Here at the TLC, we strongly advocate for environmental and social sustainability. Many of the same societal structures that put our climate in jeopardy (such as overconsumption and fossil fuel pollution) have also impacted the wellbeing of populations around the world. In order for environmental initiatives to be sustained, human needs have to be met. We are inspired by projects that beautifully weave together environmental initiatives with social justice action. This fosters a more regenerative environment where nature and humans can both thrive.
Circular Allies: Basecamp Repairs is Extending the Life of Outdoor Gear through Repair
Victoria-based Basecamp Repairs was born when Alex and Nic met working for a national outdoor equipment retailer and realized many products were being returned or thrown away when they could be easily repaired. They had already been repairing their own gear for years, so why couldn’t they help others as well? The Basecamp mission is to reduce waste by extending the lifespan of outdoor equipment through repairs and maintenance.
Fashion Takes Action's Mechanical Recycling Pilot is Paving the Way for Textile Recycling in Canada
Fashion Takes Action is running a mechanical textiles recycling pilot that started in Fall 2021, to show the business case for full-circle textile recycling technology in Canada. The pilot will recycle used 100% polyester activewear into a consumer facing product, which to our knowledge, has never been done before.
Building a recycling pilot is no small feat. As part of our collaboration with FTA, we are supporting them in open sourcing the learnings from the pilot project. This blog series will be one way we are sharing the tips and tricks gathered as the pilot progresses. Our goal at the TLC is to help map the path to creating more recycling pilots across Canada and elsewhere.
Circular Allies: Shyne Eyewear is Making Affordable Eyewear Using Textile Waste
Shyne Eyewear is a student-run social enterprise from the University of Ottawa that aims to build a community of change makers who can move fashion forward into a sustainable future.
Circular Allies: Up Pet is Making Pet Accessories out of Landfill-Destined Textiles
Up Pet is a Canadian brand, creating upcycled accessories for pets and their humans. Up Pet officially began in 2019, while founder Clavia Castilhos was doing her post grad in sustainable fashion production at George Brown. She already had 10+ years experience working in the fashion industry in Brazil, and understood the nature of the industry’s challenges, especially textile waste. She was excited to learn about the Salvation Army challenge encouraging designers to upcycle post-consumer textiles, particularly home textiles and linens, to divert them from landfills. Being a lifelong pet lover, Clavia had also noticed a gap in the market for sustainable pet accessories. And so Up Pet was born!
Roadmap for Building a Textile Recycling Pilot - Fashion Takes Action
Fashion Takes Action is running a mechanical textiles recycling pilot that started in Fall 2021, to show the business case for full-circle textile recycling technology in Canada. The pilot will recycle used 100% polyester activewear into a consumer facing product, which to our knowledge, has never been done before.
Building a recycling pilot is no small feat. As part of our collaboration with FTA, we are supporting them in open sourcing the learnings from the pilot project. This blog series will be one way we are sharing the tips and tricks gathered as the pilot progresses. Our goal at the TLC is to help map the path to creating more recycling pilots across Canada and elsewhere.
Green Your Spring Clean with these BC Textile Reuse & Recycling Resources
Here at the Textile Lab for Circularity, we often get the question “What should I do with my old clothes/textiles?”.
It is a great question, with a not so clear answer. Our first suggestion is always reuse or repair if possible, but we understand that may not always be feasible. In this case, there are many great resources across BC for reuse and responsible disposal of textiles.
Reduce Your Fashion Footprint with these BC Repair and Alteration Resources
Before you donate or dispose of your clothing, consider whether it could be repaired or altered to extend its use. There are many great services locally to help you bring new life to your tired wardrobe. Support local AND reduce your closet’s impact, a win-win! Check out some of our favourites below:
Circular Allies: Shred Neoprene
Shred Neoprene is a social enterprise based in Tofino, BC with a mission to collect, grind and upcycle neoprene through innovative solutions and partnerships in Canada. Karen Hendry, Shred’s passionate founder, started the organization in 2021 after working in the surf industry and volunteering with Surfrider Foundation for many years, and learning about the wetsuit waste problem. With Tofino being a popular surf destination for both locals and tourists, surf shops and resorts offer wetsuit rentals year round, resulting in a high turnover of wetsuits. While the Surfrider Foundation has been collecting wetsuits through their Wetsuit Reincarnation Program for recycling in California since 2017 (saving 4.5 tonnes of neoprene from landfill), Hendry saw the need for a more local solution.
Fall 2021 Workshop: Building Your Circular Strategy
Are you looking for a way to reduce your impact on the environment, build resiliency in your supply chain, and sharpen your competitive edge? Have you set sustainability targets, but aren’t sure how to take them from idea to innovation? Or maybe you are overwhelmed by concepts such as sustainability and circularity, and unsure how they fit into your business model? We can help.
Circular Allies: Fashion Takes Action
Fashion Takes Action (FTA) is a non-profit organization established in 2007 to advance sustainability in the fashion industry through education, awareness, research and collaboration. They have gained global recognition over the last year through their successful WEAR Webinar Series, and the release of their latest report A Feasibility Study of Textile Recycling in Canada. Here at the Textile Lab for Circularity we are all about collaboration, and scaling existing projects that move the dial towards textile circularity. FTA Founder and Executive Director Kelly Drennan sits on the TLC’s expert advisory panel, and when we heard they were running a textile recycling project in Eastern Canada, we knew we wanted to get involved.
Building Capacity and Taking Action - Our New Programs
We’ve been listening to your feedback! As outlined in our previous post, we’ve refined our approach based on feedback we have received from our trusted industry network. We are in a unique position, building off of the results of the 2019 textile collaborative, which defined clear strategic leverage points. We are excited to announce our new programming, designed to address key pain points of the industry, while taking tangible action on our leverage points.
Building Capacity for Collaboration
Through our outreach efforts with local industry, we’ve identified a common thread: organizations want to take action on social and environmental issues, but aren’t sure how it fits into their business model. While pitching the original 2-year Lab, we heard folks asking for more individualized support embedding circular principles into their organizations. We see this as an important opportunity to build the capacity of the regional industry, and a key first step in fostering meaningful collaboration in the future.
What is a Social Innovation Lab?
Social labs are a leading edge method of stakeholder engagement, where “unlikely allies” are recruited and brought together in a space primed for collaboration. Through a series of facilitated workshops, the group will develop a comprehensive map of the social issue in question, and identify “leverage points” from which they can take action. Social labs are emergent in nature, and allow participants to pivot with the latest information rather than being tied to outdated plans developed in the past. Once the situation is adequately mapped, the group can then begin the iterative process of prototyping solutions.
Opportunities for the Circular Economy After COVID-19
Now more than ever consumers and businesses are aware of the effectiveness of collaboration and the interconnectedness of our global economy. We are aware of the risks and lack of resilience in our economic structure and existing supply chains. The private and public sector alike are looking for ways to build a resilient, low carbon and prosperous recovery with over 50 global leaders signing an agreement with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to build back better with the circular economy. What does this look like? What opportunities are there for the circular economy in the post COVID-era?
Innovation & Investment in Waste Management
The pandemic has revealed an opportunity and urgent need for innovation and significant investments in the recycling, composting and waste management space. Not only will solutions be needed to manage existing downstream waste, but also to develop new upstream manufacturing systems to avoid future waste. Many organizations have already taken up this challenge:
Terracycle has created collection boxes for used PPE waste, which will be cleaned, melted down and molded into new products.
The Government of Canada has announced two new industry challenges to develop more compostable or recyclable PPE, as well as the systems to recycle them.
New York based Zero Waste Daniel has begun making masks out of design room scraps. Small scraps that may be unsuitable for garments, can be sewn together to create unique mask designs, while diverting the waste from landfill.
French startup Plaxtil has developed a way to recycle masks and PPE into new protective items such as mask fasteners, door openers, protective visors, etc.
Economic Opportunity for the Sharing Economy
With decreased discretionary spending during and post-pandemic, retailers will need to re-evaluate their business models. Circular business models that incorporate rentals and prolong the lifetime of a product can grow revenue streams, enhance customer loyalty, and allow retailers to tap into a broader customer base. For example, retailer take-back programs and resell allow brands to generate a second revenue stream from a single garment and access a price-sensitive consumer that they were unable to reach with the original sale of the garment. Rental and sharing businesses are already recovering, despite initial COVID-19 setbacks. Airbnb has experienced a fast comeback, with some experts predicting that it will be the preferred accommodation option over hotels post pandemic. China’s YCloset, a clothing rental company has seen recovering sales as pandemic restrictions have eased up. This provides hope that other markets will experience a similar upturn as restrictions are lifted.
Resilient Supply Chains
Just-in-time supply chains traditionally strive to balance cost with responsiveness and resiliency tends to fall to the wayside. However, the global pandemic has brought to light the risks associated with these just-in-time models and the need to increase resilience. While there is certainly opportunity to bring supply chains closer to home reducing transportation emissions, perhaps an even more powerful outcome will be increasing collaboration with suppliers to build a more resilient system that emphasises worker health and safety and environmental performance.
Social Impact Business - B Corps, etc.
The social economy focuses on economic practices that are sustainable and inclusive.The social economy has played a significant role in mitigating the economic and societal impact of COVID-19 by providing innovative solutions that complement government initiatives. The demand for this economy has never been greater as the post-pandemic need for innovations that contribute to social and economic transformation will be significant. With increased governmental support and financial tools available to the social economy there is an opportunity now for businesses to step up, and join the growing group of social enterprises.
If the pandemic has done anything, it has woken us up to the reality we are facing. Beyond the pandemic is a looming climate crisis begging for immediate action. Climate change will only increase the risk for future disasters and public health crises. We need to take immediate action, and the transition to a circular economy is a crucial step. Going back to our initial question: Can we continue to advocate the transition to a circular economy during a global health crisis? Yes we can, and must. It’s time to build back better, not only to get through this pandemic, but to help prevent future public health and environmental crises.
References
Bosa, Deirdre. “Airbnb Is Poised for a Comeback after a Brutal Spring.” CNBC, CNBC, 16 June 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/06/16/airbnb-poised-for-comeback-after-brutal-covid-19-spring.html?utm_medium=website.
Chan, Emily. “Will The Fashion Rental Market Ever Recover From Covid-19?” British Vogue, British Vogue, 16 May 2020, www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/will-the-fashion-rental-market-recover.
“Covid-19 Insights - Build Back Better with the Circular Economy.” Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2020, www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/covid-19-insights-build-back-better-with-the-circular-economy.
Fox, Slone. “TerraCycle Solution Aims to Combat Surge in PPE Waste as Result of COVID-19.” Recycling Product News, 8 June 2020, www.recyclingproductnews.com/article/34058/terracycle-solution-aims-to-combat-surge-in-ppe-waste-as-result-of-covid-19.
Saltmarsh, Abigail. “Face Masks: New Solutions to Reduce Their Negative Impact on the Environment.” MedicalExpo e-Magazine, 16 Nov. 2020, emag.medicalexpo.com/face-masks-new-solutions-to-reduce-their-negative-impact-on-the-environment/.
“Social Economy and the COVID-19 Crisis: Current and Future Roles.” OECD, 30 July 2020, www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/social-economy-and-the-covid-19-crisis-current-and-future-roles-f904b89f/.
Sullivan, Paul. “Investing in Social Good Is Finally Becoming Profitable.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/your-money/impact-investing-coronavirus.html.
Whelan, Tensie, and Carly Fink. “The Comprehensive Business Case for Sustainability.” Harvard Business Review, 1 June 2017, hbr.org/2016/10/the-comprehensive-business-case-for-sustainability.
Wijayasundara, Mayuri. “Opportunities for a Circular Economy Post COVID-19.” World Economic Forum, 22 June 2020, www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/opportunities-circular-economy-post-covid-19/.
Covid-19 Waste and the Circular Economy
Despite Covid uncertainty, it is clear that new habits such as social distancing and wearing face masks are here to stay. While there is no doubt that face coverings help prevent the spread of the virus, we can’t help but wonder what the long term implications of mask-wearing are on our health, and the health of the environment. Is it possible to navigate the global pandemic safely, while also continuing ahead with waste diversion measures? Can we continue to advocate the transition to a circular economy during a global health crisis?
Introducing the Textile Lab for Circularity (TLC)
What is the TLC?
The Textile Lab for Circularity is a Social Innovation Lab*, with the goal of eliminating textile waste from landfill in the Greater Vancouver Area by 2040. Businesses tend to approach sustainability challenges individually, and miss out on the benefits of cooperation. By facilitating cross-sector collaboration within the textiles industry, we make large scale systems change possible. We break open innovation for the development of a circular textiles economy.
The Textile Lab for Circularity was born out of Sara Blenkhorn’s combined passions for sustainability and collaboration. It is now a joint venture between the non-profit charity SPEC and the BCorp, Leverage Lab.
Sara’s Background
Sara has always been passionate about sustainability. When she was 16, she moved to Mexico with her family, and became fascinated with a local lake restoration initiative. She watched as a non-profit assembled stakeholders from across industries to take a holistic, collaborative and systems approach to solving the problem. After witnessing the success of this strategy, Sara saw the power of collaboration, and its potential for powering systemic change. Collaboration, while it isn’t always easy, it often allows initiatives to go further. More folks are invited and engaged in the process and therefore feel a shared sense of ownership over the outcome. You may recall the classic saying: “If you want to go fast, go alone, and if you want to go far, go together”. From building shared community houses to network to businesses, Sara has been developing her ability to help groups of people collaborate for 15 years now.
After graduating with a degree in International Development, and a Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability, Sara worked with a leading consulting firm in Stockholm called The Natural Step. She began to understand the life cycles of business, and how sustainable practices could be embedded into those systems. She brought this thinking to Vancouver, where she started her own sustainability consulting firm. Besides lab development and facilitation, Sara’s services include BCorp consulting as well as Strategic Planning.
The Birth of the Lab
Initially, Sara applied the idea of cross-sector collaboration in her Peer Mentorship Exchange program, where groups of 5-7 values led businesses would form “pods” to share knowledge and and push each other's thinking for greater impact. One day, it occurred to her that convening groups around the same problem might have more power for impact. The first Leverage Lab was born, putting it on the map as one of Canada’s first Social Innovation Labs. The 2 year Lab was centered around helping values-led businesses differentiate themselves in the marketplace from the competition. It was a successful endeavor and the beginning of something much bigger.
Here is an example of one of the initiatives created together during the first Lab:
Sara took her learnings from this experience along with a curiosity for what larger wicked problems needed solving, to form another Social Innovation Lab. This lab connected 25 groups from across the Vancouver textile and waste diversion sectors, to research, map and prototype solutions on the issue of textile waste. Together, the participants were able to quantify the problem and developed a white paper called “Unraveling the Problem of Apparel Waste in the Greater Vancouver Area”. Other invaluable results of the Lab were the relationships formed between groups who never before had the opportunity to connect. This only confirmed the need for collaboration within the industry, and solidified how Sara and the Leverage Lab could be involved in facilitating collaborative change.
Leverage Lab to Textile Lab for Circularity - The Next Chapter
Sara and the Leverage Lab are excited to announce a partnership with Canada’s oldest charity SPEC (Society Promoting Environmental Conservation). Having sat on the SPEC board for 10 years, it was an obvious partnership for Sara, with an established relationship of trust - the main ingredient necessary for collaboration. This represents the next phase of the Leverage Lab, which will increase the Lab’s capacity for impact.
The lab now functions under the name Textile Lab for Circularity (TLC), with Leverage Lab as the Creative Innovation Partner, and SPEC as the Fiduciary Partner. We are excited to reveal our unique collaboration structure and Charter agreement, which we believe can pave the way for future social labs to follow.
After receiving funding from the Vancouver Foundation, Leverage Lab and SPEC partnered to develop an innovative structure for the TLC. The aim was to build a set of agreements as well as a governing structure for the TLC, but also for future labs to run. All agreements have been documented in a Charter Document. The Charter serves as the backbone structure for the lab as well as any future labs. It has a modular format allowing parties to swap in and out as needed. All players sign onto the Charter and adhere to the same agreements. This structure allows the lab to be both collaborative and flat. Governance of the project is overseen by the oversight panel and industry connections and insights are made through the expert advisory committee.
We are excited to introduce Sophia Yang as Project Producer for the TLC, who will be taking over operations, allowing Sara to focus on the facilitation and strategy aspects of the project.
Get Involved
Learn more about the TLC, and how to get involved here at our website, labforcircularity.com
The Textile Lab for Circularity is actively looking for members for its Expert Advisory Panel. Please get in contact if you would like to get involved!
Donate to our project through the SPEC Canada Helps page (choose TLC from the dropdown).
Learn about the Leverage Lab’s B Corp Consulting services at theleveragelab.com