Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Antonella Ilaria Totaro is an expert in circular economy and sustainability, which she has been working on for years between the Netherlands and Italy. She holds a Phd in Innovation for the Circular Economy at the University of Turin and is Head of Production and Communication of the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food podcast. On Renewable Matter she is responsible for the Startup section.

InStock Recovers 500 Tonnes of Food

Name: InStock Sector: Catering Supplies from salvaged food Plus: InStock transforms food surplus into products served in restaurants, catering companies and food trucks Character...

Evoware, the Algae Based Packaging that Disappears

Name: Evoware Sector: New bioplastic materials Plus: Biodegradable and edible packaging for food and other products made from algae  Characteristics: Design and product...

Re-designing the Future

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation “A circular economy is one that is restorative and regenerative by design.” The big challenge for innovators and pioneers is to desi...

Cleaning Our Oceans? No Lack of New Ideas

Over the past few years, a trending environmental issues has been that of marine litter. It is a problem affecting many countries around the world. Contrary to what usually occurs, marine litter is ...

In Singapore the Air-con Runs as a Service

Everything started around eight years ago when Kaer’s CEO, Justin Taylor, sat down with the chairman and senior directors to begin a conversation on how to innovate the company and generate ad...

Growing Bricks from Bacteria with bioMASON

Name: bioMASON Plus: Construction materials grown from bacteria at room temperature Sector: New Materials Characteristics: bioMASON employs natural microorganisms for the production of ind...

W.r.yuma: Spectacles from Plastic Bottles and Dashboards

Name: W.r.yuma Plus: Products from recycled materials Sector: First ever 3D printed sunglasses from plastic waste Characteristics: Old car dashboards, plastic bottles and fridge ...

Winnow: Saving Food by Analysing Waste

Name: Winnow Plus: Technology for tracing and reducing food waste by monitoring rubbish bins Sector: Technology Characteristics: Winnow identifies different categories of bi...

STRATA, the Modular Furniture System

Name: STRATA Plus: Modular furniture system for landlords Sector: Circular business model – New design Characteristics: A new modular furniture system for landlords an...

The Indian Way towards Zero Waste

The Saahas Zero Waste model comes from Bangalore, India’s technological capital. It concentrates on partnerships with large companies, Extended Producer Responsibility and recycling to formali...

Upcycling our Buildings

In architecture it is possible to combine aesthetics, sustainability, quality and harmony with the surrounding environment. Out of Denmark emerges the example of Lendager Group, an architecture firm...

Closing the Circle is Just One Option

Photo by Mirjam Verschoor   Two Germans in the kingdom of the Netherlands. A great big slice of the Dutch circular economy is based on the vision of Thomas Rau and ...

Jeans for Rent

Swedish label Filippa K has been one of the leading companies in sustainable, circular fashion since 1993. As its founder, Filippa Knutsson, claims “inspired by my needs, I have created a bran...

Fair Smartphones

Can we build a smartphone that is made to last, without having to choose between quality and production-chain ethics? There is no doubt in the Dutch Fairphone offices: the answer is yes. For a numbe...

Of This House Nothing Will Go to Waste

Building and refurbishing buildings through a closed-loop marketplace based on surplus and reusable materials, this is the idea behind Enviromate. Created by Reiss Salustro-Pilson and Nigel Van Wass...

Recycling is Better than Mining

Karmenu Vella, the European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, has recently defined Umicore as “great example of a company that has completely reinvented itself to m...

Circulating Capital

  These are the questions that for over a decade Jamie Butterworth has tried to answer. The former Ellen MacArthur Foundation CEO has become one of the founders and partners of Circularity C...

Bottom-up Funding

Funding the circular economy is not easy. Funding a start-up in the circular economy is complicated. Funding a start-up with a circular business model (product-as-a-service) becomes almost prohibiti...