, uh, and I'm very fortunate because I see a lot of different organizations and a lot of different sectors and a lot of different material streams. And and sometimes at the end of the day, you hang up your you hang up your your Zoom call or whatnot, and you just think, wow, I talked to really cool people today and what they're doing. And um, yeah, I have a few examples. I would love to hear a few examples of that. Yeah, just um I think I think for the most part, uh a lot of my examples are in the industrial symbiosis space where it's um somebody's outputs are another person's inputs. So for instance for example, let's say Andrew makes orange juice and my I have an uh unavoidable organic waste in my orange peels. But Stephanie, she makes uh biotextiles and she can use my orange peels uh in the production of her textiles and whatnot. Um, so therefore, my output becomes Stephanie's input. Um but if Stephanie and Andrew don't know one another, like that connection or that linkage never really happens and whatnot. And that's part of the key to circularity and and also the the tough nut to crack is really to find out who has the materials, who has the ingredients, and then who can use them and whatnot. So some of the really cool examples out there. Um I know it sh is it all right if I mention company names? Yeah, please company names and just put a uh caveat out there that I'm not a paid spokesperson or or whatnot. And I may get the store, uh, some of the stories, uh um, some of the details or some of the facts are just uh uh within my mind and not uh quoting numbers or or the actual impact. Um but greenhouse juice uh does some wonderful work. Uh they are a local or Canadian uh organic juice uh maker from fruits and vegetables. They have um the pulp, the vegetable and fruit pulp that come out of their product lines after after making their various uh juices. Um and what they did at first they're like, well, there's a lot of excess uh pulp here, a lot of organic matter, a lot of organic material. And I think at first maybe they may have been organically recycling it at to a cost, but then they thought, wait a minute, there's value here, there's nutrients here, there's um it can be used to make other products, other food products. So they started finding, connecting up with other organizations that could take this, take these ingredients. And then they also realized that the pulp is very heavy with its moisture content and whatnot, and the water in it. So it was actually very heavy to ship and and expensive to ship. So they came up with a way to actually dehydrate their pulp, maintain the nutritious uh content and whatnot. And now it's easier to ship and it's easier to use by those other or organizations. Uh and that's just just one example. Another cool example coming out of greenhouse, and that example is between like organization A and organization B or two different organizations. What's kind of cool is that um greenhouse actually um kind of put their money where their mouth is and said, you know what? Instead of others using or reusing the pulp coming out of our juices, how about we do it? So their um food developer there, it great person, very engaged and sustainably the circular economy, she took a look at the um the ginger coming off of their ginger shy line. And they thought, you know what? What can we do with this? Like it's it's excess gym ginger, it's it's a ginger output. What can we do about it? And on her own, she went and created ginger beer, and so and it actually is one of the first upcycle uh certified products within Canada by the Upcycle Food Association, and is now being sold on um retail shelves. So here was, and this is the whole principle about the circular economy. It's like taking a waste that might have been a cost to dispose to you, but now you're taking it and you're adding value and you're reusing it and you're creating a whole new product line. Yeah, and and I love the greenhouse story, I think it's an awesome story. However, when I share that story, um, I think there's some people out there that that are in business that are like, well, of course, they're an organic juice manufacturer. They're they are their name's greenhouse, they're green already. Of course, sustainability pertains to them, or they're all into circular circular economy, but like I'm not, and and I make this pen. So it doesn't like more of a traditional business. Exactly. And and so I don't need to know this. And and but I also have a story for them as well. That's there's actually uh a door manufacturer in Mississauga, Ontario. And forgive me, I forget the name. I heard this story uh years ago when I was working at the Smart Cities office. Um but it was a door manufacturer, it is a door manufacturer in Mississauga, and they created a um or manufactured a fairly uh premium door line, a line of wooden doors. And at the end of their manufacturing process, they had all these offcuts and all this excess wood and whatnot. And before they were um recycling it and cost to dispose, like though it's being kept out of landfill, there's still a cost to recycle. And they said, Well, wait, wait a minute, we can use this to develop another uh product line, another door line, uh, a not so premium door line, maybe an opening price point wooden door line. So they actually took the wood. Um I don't I don't like to call it waste because it's not waste, like the wood, the excess wood material, and they used it as an input into their business. And now they created an entirely new uh product line, and there's nothing inherently circular or sustainable, like when you think about a green product, like doors are not uh that what what comes to mind and whatnot. So I think that's just a proof point or a or a um a story that just tells that just proves the fact that circular economy is for everybody, that it's is it's for every business. Um, and if I may, Stephanie, uh and forgive me, I know enough to be dangerous here, but if I get I may have my numbers wrong, but my understanding is there's like over one million SMEs in Canada, small and medium-sized enterprises. Um, I would hazard the guess that probably the vast majority of them aren't quote quote unquote green. They don't provide a green service, they don't make green product. But those companies and those businesses have to be engaged, they have to be engaged in sustainability and circularity in order for number one, for a circular economy to develop across Canada, they can't be left behind. And even more so than that, is um our net zero targets. Canada has net zero targets. And if these companies, small, medium-sized enterprises, even large corporations that aren't quote unquote green, if they're not engaged, there's no way Canada's making its uh net zero targets. And and if I may also continue on that thread there, uh Stephanie, a lot of people might be thinking, well, Andrew, you're talking about circular economy, net zero is is climate, it's climate action. Like, how do those connect and whatnot? But and I like to share, and and maybe I should have said this at the top of the conversation when you said three things that people don't know.
Stephanie McLarty:But um Okay, Andrew, what's the fourth?
unknown:Yeah, I've got the fourth thing.
Andrew Telfer:People don't know that circular economy actually is climate action. And right, and and if I may quote uh the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, they talk about how um even if we transition to 100% renewable energy, we'd only tackle about 55% of uh the GHG emissions uh that are out there. Um, the rest, the other half, the other 45% is how we grow food, how we make products, uh, how we manage our land. And that has to be tackled through circular economy. Circular economy is all about keeping products and materials in use longer. And when you do that, you almost retain the embodied carbon in that uh product or in that um, yeah, in that in that product and whatnot. So you don't have to go back to mother nature for virtue resources or whatnot. So I'm not saying it's the only tool in the toolbox, but it's one tool uh or it's another tool in the climate toolbox for sure.
Stephanie McLarty:Yeah. Well, uh a circular mindset is really it's a tool that has a lot of other key benefits as well. Climate, the climate aspect is one of those factors. So that's really interesting. So these examples that you're giving are really around taking some element of waste and turning it into a new business opportunity. And it doesn't matter what kind of company you are. I mean, uh even quantum, if I take that as an example, we were 10, 15 years ago, electronics recyclers. And we asked the question, I think as these other companies have, like, what else can we do? And over time, we've added in more reuse, more parts harvesting, refurbishing, and now electronics recycling is a piece or an important piece of what we do. But it's really around asking, like, yeah, what else can we do? So if we think about the learnings here of the examples and specifically around creating new revenue out of these like waste products and waste items. Andrew, what would you say are the key learnings, especially from what you see at Circular Innovation Council, that other companies could really take with them as they're thinking about what they're gonna do within their companies?
Andrew Telfer:Yeah, um my goodness. Sustainability is so broad, circular economy is so broad, and that's such a broad question, too, and and so many answers. But if I think about it, um it really I I'm just I'm trying to put myself back in, like I led sustainability at Walmart Canada for over a decade, and I often think back to when I was a sustainability leader um within the organization and just put in charge or uh charged with like we have to lessen the impact on our environment. How do we do that? And I think you just go back to your roots and you go back, it's it's not rocket science, it's like where are we impacting the environment? Waste is one of them, and energy is another. Um, so so especially with those examples that I gave, and there's a lot more, it's it's about where where where is there waste? And if I could give another example, and this is um I get a I get a ton of information from Bruce Taylor over at Enviro Stewards, and he's awesome. And he goes, he goes right onto the manufacturing floor and takes a look. And the first question he asks, he goes, he uh gets his uh directions from the management, then he goes straight to the the staff on the floor and asks them point blank, where's their waste? Where is the waste coming from? Let's tackle it there. And this is what I love about Bruce is that um like you talk, like you you get so excited about like oh, recycling, recycling, recycling, and and how is we're we're keeping out a landfill and we're making new products. And Bruce is like, forget recycling, it's about reduction. Go go like there's more cost savings in the reduction and whatnot. And he has umptiening amount of stories. And in fact, it's funny, um, he actually shared uh a potato story, a frozen potato product story, uh case study with me in the last uh couple of weeks on benote that I was going to be talking on this on this uh podcast. But he was uh the case study that he shared with me is he was out west, um, and he's working with a uh frozen potato potato manufacturing frozen potato product, I guess. Uh, and he went to the line and said, Where's their waste? And as it turned out, where the cutter was, they there would always jam up and it would have waste. So they addressed that first and foremost, and it reduced, I don't know how many tons of waste saved, how many dollars. Um, so first and foremost, it's almost like you asked, like, what advice would you give to the other companies? It's like, well, start simple. What are the three R's? Reduce, reuse, recycle. And that's exactly how Bruce tackled it with this uh frozen potato uh product manufacturer. Where's the waste? Let's reduce the waste. Okay, we've tackled that. Now, what else do they have? Okay, you have offcuts coming out. How can we reuse them? Like, so just like the ginger beer example from greenhouse, we have outputs, how can they be reused? So now you're going through the arts, we reduce, reuse, then recycle. And it's like, okay, now these are like the very little bitty off-cuts kind of thing. Um, but instead of recycling or organically recycling them, how can you upcycle them and give them to another uh manufacturer? And Bruce actually, in the potato example that he that he gave, he actually hit all three R's. He said, first he reduced the waste, then we reused it in-house, and then what we couldn't, we actually upcycled the offcuts to another product manufacturer. And that's the whole um and sorry, I this is a total sustainability circularity geek or nerd when it comes to this. I love how cool the story is, and even that's Bruce and all the work that he does. Then there's uh Cher Cher Merriweather has a great story. Uh, back when she was leading um provision coalition, she was working with a um uh onion ring manufacturer, and of course the onion ring manufacturer wanted the the the round parts of the onions, so they cut off the top, they cut off the bottom, and they're like, Well, this is waste to us, these are rings. So they were they were recycling them and they're disposing of them, keeping them out of landfill, but then Cher connected them up with a vegetable broth manufacturer who doesn't care what the the the shape of the onion is, and then and so Cher connected them up, and lo and behold, guess what? They were actually close to one another, so it's like their supply chain was shortened, and the vegetable broth manufacturers before Cher connected them up with the uh iron ring offcuts or the onion offcuts, they were sourcing from outside of Canada, so now it's like a shorter supply chain, more resilient supply chain. Like that's what circular economy is all about. It's about um just reducing your impact on the environment and going through really the three Rs are how old are the three R's, but they still apply. Reduce, reuse, recycle. And that's I guess what I would say is where to where to start.
Stephanie McLarty:Yeah, I love reduce, reuse, recycle. It is so simple and it can be applied in so many ways. So basically, for other companies, look to where your waste is and apply the three R's with really the context of like what else can you do with this? And I think the other thing we've heard through you as well is the necessity to look elsewhere in terms of collaboration. There might be opportunities for your waste to become someone else's ways or someone else's input.
Andrew Telfer:Yeah.
Stephanie McLarty:Um and also I think, too, is thinking about your customers and what your customers want, because there might be a new business opportunity. Coming back to the door example, using the offcuts to create a different business line that appeals to uh customers in a different way or a different set of of your customers. I think that's really smart.
Andrew Telfer:I actually I have a can I share a story with you that I actually met the gentleman up at the Canadian Circular Economy Summit in April. Um he was from Hilti and Hilti like Hilti Tools and whatnot. And again, forgive me, I know enough to be dangerous, and and I but I was so excited when he was telling me the story. Um, and you and Stephanie, when you mentioned alternative business models or a different business model and what your customers want, totally Hilti jumped into my jumped into my mind. They're a great example, yeah. They've now come up and said, okay, what how can we um provide the the products that we do, and in their case tools, um, and they probably produce more, sorry, not a Hilti uh expert, but I know they provide tools and and other products. Um and they've come up with this concept, like product as a service. So it's almost like um like I I think a drill, I buy a drill and I'll use it for fairly often for drills, but I might buy a chop saw to build a deck, and then once my deck is built, that's That chop saw like sits in my garage, like collecting dust, kind of thing. And so they've come up with uh what they're calling a circular toolbox, and it's it's not necessarily a um a rental model, they're coming up with almost like a subscription model. So you subscribe to their use program or reuse program, and whenever you need a chop saw, uh you just you you have your subscription, so you get the uh ability to use their chop saw. And then when you're not uh done or when you're not using it anymore, you take it back and they handle the upkeep, they handle the repair and whatnot. And once a drill or a chop saw or what have you uh kind of comes to the end of its life or is really big like worn and whatnot, but it still may have some value to it, then they donate it and whatnot. Right. So there's so there's a social benefit. Maybe it's donated to Habitat for humanity. I'm making this, I'm not maybe I should watch myself, but but they donate it to good causes and whatnot. So, and that's what circularity sustainable is all about. It's not only the environmental benefits and the business benefits, but it's also the social benefits, also as well and whatnot.
Stephanie McLarty:So and that's a really great way to close out this conversation, Andrew. We talked about a lot. What would be one final piece of advice you'd leave our listeners with in terms of this whole area around thinking with a circular mindset to solve business problems and possibly even create new revenue?
Andrew Telfer:I think we all have to work towards changing the underlying model, get into the circular mindset, keeping products in and materials in use longer, however, you want to do that, whatever role you perform, how do you do that? And then all of a sudden, everybody who's working in what I like to say um purpose-driven jobs, I guess, like whether if they're working in CSR, sustainability or regeneration or what have you, all of a sudden their work is now and their efforts, they're gonna thrive and whatnot, and we'll be that much more successful. So if it's just one final thought or one final thing, I think we all have to work to change um the underlying economic model, almost bend it from linear into circular. And once we do that, a lot of our work, a lot of our efforts will um will thrive longer than not.
Stephanie McLarty:That's great advice. Thank you, Andrew, so much for being on the podcast. I love this conversation, so inspiring. And remember, if you are looking for a partner to help you repair, reuse, and recycle your electronics, we'd love to chat. Head on over to quantumlifecycle.com and contact us. This is a Quantum Lifecycle podcast, and the producer is Sanjay Trivedi. Thank you for being a circular future champion in your company and beyond. Logging off
