Helen Keller said, "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Building a better world is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation, and consensus. Circularity, like supply chain, is becoming more popular in business discussions. However, we are at an inflection point where there are no good choices in a bad system. It’s powerful because we inadvertently make decisions that are “less bad” rather than designing solutions that proactively solve wicked problems 100 years from NOW. How do we get the public, private, and social sectors to collaborate? How do make the transitions real for marginalized communities and shift the paradigm that circular economy is a siloed “project”? How do we design solutions that fit the world proactively?

"It takes courage to forge a true partnership. It takes compromise. It takes respect for one another’s goals, experiences, knowledge, processes, and approaches. It takes courage, if you are a donor institution or an NGO, to accept that your private sector partner has a goal, even an obligation, to drive business value—that is, to ultimately profit from this work. And that is a valid goal, and should be embraced as part of the partnership.” (Deidre White of Pyxera Global)

Episode 28 is a 3 part series of lightning talks with John Holm from Pyxera Global. In this episode he explores how public, private, and social sector organizations engage to address global challenges to solve the world’s biggest problems, including the low hanging fruit in circular transition. He also describes the circular cities model and zero waste communities (btw he LOVES waste pickers and is a huge advocate)!

As cities embrace the concept of the circular economy by reducing the amount of waste and working to decouple economic activity from the consumption of finite resources, making it real and accessible for consumers becomes critical. We also discuss the lack of recycling infrastructure in the United States and how mayors can help influence circular models. How can we shift business to service contracts versus selling more products? We unpack a few examples and the benefits of using P-a-a-S (product as a service).

Part 2 - Episode 29 explores "Sustainable Development & the SDGs, Have We Failed the Global Development Community with the Wrong Context, Womens Rights and Building an Equitable Society"

Part 3 - Episode 30 explores "How to Frame and Lead the Business Case for Sustainability and Circular Economy, Ocean Plastics & PPE, and the Sea Change in Circular Products in Footwear & Apparel"

Reach out, connect, learn more, and get started...

Find John Holm, Pxyera Global at https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnholm/ & https://www.pyxeraglobal.org/

Find us, connect, and explore at https://www.supplychainrevolution.com/