Vintage platforms hit the jackpot

After turning the New York Fashion Week catwalk into a secondhand resale platform, second hand retailer Thredup has been valued at $1.3bn after filing for an IPO. The company, founded in 2009, has processed over 100 million secondhand …

UN produces bleak statistics for Irish food waste

Irish households and cafés are dumping food at a rate of more than 100kg per person every year, according to a recently published UN report. The 2021 Food Waste Index Report found that 17% of all food produced worldwide …

The Fairphone of laptops has arrived

Weighing in at 50 million tons and valued at $57 billion annually, e-waste is the globe’s fastest growing waste stream. With the average EU citizen creating 16kg of e-waste, the need to design long-lasting, repairable hardware and tech products is …

Product designers find sleek new uses for PPE

In the design world, Q1 of 2021 saw a continuation in material innovation, with designs released that aim to highlight plastic waste caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular disposable face masks and Personal Protective Equipment. Estimates suggest that …

Cradle-to-Cradle launches Product Standard 4.0

The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute has recently updated its product standard, now in it’s fourth version. According to the institute, the Cradle to Cradle Certified​®​ Product Standard Version 4.0 is “the most ambitious and actionable standard yet for …

Have your say: The future of circular product design

The EU has launched its Sustainable Products Initiative, which is now open for public consultation until June 9th. The initiative has an aim of making products more sustainable by proposing new and additional legislative measures across electronics and ICT, textiles, …

EU and UK legislate for Right to Repair

The Right to Repair is taking off across Europe.

After the EU parliament voted in favour of creating stronger “right to repair” rules, companies that sell some electronics within the EU (such as refrigerators, washers, hairdryers, and TVs) will need …

EU takes steps on circular elements of the European Green Deal

The start of 2021 saw the EU take concrete steps towards implementing its New European Bauhaus initiative, which has set huge circular ambitions for the European design community. Recently it announced that renowned architects Bjarke Ingels and Shigeru Ban alongside …

Pritzker Prize win marks circular shift in architecture world

Architects Anne Lacaton & Jean-Philippe Vassal, founders of Lacaton & Vassal who are best known for their refurbishment and retrofitting work, have won the 2021 Pritzker Prize: the Oscars of the Architecture world.

The jury lauded the French architecture studio …

Eco Eye and the Rediscovery Centre