WDon’t be Linear, be Circular!

By Mark Jenkinson, Director, Crystal Associates and Vice President,

e started the month with an introductory webinar on the circular economy and are due to end the month with a circular economy conference at IKEA Greenwich on Thursday 23rd October as part of London Circular Economy Week (#CEweek2025).

So, what is the Circular Economy (CE), I hear some of you ask!

Here’s a brief description from CE expert and fellow Chamber member, Elodie Baran.

“The circular economy is all about making the most of what we've got and keeping resources in play for as long as possible. It's a golden opportunity to rethink how we create value, build stronger relationships, and uncover new resources, all while cutting costs.

Businesses adopting circular practices find themselves better equipped to navigate market volatility and respond to change. They discover fresh revenue streams, drive down expenses, and gain the satisfaction of contributing to a more sustainable future. In today's business landscape, that's not just good ethics – it's smart strategy.”

Circular economy webinar

In the webinar on 1st October, Elodie and colleague Anne Barrett shared that in the UK we throw away £22 billion worth of edible food, £4.5 billion in clothes and £2.5 billion in furniture every year.

The linear economy, sometimes referred to as the take-make-waste economy, is a system where resources are extracted to make products that eventually end up as waste and are thrown away. It is a polluting system that degrades natural systems and is the driver of global challenges, including climate change and biodiversity loss.

However, using resources more efficiently as part of a circular economy system approach has the potential to deliver a £25 billion GDP boost to the UK economy by 2035, as well helping the environment. We also heard of a simple case study of a café which avoided 85,000 paper cups, 1 tonne of waste and 4t CO2 by taking three circular economy principles of refuse, reduce and reuse.

If you missed the webinar, it’s well worth watching the recording.

New Sustainability page!

So where can you find the webinar recording? You can always go to the usual place under the helpfully named “RECORDED WEBINARS” section on the Main Menu of our website.

But now you have no excuse as we’ve created a new “SUSTAINABILITY” tab. (https://www.selondonchamber.org/ sustainability/)

Here you can find this and our other sustainability-focused webinars, as well as summaries and reports from our sustainability tours and events – such as the Greener Greenwich Summit –previous editions of this ‘climate column’, member case studies, links to what our five boroughs are doing in respect to sustainability and links to useful tools and resources.

Sustainability Tour - Cory

One tour you will see featured on the new web page is our visit to Cory.

On 7th August, SELCC Sustainability Group members and other practitioners made their way to Cory’s energy from waste (EfW) facility in Belvedere in the borough of Bexley where around 25% of London’s waste is turned in to heat.

As well as experiencing the waste journey in the Riverside 1 facility, we saw Riverside 2. When complete, the new facility will be one of the largest and most efficient EfW facilities in the UK, processing 650,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste generating enough electricity to power 176,000 homes each year.

We also heard about plans for a green innovation hub including a major carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, which could capture c. 1.4 million tonnes of CO2 per annum by 2030.

Anchored in Greenwich (AiG) Decarbonisation sub-group

On 1st September I chaired the first AiG Decarbonisation sub-group on-line meeting. Organised by the Royal Borough of Greenwich, attendees included representatives from Alcatel Submarine Networks, London South East Colleges, South East London Community Energy, and the University of Greenwich.

Topics and projects discussed included the decarbonisation of homes (including skills development), decarbonisation of non-domestic buildings, the calculation of Scope 3 emissions, roll out of green travel plans and of course, circular economy!

What’s

next?

As already mentioned, we will be holding the Circular Economy conference at IKEA Greenwich on Thursday 23rd October as part of London Circular Economy Week (#CEweek2025) –possibly as this latest edition of The Masthead is at print.

On Wednesday 12th November, we plan to hold an ‘Introduction to Solar’ webinar with SELCC member Green Shield Group and SELCE (South East London Community Energy). Solar was one of the 17 initiatives proposed at the Greener Greenwich Summit 2024 and is hugely topical for a number of Chamber members.

And although 2026 may feel a long way away, I am super excited to share we will be holding an Executive Lunch on Thursday 29th January with the London Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Mete Coban MBE. Put the date in your calendar and check out the website to book your seat.

And finally (or not!)

Following a circular economy system approach isn’t just for one week or one month – it needs to become business as usual.

So maybe take Elodie and Anne’s advice shared in the webinar and take some simple steps: map your value chain, pick one opportunity to minimise waste and/ or maximise resource efficiency and then “learn and expand”.

Shout if you need help and make sure you join us at future events.