Why psychology is holding back the circular economy

Ten years ago Miniwiz set out to recycle consumer waste into engineered building modules, like façade systems, structural walls and interior fixtures. We did so to leverage the vast material need of the built environment to absorb post-consumer waste. At that point we did not envision that technology would be less of a hurdle than psychology. The current times call for ever more honesty; this is the story of how unembellished storytelling and shedding light on the less glamorous side of waste recycling helped us gain a foothold in the building material industry.

It is commonly assumed that the desire for a given object is, to a large extent, determined by its cost, even its environmental or moral cost. The term “exclusive” often implies unequal distribution. We did not know that this term even factors into the trust placed in an engineered building material. Our attitude back then can be summarized as follows: If it gets the job done, looks great and saves you money, what’s not to like? That outlook was based on our industry, building materials, being subject to stringent standardized testing that assures safety and easy comparison of different materials; their qualities should be beyond subjective opinion, in theory.

After we took all these technical hurdles with Pollibrick, our first full-fletched exterior facade system made from post-consumer PET water bottles and PC from DVDs, we were quite confident that the enthusiasm of the media would be echoed by the market. We had advantages ranging from a superior strength to weight ratio and an amazing insulation to incredibly competitive pricing.

However, attending trade shows all over the globe, meeting potential customers, we faced a strange kind of inquisitive scrutiny that other non-recycled building materials didn’t. “It’s not safe, someone could break-in using a chainsaw” was one of the comments that stuck with us. Nobody would expect a glass facade, wooden exterior cladding or drywall to be “chain-saw-proof”. Actually the biggest safety concern regarding furniture and building materials is not a break-in, it’s the slow leeching of hazardous chemicals, flame retardants and the carbon emissions.

The “chainsaw” anecdote is representative of the general sentiment we faced: If it’s cheap, strong, light and looks good, how can it be more environmentally friendly as well? Where is the catch? At this point we had already used Pollibrick to build Ecoark, a museum.

Pollibrick had already passed the third-party testing required, with flying colours. The problem had to be in the presentation, so we started to rethink our communications and marketing approach. Our working hypothesis was that humanity had faced scarcity for most of its existence, meaning that all desirable things came at a trade-off. Something void of any fiscal or social cost seems suspicious. That is because humanity did not evolve in the abundance of modern times, made possible by technology. Good things (think high calorie meals) were exclusively for those that took them from others. This moral trade-off was synonymous with anything desirable.

To this day we have a hard time differentiating what’s merely exclusive and costly from what’s truly better in terms of performance or aesthetics. High quality is not intrinsically related to exclusivity and trade-offs. They were just correlated for the last 12,000 years. Be it the slave labour that went into building the pyramids of Egypt, or the carbon emissions of a nice car, there used to be a fiscal or moral price to pay.

One way for us to go from there would have been to marginalize the message of recycled material content and re-recyclability, but that would be burying the very ideas Miniwiz was founded upon. So we chose another route – we embraced the abject and grotesque nature of our materials’ origins.

In our communication, media interviews and meetings with prospect clients, we now refer to our raw material input as “trash”; we described the rotting food waste we turn into bio-PET. We documented the uncanny sight of all the once sought-after cell phones and other electronics that we recycle. Surprisingly, dealing with the less glamorous side of the circular economy and recycling solutions openly has made the final products more palatable to our customers. Being more than honest proved to be great for business.

One day, technology will render our desire to consume completely harmless. The biblical idea of the forbidden fruit that must be tasted, even at the cost of a paradise lost, is more relevant than ever.

Full details on all of the Technology Pioneers 2015 can be found here. 

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Author: Johann Boedecker, Partner, MiniWiz

Image: Old cellular phone components are discarded inside a workshop in the township of Guiyu in China’s southern Guangdong province June 10, 2015. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu