Circularity.fm

Hosted by Patrick Hypscher

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Episodes

110

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

Circularity.fm is the podcast about understanding, building and managing circular business models. Most episode showcase one specific organisation that runs a circular business model or a business model in the circular economy. This can be a startup, an established SME or a business field of a corporate. Hence, interviews are both about founding and funding a circular business as well as transforming an existing linear business to a circular one, be it in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa or Australia. The podcast focuses on experiences made in this build-up and transformation phase.

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60 recent

August 18, 2026Episode 11044 min

Unpacking the EPR Legislation for Textiles

Will the EPR regulation create incentives for a more circular textile industry? Alexander Sustal, Lawyer at Redeker Sellner Dahs, explains how Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) will change the economics of textile collection, sorting and recycling in Germany. The episode covers the status quo, the actors and financing flows an EPR scheme introduces, and the wider legal questions an EPR scheme raises. What you'll hear in this episode: • How the current market based system for used textiles is financed, why it is under pressure, and what an EPR scheme changes about who carries responsibility and who pays. • The roles of producers, Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs), registries and supervising authorities, and how fees are collected, calculated and distributed among them. • Why eco modulation links fees to eco design criteria such as durability, repairability and recycled content, and why the level of the fees may matter as much as the criteria themselves. The episode also covers end of waste criteria, and harmonisation across Member States.

August 11, 2026Episode 10930 min

Textile Collection, Sorting & Recycling: The challenges we need to overcome

How can Europe build a commercially viable circular textile system? In this episode, Louisa Hoyes, who has worked on building up textile circularity for the past 7 years, explains why building a circular textile system requires much more than advances in recycling technology. What you'll hear in this episode: • Why collection, sorting and recycling should be designed as one connected value chain rather than separate industries. • The commercial challenges of scaling textile circularity, including infrastructure investment, feedstock quality, demand for recycled fibres, and business model innovation. • How Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) can accelerate investment, improve traceability, and support fibre-to-fibre recycling. The episode also covers emerging recycling technologies, collaboration across the textile value chain, and the expected timeline for scaling Europe's textile circularity infrastructure.

August 4, 2026Episode 10818 min

How Textile EPR Will Influence Brands’ Business Model

From a brand's point of view, how should extended producer responsibility (EPR) be designed so that circularity pays off? Philipp Bonaventura from Schöffel explains where circular design already works, why the economics hold it back, and what the system needs to change. What you'll hear in this episode: • Why the barrier is economic, not technical: low collection volumes, weak sorting, and repair that doesn't cover its cost • How designing for repair differs from designing for recycling, and why material choice decides what can be recovered • Which fees reward durable, repairable products, and why harmonised rules across Europe matter The episode also covers what counts as a circular product, and why quality comes before recycled content. This is the second episode of the Textile EPR series.

July 28, 2026Episode 10720 min

Textile EPR in Germany: What Brands Need to Know

How can extended producer responsibility (EPR) pay for the infrastructure that circular textiles need? This is the first episode of the Textile EPR series. We talk to Lisa Oelze from Messe München about why textiles has become the most unsettled waste stream in Europe, and Jelica Ramirez from GRS PRO Textil about how extended producer responsibility will work in Germany. What you'll hear in this episode: • What the EU Waste Framework Directive actually changes for textiles • How a producer responsibility organisation works, and why Germany's competitive model differs from France • What's still undecided in German law, and why brands shouldn't wait for it The episode also covers why EPR money stays inside Europe while used clothing keeps leaving it.

July 7, 2026Episode 10626 min

Best Startups in Critical Raw Materials & Automated Disassembly

Which startups are solving Europe’s two key circular economy challenges: automated disassembly and critical raw materials recovery? This episode covers the Circular Technology Award, launched by Circular Republic and Knorr-Bremse, to back startups working in both fields. Matthias Ballweg, co-founder of Circular Republic, and Oliver Klug, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Knorr-Bremse, explain why they created the award, what they learned from the applicants, and why they paired prize money with proof-of-concept partnerships instead of funding alone. What you’ll hear in this episode: • Why automated disassembly is finally viable, and what the robots can now do that they couldn’t five years ago. • How two very different approaches recover critical raw materials in Europe: hydrogen to reclaim rare earth magnets, and low-temperature salts to pull metals from electronic scrap. • What corporates like Knorr-Bremse look for before adopting a startup’s technology. The four winning startups then present what they’ve built: Xavier Kohll from R3 Robotics and Tomaso Manca from Hiro Robotics winners in automated disassembly, Carlo Burkhardt from HyProMag and Fred White from DEScycle winners in critical raw materials recovery. This is the final episode of the IFAT Munich 2026 series, recorded live at the fair.

June 30, 2026Episode 10522 min

Circular Economy Startup Landscape 2026

Which areas of circular economy are attracting the most startup activity in Europe, and which ones are being left behind? Leonhard Teichert, Program Lead at Circular Republic, presents the findings of the Circular Economy Startup Landscape 2026. Bruno Rudnik, Managing Partner at SEF Ventures and host of the startup area at IFAT, adds the investor's view on financing and scaling hardware startups in this space. What you'll hear in this episode: • Where European circular startup activity is concentrated and where the map is almost empty: the sectors that are overcrowded and the ones nobody is building in yet. • What drives corporate adoption of new technology. • What founders building hardware-based circular solutions should know: when to talk to an investor, capital structure, customer sequencing, and how corporates actually make adoption decisions. This is the third episode in the IFAT Special series, recorded live at the IFAT Munich 2026

June 23, 2026Episode 10437 min

BDI & BCG Study: Where Circularity Pays Off

What is the economic potential of circularity? The Federal Association of the German Industries (BDI) asked Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to answer that for German industry. The report's authors, Claas Oehlmann of the BDI's Circular Economy Initiative and Alexander Meyer zum Felde of BCG, walk through the findings, with Nadine Braun of E.ON bringing the view from a company perspective. What you'll hear in this episode: • What the report found: in five sectors covering most of German industry, circular business models could double annual value creation, from 60 to 125 billion euros, by 2045. • Whether that number survives cannibalisation. If a car gets refurbished, that's one new car not sold, so does the potential still hold once you subtract the lost sales? • What companies can do today, without waiting for new regulation, and what still holds them back. Besides exploring the macroeconomic impact of the circular economy, the episode also looks at where circularity pays off for a company. This is the second episode of the IFAT Munich 2026 series, recorded live at the fair.

June 16, 2026Episode 10319 min

Circular Sovereignty Forum

Can Europe secure the critical raw materials it needs without stepping back from global trade? Recorded at the Circular Sovereignty Forum at IFAT Munich, with Susanne Kadner of Circular Republic, João Merico of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and Roland Gauß of EIT Raw Materials, on the link between circularity, geopolitics, and supply security. What you'll hear in this episode: • What companies actually want from EU regulation: predictability above all. First movers need to know the rules they invested in will not be reversed by the next reform. • Why recycling alone will not close the gap. Reuse, leasing, and product as a service have to scale alongside it, even when fast innovation cycles make reusing yesterday's components harder. • Why venture money is shifting toward Europe as US green subsidies are rolled back, and where Europe still loses ground on a level playing field. The episode also covers Europe's urban mines and the secondary raw materials in them, and the case for diversifying supply rather than concentrating it on single suppliers. This is the first episode in the Circularity.fm IFAT special, recorded at IFAT.

June 2, 2026Episode 10224 min

Startup Collaboration: How to Build Win-Win Partnerships

Why do startups and corporates need each other, and what makes the partnership work? Florian Fehr, Managing Director of NEEW Ventures, joins Patrick at IFAT and interviews three founders: Rajiv Singhal from Grensol, Stefan Delinde from Minimise, and Gary Lewis from Resourcify about their businesses and what makes a startup-corporate partnership work. What you'll hear in this episode: • Why startups and corporates operate at different speeds, and why that difference is the point of the collaboration • Three founders, three completely different business models built around partnering with corporates • What Florian calls the "secret sauce" of a partnership that works The episode also covers how NEEW Ventures operates as both venture builder and bridge maker for EEW. This is the final episode of the series Incineration in the Circular Economy, produced in sponsoring partnership with NEEW Ventures.

May 26, 2026Episode 10155 min

Sustainability Reporting: Turning ESG into Decisions

How does ESG reporting influence how a company is financed, run, and perceived? in this episode, Fabian Böhmer, Head of Sustainability at EEW, joins Patrick to discuss how ESG reporting can serve bankability, reputation, and internal decision-making. What you'll hear: • Why the business case matters in sustainability, and what happens when ecological, social, and economic dimensions are treated as one balanced system rather than competing priorities • What CSRD, ESRS, and the EU taxonomy actually require, and the difference between treating them as a reporting burden and using them as a strategic tool • How to make sustainability work land internally with different functions: the language that gets operations, finance, and the board on board The episode also covers how green bonds and ESG-linked credit conditions are reshaping the cost of capital, and why focus matters more than completeness when reporting to multiple stakeholders. This is the fifth episode of the series Incineration in the Circular Economy, sponsored by NEEW Ventures.