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Which products are worth refurbishing, and how can manufacturers get them back in usable condition? Julie Fournier, responsible for circular economy at Legrand, and Kevin Chen, Director of Consulting at Circul'R, discuss how to select the right circular strategies for different products and organize take-back systems across a portfolio of more than 300,000 product references. What you'll hear in this episode: • How to identify products suitable for refurbishment, considering customer demand, product value and design for disassembly • How to balance collection volumes and product quality by combining EPR systems with direct take-back • How product mix, shared infrastructure and aligned incentives affect the economic viability of take-back systems at scale The conversation also covers product-as-a-service as a potential alternative for retaining access to products, and the challenge of sharing data across companies while protecting commercially sensitive information. This is the fourth episode of our B2B Take-Back series.

Wilo's take-back system works without contracts, deposits or payments. Instead, the company focuses on making returns as simple as possible for installers. And that works. Thomas Fetting, explains how the company collects used pumps and brings recovered components and materials back into production. What you'll hear in this episode: • How to motivate participation in take-back systems without financial incentives • How manufacturers can recover and reintegrate components and materials into production • What determines the economic viability and scalability of reverse logistics This is the third episode of the B2B Take-Back series. You can find its original recording in German on YouTube. The audio-only version has been translated to English with the use of AI.

Remanufacturing depends on getting used products back. Can a deposit system give customers an incentive to return them? Thomas Meyer, responsible for remanufacturing, repair and reuse activities within Knorr-Bremse TruckServices, explains how Knorr-Bremse uses a core deposit in the independent aftermarket to bring parts back for remanufacturing. What you'll hear in this episode: • Why the deposit value is linked to the market value of the core, and how returning an equivalent product keeps parts flowing back • What happens to returned cores, from assessing and disassembling them to deciding which components can be reused, reconditioned or replaced • Which data and systems are needed to manage remanufacturing, including core return rates, regeneration rates and ERP processes for products coming back The conversation also covers the economics of remanufactured parts for older vehicles, design for remanufacturing and the challenge of reducing manual work in disassembly. This is the second episode of our B2B Take-Back series.

For DERIX, the take-back obligation is both a commitment to circularity and an economic advantage. Antonia Görg, Project and Sustainability Manager at DERIX, and Markus Steppler, Managing Director at DERIX, explain how the timber construction company has built a take-back obligation into its contracts. What you'll hear in this episode: • How DERIX's take-back obligation works, from the contract to the return of timber elements • How returned timber is assessed, priced and either reused or remanufactured • Why DERIX sees take-back as a future source of timber and plans to use material from other manufacturers as well The conversation also covers the product data needed to reuse timber in the future, how take-back is connected to carbon credits, and the challenge of building a return system before large volumes of material start coming back. This is the first episode of our B2B Take-Back series.

How can digitalization help scale circular construction? In this episode of circularity.fm, Kilian Eckle, founder of RoofUz, and Timo Walraven, researcher at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, discuss how digital twins, building data, standardization, and modular construction can make circular construction more economically feasible. What you’ll hear: • How digital twins can be used to identify and compare buildings with potential for rooftop extensions • Why standardization, modular construction, and bundling similar buildings can improve the financial feasibility of projects • How building data can connect projects across a city and help planners and owners l Using rooftop extensions as a case, the conversation looks at how digitalization can support more standardized processes, better project economics, and the transfer of knowledge between construction projects.

How can rooftop extensions create housing that is ecologically regenerative, socially valuable, and profitable? In this episode of circularity.fm, Dirk Hengst, founder of Denk.mal.Bau., and Lewin Fricke from TRIQBRIQ talk about their rooftop extension project in Dresden. The conversation covers: • The project's economic, social, and environmental dimensions. • Material choices designed for a healthy, low-carbon home. • How construction can support rooftop extensions, renovation, adaptive reuse, and dismantling for reuse. You’ll gain insight into the additional benefits of this approach to construction, as well as the challenges involved. This is the second episode of our Rooftop Extension series.

What is the business case for rooftop extensions? Thijs Müller, Co-founder of Creative City Solutions, and Didier Mignery, Founder of UpFactor, explain how adding housing on top of existing buildings can address several challenges at once: housing shortages, energy renovation and urban land use. This episode covers: • When rooftop extensions make economic sense, and the technical, regulatory and financial complexities involved • How revenue from additional homes can help finance energy renovations and upgrades to existing buildings • The advantages of modular timber construction and designing for deconstruction The episode also looks at the potential scale of rooftop extensions, and the role of regulation, data and stakeholder engagement in making them more viable and scalable. This is the first episode of the “Rooftop Extension” series.

What are the system-wide recommendations for Germany’s Textile EPR scheme to influence companies' design and portfolio decisions? Carina Hofmann-Wellenhof talks about CIRCULAR REPUBLIC’s System Design Report for Germany’s textile EPR, developed with 20 organisations and more than 50 stakeholders across the textile value chain. She explains the main recommendations for designing the system, from the structure of PROs to eco-modulation and recycling incentives. What you'll hear in this episode: -Why Germany should combine competing PROs with centralised functions -Recycling quotas and content targets for textile-to-textile recycling -How eco-modulation, collection and R&D funding could influence the development of a more circular textile system This conversation also looks at the role of EU-level harmonisation, the economics of virgin materials and the next steps in Germany’s legislative process. This is the final episode of the Textile EPR series.

Will the EPR regulation create incentives for a more circular textile industry? Alexander Sustal, Lawyer at Redeker Sellner Dahs, explains how Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) will change the economics of textile collection, sorting and recycling in Germany. The episode covers the status quo, the actors and financing flows an EPR scheme introduces, and the wider legal questions an EPR scheme raises. What you'll hear in this episode: • How the current market based system for used textiles is financed, why it is under pressure, and what an EPR scheme changes about who carries responsibility and who pays. • The roles of producers, Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs), registries and supervising authorities, and how fees are collected, calculated and distributed among them. • Why eco modulation links fees to eco design criteria such as durability, repairability and recycled content, and why the level of the fees may matter as much as the criteria themselves. The episode also covers end of waste criteria, and harmonisation across Member States.

How can Europe build a commercially viable circular textile system? In this episode, Louisa Hoyes, who has worked on building up textile circularity for the past 7 years, explains why building a circular textile system requires much more than advances in recycling technology. What you'll hear in this episode: • Why collection, sorting and recycling should be designed as one connected value chain rather than separate industries. • The commercial challenges of scaling textile circularity, including infrastructure investment, feedstock quality, demand for recycled fibres, and business model innovation. • How Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) can accelerate investment, improve traceability, and support fibre-to-fibre recycling. The episode also covers emerging recycling technologies, collaboration across the textile value chain, and the expected timeline for scaling Europe's textile circularity infrastructure.

From a brand's point of view, how should extended producer responsibility (EPR) be designed so that circularity pays off? Philipp Bonaventura from Schöffel explains where circular design already works, why the economics hold it back, and what the system needs to change. What you'll hear in this episode: • Why the barrier is economic, not technical: low collection volumes, weak sorting, and repair that doesn't cover its cost • How designing for repair differs from designing for recycling, and why material choice decides what can be recovered • Which fees reward durable, repairable products, and why harmonised rules across Europe matter The episode also covers what counts as a circular product, and why quality comes before recycled content. This is the second episode of the Textile EPR series.

How can extended producer responsibility (EPR) pay for the infrastructure that circular textiles need? This is the first episode of the Textile EPR series. We talk to Lisa Oelze from Messe München about why textiles has become the most unsettled waste stream in Europe, and Jelica Ramirez from GRS PRO Textil about how extended producer responsibility will work in Germany. What you'll hear in this episode: • What the EU Waste Framework Directive actually changes for textiles • How a producer responsibility organisation works, and why Germany's competitive model differs from France • What's still undecided in German law, and why brands shouldn't wait for it The episode also covers why EPR money stays inside Europe while used clothing keeps leaving it.

Which startups are solving Europe’s two key circular economy challenges: automated disassembly and critical raw materials recovery? This episode covers the Circular Technology Award, launched by Circular Republic and Knorr-Bremse, to back startups working in both fields. Matthias Ballweg, co-founder of Circular Republic, and Oliver Klug, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Knorr-Bremse, explain why they created the award, what they learned from the applicants, and why they paired prize money with proof-of-concept partnerships instead of funding alone. What you’ll hear in this episode: • Why automated disassembly is finally viable, and what the robots can now do that they couldn’t five years ago. • How two very different approaches recover critical raw materials in Europe: hydrogen to reclaim rare earth magnets, and low-temperature salts to pull metals from electronic scrap. • What corporates like Knorr-Bremse look for before adopting a startup’s technology. The four winning startups then present what they’ve built: Xavier Kohll from R3 Robotics and Tomaso Manca from Hiro Robotics winners in automated disassembly, Carlo Burkhardt from HyProMag and Fred White from DEScycle winners in critical raw materials recovery. This is the final episode of the IFAT Munich 2026 series, recorded live at the fair.

Which areas of circular economy are attracting the most startup activity in Europe, and which ones are being left behind? Leonhard Teichert, Program Lead at Circular Republic, presents the findings of the Circular Economy Startup Landscape 2026. Bruno Rudnik, Managing Partner at SEF Ventures and host of the startup area at IFAT, adds the investor's view on financing and scaling hardware startups in this space. What you'll hear in this episode: • Where European circular startup activity is concentrated and where the map is almost empty: the sectors that are overcrowded and the ones nobody is building in yet. • What drives corporate adoption of new technology. • What founders building hardware-based circular solutions should know: when to talk to an investor, capital structure, customer sequencing, and how corporates actually make adoption decisions. This is the third episode in the IFAT Special series, recorded live at the IFAT Munich 2026

What is the economic potential of circularity? The Federal Association of the German Industries (BDI) asked Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to answer that for German industry. The report's authors, Claas Oehlmann of the BDI's Circular Economy Initiative and Alexander Meyer zum Felde of BCG, walk through the findings, with Nadine Braun of E.ON bringing the view from a company perspective. What you'll hear in this episode: • What the report found: in five sectors covering most of German industry, circular business models could double annual value creation, from 60 to 125 billion euros, by 2045. • Whether that number survives cannibalisation. If a car gets refurbished, that's one new car not sold, so does the potential still hold once you subtract the lost sales? • What companies can do today, without waiting for new regulation, and what still holds them back. Besides exploring the macroeconomic impact of the circular economy, the episode also looks at where circularity pays off for a company. This is the second episode of the IFAT Munich 2026 series, recorded live at the fair.