Background: FFR has partnered with Metabolic.nl to build a Material Flows Analysis for the entire city of Kansas City, MO. We are interested in adding adjacent cities in the KCMO metro area. See an example Metabolic’s report performed for Charlotte, North Carolina here and the scope of work here. Metabolic/FFR are in the scheduling/ contracting phase. The project has not yet kicked off. The material flows applied research will be combined with Venture Studio for local waste stream diversion into value added products/uses. Given the capital intensive nature of this industry, we are working on aligning ourselves with financial institutions like Paramount Bank and Arvest to purchase equipment as asset backed loans. For example, FFR introductions to Councilwoman Park-Shaw led to financing of KCMO recycle bins $5.5 million at 0% from Closed Loop Fund.
FFR CIRCULAR ECONOMY PORTFOLIO:
- FFR hosted a Circular Economy 101 and Circular Economy Deep Dive Workshop with Metabolic in 2022. Recordings can be viewed here: https://regeneration.us/circular-economy-studio/
- We have partnered with Metabolic.nl to build a Material Flows Analysis for the entire city of Kansas City, MO. See an example Metabolic’s report performed for Charlotte, North Carolina here. The Department of Public Works Director Michael Shaw has agreed to fund up to $60k for the MFA for the entire city and Metabolic/FFR are in the scheduling/ contracting phase. The project has not yet kicked off.
- The material flows applied research will be combined with venture development for local waste stream diversion into value added products/uses with a working group of multidisciplinary subject matter experts led by Darren Beck (former VP of Sustainable Brands, Sprint).
- Given the capital intensive nature of this industry, we are working on aligning ourselves with financial institutions like Paramount Bank and Arvest to purchase equipment as asset backed loans. For example, FFR introductions led to financing of KCMO recycle bins $5.5 million at 0% from Closed Loop Fund.
What is Circular Economy?
This is just a fancy way of saying Waste Management. Circular economy closes the inputs & output gaps of the material flow cycles relating to biological & technical materials. Simply said, we must design out waste & pollution. By leveraging Industrial Symbiosis, one industrial production’s waste becomes the input to another production: thus, eliminating waste & capturing value in the form of heat, feed stock, & discarded materials. As this implements at scale, adjacent operations can save money & become more vertically integrated.
Deloitte’s most recent “The Circularity Gap Report” estimates the “global economy is now only 7.2% circular.” This leaves 92.8% value on the table.
MacArthur Foundation research says that “if a circular approach was adopted in just five sectors (steel, aluminum, cement, plastic, & food); annual GHG emissions would fall by 9.3 billion tons of CO2 in 2050 with a market size of USD 2.1 trillion by 2030.” Anecdotally, we estimate the local KCMO Circular Economy current market size to be in the range of $50 million with no more than 20% market penetration.
