134 Jane Martin of City to Sea: powering refill & reuse on-the-go

Circular Economy Podcast

To mark World Refill Day 2024, we talk to Jane Martin, the CEO of City to Sea, a campaigning non-profit with a mission to prevent plastic pollution at source.

World Refill Day is a global campaign to prevent plastic pollution and help people live with less waste. It’s a day of action each year, designed to create an alternative vision of the future and to accelerate the transition away from single-use plastic towards refill & reuse systems.

City to Sea develops and supports upstream solutions to give individuals, communities and businesses practical ways to replace single-use plastic in their lives, shopping baskets and operations.

City to Sea are specialists in behaviour change and creative communications and they develop innovations including the Refill app and Refill Return Cup to shift the dial from linear to circular.

For the past five years Jane Martin has been working as Head of Development at City to Sea, leading project work developing refill and reuse infrastructure in food-to-go and retail sectors, and she has recently been promoted to CEO.

Jane has broad experience across environmental, FMCG, retail, and culture sectors. In ten years’ time Jane wants to “look back and see a transformed circular economy where we value all the precious resources in the system and where we’ve abandoned our damaging throwaway culture.”

Jane summarises a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which categorizes packaging refill & reuse systems into four types: refill on-the-go, refill at home, return from home, and return on-the-go.

Each of those four categories has its own challenges around user needs, logistics, infrastructure and control systems. City to Sea focuses on refill on-the-go and return on-the-go, and we unpack those.

Jane talks about some of the practical schemes that City to Sea has supported, and shares the insights and learnings gleaned so far.

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Read on for more on our guest and links to the people, organisations and other resources we mention.

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Links we mention in the episode:

Catherine’s work:

• Circular Economy Podcast on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/showcase/circular-economy-podcast/
• Circular Economy Podcast website: circulareconomypodcast.com
• Catherine Weetman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-weetman-9419107/
• A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business – buy from any good bookseller, or direct from the publisher Kogan Page, which ships worldwide (free shipping to UK and US) https://www.koganpage.com/CircEcon2
• Interactive podcast index https://www.rethinkglobal.info/circular-economy-podcast-index/
• Rethink Global www.rethinkglobal.info
• Sign up to get the podcast player and shownotes for each new episode emailed to your inbox

Links for our guest:

• City to Sea citytosea.org.uk
• Refill refill.org.uk
• Cup Guide Report The Future Is Returnable
• News story on our website on attitudes to reuse in the UK
• Sing the DINE IN Petition
• Find resources to support World Refill Day Here
• Reuse systems, including the 4 types of reuse and refill packaging systems https://www.refill.org.uk/about/what-is-reuse/

Books, people and organisations we mentioned:

• Jeremy Grantham interviewed on Nate Hagens’ The Great Simplification podcast: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/99-jeremy-grantham (Nate Hagens and co-founder of GMO Financial Holdings, Jeremy Grantham, discuss how finance, human population, ecology, and pollution interact to shape current trends and what they could tell us about the future.)
• GoUnpackaged https://gounpackaged.com/
• Episode 36 – Dan Dicker of Circular&Co Circular&Co invent award-winning products and solutions that keep our materials and finite resources in use for as long as possible, whilst preventing them from ever reaching landfill or our oceans. They work with global brands, reinventing today’s waste into tomorrow’s Circular products. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/episode-36-dan-dicker-of-circular&co/
• 97 Alice Mah – Plastic propaganda. Alice Mah, Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, helps us unpick the propaganda about plastics and their role in a circular economy. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/97-alice-mah-unpicking-plastic-propaganda/
• 107 Sian Sutherland – plastic is last century’s material. Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, says plastic is last century’s material. Solutions platform PlasticFree.com empowers us to replace it. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/107-sian-sutherland-plastic-is-last-centurys-material/82
• 108 Sian Sutherland (part 2) fixing plastics can fix so much else… Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, says we can reinvent a happier, healthier future: by fixing plastics, we can fix so much else. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/108-sian-sutherland-fixing-plastics-can-fix-so-much-else/
• Maria Westerbos – Plastic Soup Foundation. Maria Westerbos founded the Plastic Soup Foundation to raise awareness about the health risks from plastic in everyday products, and how we can switch away from it. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/82-maria-westerbos-plastic-soup-foundation/
• 84 Jo Chidley – Reposit – reusable packaging. Jo Chidley is co-founder of Reposit (the new brand name for ReRe), a buy anywhere, return anywhere, reuse anywhere alternative to single-use packaging for a wide range of consumer products. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/jo-chidley-reposit/
• 73 Tom Szaky – Loop – the convenience of prefill. Tom Szaky, founder of TerraCycle, tells us how big brands use the Loop reusable packaging platform to bring the convenience of prefill to high streets everywhere. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/73-tom-szaky-loop-the-convenience-of-prefill/
• 103 Algramo – Refill the future. Reusable packaging startup Algramo is going from strength to strength, and we hear why customers in Chile, the US and the UK are buying into this. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/103-algramo-refill-the-future/
• 42 – Brian Bauer of Algramo. A Chilean startup that refills product by the gram from vending machines. These refills provide better value for money as well as offering convenience and reducing waste. Algramo is working with Unilever, Colgate Palmolive and other brands, and is expanding to the US and Europe. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/episode-42-brian-bauer-of-algramo/
• 36 – Dan Dicker of Circular&Co. Circular&Co invent award-winning products and solutions that keep our materials and finite resources in use for as long as possible, whilst preventing them from ever reaching landfill or our oceans. They work with global brands, reinventing today’s waste into tomorrow’s Circular products. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/episode-36-dan-dicker-of-circular&co/
• 13 – Beth Massa of ARK Reusables. Ozarka offers returnable, responsible, sustainable, zero-waste takeaway boxes for prepared food businesses, through food outlets in Amsterdam and Utrecht in the Netherlands. Its ARK Reusables food-to-go containers are made from reusable recyclable silicone, and pack flat so they are easy to carry. https://www.rethinkglobal.info/episode-13-beth-massa-ark-reusables/
• UNEP’s interactive page and maps on plastic packaging, which includes tips for what we can all do https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/

Jane Martin, CEO of City to Sea

Jane says: “City to Sea is a not-for-profit campaigning organisation on a mission to prevent plastic pollution at source. Our upstream solutions give individuals, communities and businesses practical solutions to replace single-use plastic in their lives, shopping baskets and operations. We are specialists in behaviour change and creative communications and develop innovations such as the Refill app and Refill Return Cup to shift the dial from linear to circular.

As Head of Development at City to Sea for the past five years I have been leading our project work developing refill and reuse infrastructure in food-to-go and retail sectors. Working with public sector partners, funders and innovators we have undertaken extensive consumer research and designed innovative solutions to shopping with less waste.

Personally, I have broad experience across environmental, FMCG, retail, and culture sectors and have recently completed a master’s at University of Bristol in Strategy, Change and Leadership. My new role as CEO will put all this to the service of our vital mission. In ten years’ time I hope to look back and see a transformed circular economy where we value all the precious resources in the system and have abandoned our damaging throwaway culture.”

Playlist: getting started with the circular economy…

Want to know more about the what the circular economy really is, and how it can help your business? Here’s a playlist to help you get to grips with the concept, how it creates value, and the common myths (spoiler alert – it’s much more than recycling!)

• #1 What is the circular economy: A quick intro to explain what the circular economy is and why it’s important. We explore how it helps create better products and services, and at the same time helps to make a better world. I break it down into my 5 circular economy components, helping you think about each part of your business.
• #2 The linear economy and your risk checklist: We dig a bit deeper into the way we do business now, the linear economy, and why that’s creating problems for business, society and our living planet. Also, we’ll look at the risks that emerge from those big-picture issues, and how they might affect your organisation.
• #90 Does circular mean it’s sustainable? Catherine Weetman is worried that companies are using circular economy solutions to grow their business (and their footprints).
• #101 Circular is better for people, planet and profit! How three simple strategies can help you get started with circular and regenerative solutions that are better for people, planet and profit.
• #120 Priorities are changing: people find life is better when we care for and share things – circular economy strategies make that better for business, too.

And here’s Catherine’s guide: What is the circular economy?

Want to dig deeper?

Why not buy Catherine’s award-winning book, A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business. This comprehensive guide uses a bottom-up, practical approach, and includes hundreds of real examples from around the world, to help you really ‘get’ the circular economy. Even better, you’ll be inspired with ideas to make your own business more competitive, resilient and sustainable.

Please let us know what you think of the podcast – and we’d love it if you could leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts. Or send us an email…

Please let us know what you think of the podcast – and we’d love it if you could leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts. Or send us an email…

Podcast music

Thanks to Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow, otherwise known as the brilliant, inventive and generous folk duo, O’Hooley & Tidow for allowing me to use the instrumentals from the live version of Summat’s Brewin’ as music for the podcast. You can find the whole track (inspired by the Copper Family song “Oh Good Ale”) on their album, also called Summat’s Brewin’. Or, follow them on Twitter.

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