Project MainStream is part of the World Economic Forum’s Circular Economy initiative. In january three new programs was launched focused on developing ways of scaling the circular economy through materials management, information technology and business model innovation.

I like the name of this project: Project MainStream. This is exactly what we wanna do, make the thoughts of a circular economy mainstream. The program is a good start to scale circular economy.

The aim is to advance collaboration across three major supply chains in 2015 to ”address current bottlenecks and leakages that result in loss of material value. The project is driven by a steering board comprising the CEOs of Brambles, Brightstar, BT, Desso, Royal DSM, Ecolab, Indorama Ventures, Kingfisher, Royal Philips, Suez Environnement and Veolia. MainStream says it is also seeking to work with global Foundations and NGOs in this next phase of the project.

Plastic packaging

Annual material demand for PET and polyester, which is used in plastic bottles and the textile industry, totals about 54 million tons, of which roughly 86 percent leaks out of the system, says MainStream. This program aims to close the gap between design of packaging and the design of municipal systems, which are developed in isolation and result in almost all packaging being made from virgin materials, and used just once.

Paper and paperboard

Total annual production of paper and paperboard will amount to about 480 million tons in 2020, according to MainStream. The program aims to define a set of simple design rules, with specific focus on chemical additives and inks, which could become a benchmark for policy makers around the world. Some 130 million of those tons leaks out of the system and can be addressed by this program — the economic value of this leakage is worth an estimated $10 billion.

Asset tracking

Globally, consumer electronics and household appliances with a cumulative value of roughly $390 billion reach end of life each year, MainStream says. However, the Industrial Internet and The Internet of Things has barely been deployed to extend across the length of and value of products’ lives. This asset tracking program seeks to develop a design and implementation toolkit that includes technology choice, consumer incentives and collaborative information sharing architecture. Asset tracking could help unlock a potential value of about $52 billion annually in these sectors alone through more reuse, remanufacturing and recycling.”

Source: Sustainable brands News and Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation that started working on this one year ago, now it finally has been launched.

Sustainable brands News