Meanwhile, more people are looking towards circularity as one of the solutions. But what does circularity mean today? Is it simply yet another buzzword? What does it mean for a product to be 100% circular, and can it in fact be profitable?
On a cool, clear day by the Oslo fjord, these are questions that Norwegian companies Circmar, together with AION, are ready to talk about. Circmar, as a node in building a new type of service and AION, as creator of a new generation of products. Based out of Oslo, the two companies have joined forces, exploring the possibility of making a product and a service that are both 100% circular.
Part 1: A pallet made from waste
– In a way it’s simple. We create the product and Circmar builds the system around it, says Runa Haug Khoury, CEO of AION.
She’s been on a path of environmental tech-meets-business models for the entirety of her career and speaks about circularity with the confidence of a visionary. Stating how she fundamentally believes the world needs entirely new companies, with ideas that can be commercialized on an industrial scale, Haug Khoury is determined to make an impact.
– Closing the loop by going from linear waste to circular use on these big volumes of plastic, is an efficient and important way to cut CO2 emissions in the value chain of companies, says Haug Khoury.
A key element to Circmar’s service and the question of whether a product can be 100 % circular, is the AION-developed, reusable pallet, upcycled from “big bags” used by the seafood industry for transporting enormous volumes of fish feed. These single-use polypropylene bags have until now been a big source of waste in the seafood value chain. But no more, elaborates a Susie Jahren, Chief Circular Product Officer at AION.
– You see, designing something for a circular system is somewhat of a new approach, where a product idea often comes from studying materials as a resource, rather than the other way around. What we found in the big bags, happened to match what we needed in pallets.
The pallets, Jahren explains, are a perfect example of a high-quality product developed from 100% upcycled materials. Sourced from the marine industry itself, the ingredients are completely traceable. Reborn as pallets with excellent material properties, what used to be waste is now suddenly fit to serve as a workhorse industrial load carrier for years on end.
But even better yet, with Circmar’s system, once a pallet breaks or wears out over time, it will be returned back to AION, who grind it down and reuse its materials to make new pallets or other circular products. The plastic is now where it belongs, in a closed loop. Entirely circular.
Part 2: A circular service
– Together with collaborators like AION, we are creating a smarter way to transport seafood, says Espen Ramsbacher, CEO of Circmar.
Along with his three co-founders, Ramsbacher came up with the idea for the company in 2020. Their combined experience in aquaculture, shipping, logistics, and circular economy, provided the insight and motivation to get the ball rolling.
In cahoots with AION, Circmar is now in the process of scaling their circular service, offering a cleaner and more efficient way for seafood companies to deliver their fish.
With a premium, upcycled and circular pallet at the base, Circmar’s role is to build a complete service around this product, making sure that enough pallets are where they need to be, cleaned up and ready for use at any given time.
Assembling a diverse team of partners has been key for the young Norwegian company. Circmar is the center of the hub, gathering insight, working out kinks and setting wheels in motion.
–We are the node that connects a network of world leading partners.
It has to be profitable
Back at AION, CEO Runa Haug Khoury enthusiastically rests her hand on a shiny, light turquoise, injection molded prototype.
– The exciting thing has been to experience how our two circular models can complement each other so well, she proclaims with inspired energy.
One of the main barriers for sustainable solutions is cost. By doing away with the throwaway mentality of a linear system, Haug Khoury argues that the financial effects of this project are abundant. Of course, there’s an upfront cost, she says, but it will be made up for quite fast.
– Up until now, the seafood industry has had a super linear way of dealing with pallets, Khoury explains. Single-use wooden pallets are costly to produce, and while lumber prices are on the rise, trees may not be as expendable going forward.
A change in favor of reusable pallets, means Circmar can use each pallet a hundred or even 200 times over. Then, each pallet can return to AION’s material loop, be reborn again and continue its path for thousands more uses.
– Of course there is a financial gain to reuse as well, says Jørgen Lindeman, founding partner and COO of Circmar.
With less time spent on waste management, less capital tied up in pallets, and cost reduction from reusing pallets, Lindeman ensures that the solution is future proof and valuable.
– Our rental model proves sustainable, both for the environment and the finances.
– This is a win-win-win-win-case
Excess bulk and weight of wooden pallets is yet another problem eliminated by AION’s space efficient product design.
– Testing shows that our pallets are quickly being favored by anyone working on the floor in the supply chain, says Nils Henrik Parborg, product design director at AION.
Tasked with creating an efficient and hygiene-friendly design, Parborg is happy to report that the new pallets stack up three times as efficiently as their wooden predecessors. This means less money spent on storage, and space saved on return freight.
– Designing a product like this is not about looks. It’s all about function, and being able to predict what the product must endure, says Parborg.
A sturdier construction also makes for more load per pallet, and workers are less injury prone. It all sounds too good to be true, right?
– Everything about this system is better, compared to what we have now, says an invigorated Runa Haug Khoury.
Why not let waste become an asset, Khoury asks rhetorically, adding one last interesting effect to the equation: big bags now have a place to go. With regulatory tightening on the horizon, she may very well have a point, suggesting that the seafood industry would be wise to deal with their plastic footprint sooner rather than later.
Circmar’s Espen Ramsbacher supports that sentiment.
– Not only is it possible to make a circular product and incorporate it into a circular service, with positive impact on a company’s environmental accounting, he says.
– Our concept proves it can be profitable as well.
