Moscow Circular

We are solving the problem of wasteful and harmful way of production and consumption of goods, materials and resources. 

We help businesses, cities, territories to create strategies how to transfer from linear "take-make-waste" economy to circular economy, to change the way of goods production and consumption, to find new business models which can add value to people and environment. We conduct research to collect data, bring global experience to Russia and raise awareness about benefits of circular economy. 

Implementing our solution at the national scale and replicating it in all industries can solve ecological problems such as tonnes of waste on landfills, polluted air and water, can save nature and indigenous people of remote areas due to decreasing need of resource extraction and can create more sustainable and diverse economic system due to enhancing local communities and supporting healthy environment.

We are solving the problem of wasteful way of production and consumption of goods, materials and resources in Russia. 

Every year people use 100 Gt of resources and will need 170 Gt by 2050. 1/3 stays in stock, other resources are emitted, dispersed or wasted and only 8,6% are cycled. 

This linear "take-make-waste" way of using resources bring us to two global problems:

1. Greenhouse gases' emissions (GHG) which are the cause of climate change, extreme weather, infrastructure and buildings destructions, hunger and human deaths.
2. Ecological problems such as water, soil, air pollution and ecosystems and biodiversity loss that influence to our prosperity. Polluted air is the reason of 4,2 million of human death every year.

Russia is a major world player of fossil fuel and mineral extraction. Russian economy is built on fossil fuel and there is no plan to cut fossil fuel extraction and even there are plans of rising the level of GHG emissions while other countries are moving toward low carbon and circular future. More than 90% of wasted resources in Russia are going to landfill. Supporting Russia's transfer from linear to circular economy could solve not only national ecological problems but also the global climate crisis.

We conduct research and education in circular economy and create strategies and solutions for businesses, cities and territories to help them to transfer for more safe, effective and sustainable future. We post information on the web page and social media to raise awareness among people in Russia about the principles, values, opportunities and benefits of the circular economy, including the importance of restoring natural systems. Our web page is unique platform where expert materials on the circular economy for Russian speaking people are created and collected.

Final stakeholders of our activity - people in Russia and we always keep in mind those values, that will be brought to them. To create these values we are focusing on businesses, municipalities, city governments, policy makers and organizations to bring them new opportunities, ideas and value as well. Our clients live in Russia.

Switching to a circular economy will bring benefits to:

People

Every year 33 000 people die because of air pollution in Russia. Circular economy could decrease human deaths and cases of diseases caused by polluted environment (air, soil, water pollution) and pesticide utilization. Circular food system and sustainable food value chain will allow people to have access to nutritious and affordable food. Now 20,9 million low income people in Russia have a need for diverse and better food. New economy model will help to rise employment rate and people's prosperity

2/3 of consumers in Russia are willing to change their consumer behavior and choose environmental friendly brands and products. But only 12% of consumers can buy such products because these products are not available, difficult to find or very expensive.

Businesses and organizations

Today companies in Russia don't know how to get value from circular and sustainable solutions and how to work with responsible consumers. We made a guide where we interviewed 20 companies in Russia. We asked them how they have already implemented circular solutions and how these solutions helped them to get positive business results.

We can help businesses to understand how to work with new clients, save resources and materials, mitigate supply risks, and have a new type of relationship with clients which will help enhance their loyalty.

Cities and territories

Today cities are trying to find ways of sustainable development but municipalities don't know how to do this. In Russia there is a lack of experts in this area. Some city governments (for example, Petropavlovsk, Izhevsk) told us that lack of the experts is a real problem for them.

Core benefits of a circular economy development path for urban areas include decreasing CO2 emissions, possibility to reduce the need for new constructions, improving urban land use via mobility and consumption sectors, eliminating waste and pollution, maximizing infrastructure and vehicle utilization, product utilization, improving product design and services, lowering market entry barriers for businesses and enabling wider access to products, reduce construction and operational costs and increase resource efficiency due to strengthening local cycles.

Only 24% cities in Russia are considered as a wellbeing cities. In 2018 56 million people in 143 russian towns have no access to clean air. 88% of waste water coming into environment are not sufficiently cleaned after use.

Government

Warming in Russia is going in 2.5 times faster that the world average. Economic effect of climate change in Russia till 2030 is estimated of 1-2% GDP per year.

7 billion tons of waste is generated in Russia every year. Government understand the problem related with wasted resources and land use for the landfills but there is a lack of experts who look at the problem holistically. For solving climate change problem government are talking mostly about energy efficiency and not about changing economic system of production and consumption of goods which are responsible for 45% of global emissions of GHG.

We believe that circular economy is a path to resilient ecosystems. Turning to circular economy can eliminate pollution, save resources, support local economies and enrich natural systems. Implementing circular operations and principles make local communities stronger and allow to save and restore natural ecosystems. But all of this can be effective only when we work with the whole system, when we look at the processes holistically. That is our strategy to achieve sustainable and prosperous future.  

Our organization works since July 2020 and here is our current situation:

- 4 persons work in the project full time (circular economy expert and pioneer of Ellen MacArthur Foundation, biologyst, design thinking experts)

- 11 experts from different area (climate change, waste management, sustainability, circular design, sustainable food systems, sustainable fashion, socio-cultural designing and inclusive environment) collaborate with us in shared projects and activities

- We have already completed 10 succesfull projects and have a lot opportunities to make more.

- We have good networking and partners.

But we are still in a pilot stage as we are in the process of creating a strategy, business plan, organisational structure.

We have two features that make our project unique for Russia.

1) We bring best practicies from circular economy to russian companies and public management.

Circular economy become more popular in Russia recently but there is a lack of experts and little awareness among russian businesses and state administration what the circular economy really is and how they can transfer to it and get its benefits. Our Team Lead Ekaterina Egorova is a pioneer of circular economy by Ellen MacArthur Foundation with strong connections with global expert community and world experience and knowledge of modern approaches in this area. So we know what to do and how to do this and we are ready to work with every levels and communities in Russia.

2) We understand that key point of the success is systems-based approach.

We look at the problems holistically and create solutions which do not tackle isolated challengies but change the system in a whole. We have assembled strong multidisciplinary expert community in Russia to be able to solve ecological, social and ecological problems at the national level.

Currently we have reached few thousand people. They are our partners, clients, people in municipalicies, our audience from public events and social media. Our free guide for business was downloaded 100 times in the first two hours after its release.

In one year we expect to reach 500 000 people as a result of collaborations, negotiations and raising awareness.

In five years we expect to reach 15 000 000 people mostly as outcome of our completed projects for cities and territories.

We use several indicators for our long-term goals:

- circularity metrics for country, territories and companies

- biodiversity index

- amount of waste that came to landfil or were incinerated (overall in the country and by industries)

- rate of deseases and deaths caused by pollution and degradation of natural ecosystems

- economic growth (GDP and GPI index)

For our short-term goals we are operating with:

- material flow analysis by industries and companies

- waste coming to landfill from companies and in small territories

- number of people who are becoming an expert in circular economy topics

- number of companies where circular models and approaches are implemented 

- number of people reaching our articles, guides, works, posts, etc

- amount of mentioning circular economy topics in governments presentations, round tables, municipalities meetings etc.

- awareness rate of term circular economy and sustainability among people.

4 full-time staff

1 part-time staff

11 experts from different industries in our community. We work with them on particular projects

We have a team with very solid experience in different industries. That allows us to work with system problems.

Some experts work with team and some experts work on particular projects.

There are circular economy pioneers of Ellen MacArthur foundation in our team. There are not a lot of experts of circular economy in Russia, so this expertise in our team is our strong point.

Also we have following background and expertise in our team:

Start-up management, corporate and banking experience, design thinking, service design, material design, graphic design, sustainability experts, climate change specialists, member of observation commitee of UN climate comission, FAO representative and food system consultant, art and inclusion expert, biologist and urban nature specialist, waste management expert.

We also involve scientists, urban experts, marketing and PR specialists, volunteers with different background in our community.

We are young project and open to involve exprerts from different industries in our team. We try to find suitable options for every member to join our activities and choose the right ways how we will work together.

For example, expert can join to the team as leader of industry hub (f.e. fashion, food, etc) and involve in changing the industry together with community of experts. Or expert can just work on one of our project (educational, research, etc). In such flexible way of involving to our community we build a diverse team and propose people to choose the way of cooperation.

We mostly communicate online, so that allows us to connect people from different cities and even different countries in our team.

We have a transparent way of cooperation in the project, we are trying to involve in our strategy all of our main team. 

We are at pilot stage and need financial support to develop fast and sustainable. Also we appreciate mentoring and experts support.

We hope that working with best experts from MIT Solve community will help us to better communicate our ideas and projects, archive market and impact goals. Financial support in our stage of development is also critical and we hope that we can transfer to financial stability with your support.

Taking into account the experience that MIT Solve have we think that you can help us in the next topics

Business model (e.g. product-market fit, strategy & development). We are on the process of articulating our business model, strategy, purifying metrics for the projects and we think that it would be great to you your support here.

Financial (e.g. improving accounting practices, pitching to investors). We also need help to archiving financial stability. Direct financing, help with preparation of cleal value proposition offer to sponsors and clients.

Monitoring & Evaluation (e.g. collecting/using data, measuring impact). We are in the process of working with metrics of circularity and also about impact metrics and we think that is would be great if you could help us in this process.

Technology (e.g. software or hardware, web development/design, data analysis, etc.) Working with data is a critical skill for us and it would be great to have support here also.

Closed Loop Partners. This organization is a great company who are working with circular economy topic and we would be happy to partner with them around analysing data and mentorship.

Rockefeller Foundation. It would be great to partner with the organization around food system topic and make collaboration in our country to deliver the idea of more circular and resilient food system. Could be collaboration in doing iniciatives, events, guides, etc.

C40. Working with cities is also a big topic for us. Would be great to partner with this organization

Product production is responsable for 45% of GHG emissions. Transfering from linear "take-make-waste" approach to a circular economy where products and materials are designed out waste and pollution, stay in economy as long as possible and regenerate natural systems after use, will allow to solve climate change problem.

We would like to use the prize to strength our expertise in Big Data and Data Science. With the prize we could move faster towards a circular future in Russia, which affect not only national environmental goals but also global climate goals since our country is a major player in extraction of natural resources and production.

We would like to use the prize to strength our expertise in Big Data and Data Science.