Why do circular business models fail to scale? Relying on a narrow business case

Circular business models can drive new revenue streams, build brand strength, customer loyalty, and market traction, while also unlocking value through resource efficiency, cost savings, and reduced risk to supply chain volatility. But there is often too much focus on short-term gains in revenue or sustainability and waste reduction metrics, while overlooking their full business value. In the third part of our mini series on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s new report: How not to fail: Avoiding 10 common pitfalls when scaling circular business models, we hear how, when circular business models are pitched primarily around sustainability, internal commitment is lower.Pippa is joined by the report’s lead researchers, Maddy Oliver and Ella Hedley, to explore why circular business models rarely scale without a strong, broad financial case. They also talk about the need for more commercial collaboration. Find out more by listening to episode 196, HolyGrail: see it, sort it, scale it, to learn how one business-led partnership came together to align on the technology and achieve scale.If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Your support helps us to spread the word about the circular economy.

Circular business models often fail when they’re designed without factoring how the business works, what the customers want, and what the product requires. These need to be considered together, not in isolation, to ensure that delivery, adoption, and revenue generation are possible at scale.Thinking about fit might feel obvious, but in this episode, we hear how many businesses often overlook these elements.In the second part of our mini series exploring the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s new report: How not to fail: Avoiding 10 common pitfalls when scaling circular business models, Pippa is joined by Maddy Oliver and Ella Hedley, who led the research on the paper.You’ll hear about three common pitfalls around strategic misalignment, and how to avoid them.If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Your support helps us to spread the word about the circular economy.  

What makes circular business models fail to scale? In this new four-part series, we’ll be exploring the common mistakes businesses make on their journey towards circularity.Based on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s new report: How not to fail: Avoiding 10 common pitfalls when scaling circular business models, Pippa is joined by Maddy Oliver and Ella Hedley, who led the research on the paper.You’ll hear about the experiences of pioneering companies, and learn about the practical steps that businesses can use to avoid common pitfalls and enable circular business models to reach transformative scale.In this episode, we explore:What opportunities circular businesses can offerHow the report came about, and why it focuses on failureWhy lacking a plan of scale from the outset is the first pitfall and some solutions to considerWhat happens when circular business models don’t align with the existing strategy of the business, and how to avoid thisExplore the reportIf you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Your support helps us to spread the word about the circular economy.

Have the current political and economic shocks actually created enormous opportunities for change?Can businesses currently working on transforming themselves, work together on driving an entire market transformation?And what role can the rest of us play in resetting the system and helping to shape that change?In this episode, Jonquil Hackenberg, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and Lindsay Hooper from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership discuss how catalysing market interventions and designing out competitive disadvantages can work to reshape our system.We know that complete market transformation is possible, we have already seen renewable energy progress, but no single business or group can do this alone. In this episode hear how:Market transformation differs from the incremental changes we’ve seen so far A system change will require building pre-competitive coalitions who all have a vested interest in change and supporting market making value chains By harnessing the power of both business and the private sector, we can work together for real transformationLearn more about commercial collaborationRead CISL’s report Competing in the Age of Disruption

Scaling the circular economy requires more companies to launch circular products and services, but many competitors transitioning towards the circular economy face similar barriers to scale.One way to address this is commercial collaboration, where businesses work together on issues that are not tied to their competitive advantage.In this episode, we’ll hear from Sarah Dodge and Mark Buckley from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation about how this can help to scale a circular economy.We’ll also explore how one initiative has helped address a bottleneck in post-consumer recycling. Hear how companies from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Plastics Mission worked together to develop a unified vision and enable high-quality plastic waste sorting at scale with HolyGrail 1.0. This evolved into HolyGrail 2.0, where joint investment in R&D was crucial in helping it get from concept to market in just a few years.To discuss the project, Sander Defruyt, Lead of Strategy & Thought Leadership for the Plastics Mission, is joined by Gian De Belder, Technical Director of Packaging and Sustainability at Procter & Gamble, and Margherita Trombetti, Project Manager at the European Brands Association (AIM).Watch or listen to the full episode to learn how:Cross-value chain collaboration was essential to align on the technology and achieve scaleGrowing interest allowed participation to grow from 31 companies in HolyGrail 1.0 to 176 in 2.0 The European Brands Association (AIM) facilitated the governance, confidentiality, and communications of 2.0Learn more about this business-led partnership, which was funded through member contributions and philanthropic funding from the Alliance to End Plastic Waste and the City of Copenhagen.Explore the full commercial collaboration collectionIf you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review or a comment on Spotify or YouTube. Your support helps us to spread the word about the circular economy.

It was a busy summer for the circular economy. In this episode, Seb brings you up to speed with some of the headlines and all in less than 10 minutes!Listen in to hear about:- The latest EU policy breakthrough: EPR for textiles- How new business models continue to gain traction across the retail sector- Why a group is advocating to scrap VAT on repairs in the UK- Why all of the news around critical minerals makes the circular economy an even more urgent solution around the world- What happened at the latest round of Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Geneva----Explore the articles Seb mentioned in this episode:1) EPR in EU (Vogue Business)2) Wider circular economy momentum in retail (The Conversation | BBC News | Trellis3) VAT on repair (The Guardian)4) Critical minerals geopolitics (circular economy link) (BBC News | Hindustan Times  | BBC News)5) What plastics treaty talks mean for circular economy and high ambition countries and businesses (BBC News)

As Climate Week NYC kicks off, what’s momentum like for the circular economy in North America?In this episode, Pippa’s joined by Danielle Holly, Executive Lead for North America at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, to explore how circularity is moving from theory to practice across the continent — and why that matters for business leaders looking ahead.They discuss:Circular economy progress in the US, Canada, and Mexico and why it’s a non-partisan issueWhy the language matters less than the on-the-ground actionSupply chain resilience, critical minerals, and business opportunityFind out more about the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s work in North America by signing up to the newsletter

Waste and pollution aren’t accidents—they’re the result of design. Which means we can design them out.Design is where it all begins – and where real change can happen. In this episode, host Pippa sits down with Joe Iles, Head of Design Activation at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, to discuss what circular design really means. In this episode hear about: How it differs from the traditional approachWhere the creative crossovers areWhy designers hold the power to shape a better systemFind out more about circular designThis conversation originally featured in episode 172: Circular design essentials: What every designer needs to know, published in February 2025.If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or a comment on Spotify or YouTube. Your support helps us to spread the word about the circular economy.

Amid rising emissions, rising temperatures, and the rapid rollout of material-intensive renewable energy systems that promise to curb them both, climate mitigation and adaptation are a central priority for China’s government. In this episode, host Seb talks to Lei Chen from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s China team. They go behind the headlines to look at:The role China could play in accelerating global circular transitionsWhy the circular economy could offer China a ‘triple win’ in achieving its climate ambitions. China probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of a circular economy. But maybe it should be. Read more in ‘The circular economy: a ‘triple play’ solution for achieving China’s climate objectives’This conversation originally featured in episode 166: China, climate, and the circular economy, published in November 2024.We hope you enjoyed the fourth of our five-part Circling Back series. If so, please leave us a review or a comment on Spotify or YouTube. Your support helps us to spread the word about the circular economy.

Could rethinking our cities through a circular lens be the key to future-proofing Europe whilst offering exciting investment opportunities?Join us in the third of our five-part Circling Back series of the Circular Economy Show, to hear host Lou Waldegrave speak with Julia Okatz from Systemiq and Joss Bleriot, Executive Lead for Policy and Institutions at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.They discuss how circular economy strategies can, by bringing nature back into our built environments, help us adapt to extreme weather—cooling down cities, restoring green space, and building resilience into every street—while generating substantial economic, environmental, and social benefits.From Paris to Berlin, and cities across the continent, Europe’s urban centres are feeling the effects of heat domes and climate stress. But, the circular economy offers a powerful, nature-positive way forward.Find out more about circular cities.This conversation originally featured in episode 159: How to build a nature-positive circular economy for Europe, published in September 2024.If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or a comment on Spotify or YouTube. Your support helps us to spread the word about the circular economy.