Pentatonic Chief Product Officer Philip Mossop explores how three technological innovations – Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, and biofabrication – are driving new business models that are critical to accelerating the transition to a circular economy.
Technology is rapidly becoming the driving force behind the circular economy, turning ambitious concepts into practical realities.
The shift from a linear economy to a circular one is well underway, and while progress is being made, the potential for further transformation is vast.
Technology has enabled remarkable progress over the last 25 years, just as it has in almost every industry.
It’s hard to believe that when I joined the environmental sector in 2000, my most successful strategy for winning new business was sending out faxes! Fast forwarding through those 25 years, our technological evolution is nothing short of transformative.
We’ve gone from basic communication tools to complex digital ecosystems. Early innovations like telemetry in vehicles revolutionised logistics, optimising routes and reducing emissions. Onboard weighing systems soon followed, making waste collection more efficient and precise.
The internet era brought digital solutions that allowed us to manage resources more effectively, driving efficiency and transparency in ways we couldn’t have imagined in the late 90s.
And now, as we enter the AI revolution, we see deployments of technologies like advanced sorting in materials recycling facilities (MRF) with massive datasets capable of accurate separation and high speeds, enabling better recovery of materials.
For all that progress, however, I am confident that the next 25 years will make the last 25 years look like a practice lap.
We are firmly in the era of AI, and it promises to leave nothing untouched. But what does that mean for our industry? How might we see these advanced technologies used to further our advancement into a circular economy?
Most people have heard about technologies like AI and blockchain by now, but they don’t necessarily understand them completely. As Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Pentatonic, I use these technologies daily.
I pay particular attention to new technologies being introduced so let’s break down some of these concepts and get into why I believe the future of our industry has never looked so good.
Artificial Intelligence – The catalyst for a circular future
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is more than just a technological buzzword – it’s the driving force behind the next wave of innovation in the circular economy.
AI enables machines to learn from data, recognise patterns, and make decisions that traditionally require human intelligence. This capability allows AI to optimise processes, reduce waste, and create more sustainable solutions across industries.
In the circular economy context, AI is poised to revolutionise everything from materials discovery to product lifecycle management.
By harnessing AI’s power, businesses can increase efficiency and drive the adoption of circular practices at scale.
Key features of AI:
- Machine Learning (ML): Picture an AI system that learns from every piece of data it processes, constantly refining its ability to sort, recycle, and repurpose materials with incredible efficiency. In the not-so-distant future, ML could evolve to predict material degradation in products, offering real-time solutions to extend their life or repurpose them before they reach the end of their utility.
- Neural Networks: These algorithms, which mimic the human brain’s ability to recognise patterns, already enable sophisticated image recognition systems. Neural networks will evolve to the point where they can identify new recycling methods for complex, multi-material products – methods we haven’t even conceived of yet.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP): AI-driven customer service platforms will actively guide consumers on their sustainability journey. They could analyse a user’s consumption patterns, suggest ways to reduce waste, choose more sustainable products, and even participate in local circular initiatives – all through natural, conversational interactions.
- Computer Vision: AI-powered sorting facilities are quickly becoming the norm, where machines identify and separate materials at lightning speed. But what if these systems could also adapt to new materials as they’re introduced, learning in real time and ensuring that no resource goes to waste? This is the kind of future we’re building towards.
Impact on the circular economy:
- AI-Driven Material Discovery: We’re on the cusp of creating polymers that can be custom-engineered at the molecular level, making them endlessly recyclable. Imagine a future where AI can reprogram materials to change their properties on demand, eliminating waste by design.
- Predictive Maintenance: AI will enable systems that monitor the health of products and machinery and predict failures before they happen. This could lead to a future where products are designed to be repaired or upgraded seamlessly, keeping them in use far longer than we can imagine.
- Circular Design: AI-powered tools will revolutionise product design, creating inherently circular items from conception. Imagine a world where every product is optimised for durability, repairability, and recyclability – crafted not just for use but for reuse and renewal.
- Dynamic Consumer Engagement: In the future, AI could provide consumers with a personalised sustainability roadmap, guiding every purchase towards greater circularity. This engagement will transform consumers from passive participants to active drivers of the circular economy.
- Supply Chain Transparency: AI will likely become the backbone of transparent, accountable supply chains. It will provide real-time insights into every step of the process, ensuring that sustainability standards are met and exceeded, building trust and setting new benchmarks for the industry.
Blockchain – The backbone of circular transparency
Blockchain is a decentralised ledger technology transforming how we think about transparency and trust in the circular economy.
Developed initially for secure financial transactions, blockchain has far-reaching implications beyond cryptocurrencies.
By creating an immutable record of every transaction, blockchain ensures that every link in the supply chain can be verified and traced, making it an ideal tool for the circular economy.
As we move towards more sustainable practices, blockchain will play a critical role in ensuring that every product’s journey, from raw material to end-of-life is transparent and accountable.
Key features of blockchain:
- Decentralisation: Blockchain technology could power fully decentralised marketplaces for recycled materials, connecting global networks of suppliers and buyers in real time, eliminating intermediaries, and reducing costs.
- Smart Contracts: Smart Contracts will evolve to manage shared ownership models for products, automating everything from lease agreements to recycling components at the end of a product’s life.
- Consensus Mechanisms: Blockchain’s consensus mechanisms could ensure that all circular economy participants – from manufacturers to recyclers – adhere to the highest environmental standards, with real-time audits and automatic penalties for non-compliance.
- Immutability: Blockchain’s immutability features can support the creation of digital passports for products, containing detailed information about every material and process involved in its lifecycle, ensuring full transparency and accountability.
Impact on the circular economy:
- Supply Chain Transparency: Blockchain will enable a future where every product’s journey is fully traceable, from raw materials to end-of-life disposal. This will allow consumers to make informed choices and ensure that all actors in the supply chain are accountable for sustainability standards.
- Circular Certification: Blockchain technology can verify the recycled content, ethical sourcing, and circular design of products with unparalleled accuracy. This could lead to a universally trusted certification system, driving consumer confidence in sustainable products.
- Enabling Circular Business Models: Blockchain will unlock new business models like Product-as-a-Service (PaaS), where products are leased or shared instead of owned. Secure, transparent transactions will allow these models to thrive, promoting a shift away from single-use consumption.
- Incentivising Recycling and Reuse: Drawing from its well-established use case in cryptocurrencies, blockchains can be used to reward sustainable behaviours with digital tokens. These tokens might encourage consumers to return products for recycling or choose more sustainable options, creating a virtuous cycle of reuse and recycling.
Biofabrication and advanced biomaterials: Growing the future of sustainability
Biofabrication is a cutting-edge field where biology meets technology, allowing us to create materials that are not only sustainable but also innovative.
By leveraging biological processes, we can produce materials like lab-grown leather and bioengineered silk that mimic or surpass traditional materials’ properties while being more environmentally friendly.
Biofabrication offers a unique opportunity to develop materials designed for circularity from the outset, reducing waste and aligning with nature’s regenerative cycles.
Key features of biofabrication:
- Customisable Biological Systems: Using CRISPR technology to engineer microbes that can produce specific materials on demand, such as self-healing fabrics that can repair themselves when damaged, reducing the need for replacements.
- Biodegradable Electronics: Electronics where every component is fabricated to be fully biodegradable, meaning that at the end of their useful life, these devices can be composted or broken down in natural environments without harmful effects.
- Responsive Materials: Materials that can adapt to their environment such as biofabricated walls that change colour based on temperature or humidity, reducing artificial heating and cooling and saving energy.
- Circular Bio-Manufacturing: Biofabrication might lead to circular bio-manufacturing hubs where waste from one production process becomes the feedstock for another, creating closed-loop systems within industrial parks.
Impact on the circular economy:
- Lower Carbon Footprint: Biofabrication will lead to the development of materials that significantly reduce the carbon footprint of industries ranging from fashion to construction. We will see buildings made from biofabricated materials that sequester carbon instead of emitting it.
- Closing the Loop in Manufacturing: Imagine a world where industrial waste is transformed into raw materials for biofabrication, creating a closed-loop system that continuously regenerates itself.
- Revolutionising Product Lifecycles: With biofabrication, products could be designed with their end-of-life in mind. Products that are easily disassembled and reintroduced into the biofabrication process, ensure that nothing goes to waste, and everything has the potential to be reborn.
Technology-enabled circular business models: Redefining commerce and material lifecycle management
As we transition from traditional linear business models to circular ones, the need for integrated solutions that manage the entire lifecycle of a product has never been greater.
We are pioneering this shift at Pentatonic through our Multi-Commerce and Material Lifecycle Management (MLM) platform.
This platform seamlessly connects every phase of the product lifecycle – from recovery and repair to resale and recycling – empowering brands and manufacturers to maximise value long after the initial transaction and create deeper connections with their customers.
By leveraging cutting-edge technologies like AI, IoT, and blockchain, Pentatonic’s platform bridges the gap between customer engagement and material management, making it possible to implement circular strategies at scale.
Key features of Pentatonic’s platform:
- IoT and AI-driven Material Management: Using networks of IoT-enabled warehouses, every product is tagged and tracked in real time. AI algorithms analyse this data to optimise the flow of materials, ensuring that products are efficiently directed to recovery, repair, refurbishment, resale, or recycling pathways based on their condition and demand.
- Consumer-Facing Technology: Seamless on-brand experiences for consumers, where web apps and in-store kiosks allow them to easily access services like repairs, refills, and product takebacks. These platforms are integrated with customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enabling brands to engage with customers long after the initial sale and foster loyalty through sustainable practices.
- Global Payment Solutions: Through our global partnership with Mastercard, we offer flexible payment options that incentivise circular behaviour. Consumers can be instantly rewarded with digital cash, prepaid debit cards, or branded gift cards for participating in the circular economy by returning products, opting for repairs, or purchasing refurbished goods.
Impact on the circular economy:
- Extended Product Lifecycles: Pentatonic’s platform enables businesses to extend the lifecycle of products far beyond the initial sale. By facilitating recovery, repair, and resale, companies can reduce waste and maximise the value of their products, aligning with circular economy principles.
- Scalable Circular Models: As regulations like EPRS, CSRD, and Right to Repair become more enforced, businesses will need scalable solutions to manage product lifecycles efficiently. Our platform provides the tools to do this, helping companies meet regulatory demands while driving sustainable growth.
- Consumer Empowerment: By integrating IoT, AI, and consumer-facing technologies, Pentatonic empowers consumers to participate actively in the circular economy. Allowing and enabling consumers can easily track, manage, and extend the lifecycle of their products, is an important aspect of creating the flows of money and materials and integrating it with the world at large.
We stand on the brink of a new era in technology and sustainability, and it’s clear that the next 25 years will define the future of the circular economy.
The innovations we’ve explored are not just futuristic concepts but the building blocks of a more sustainable and resilient world and are just the tip of the iceberg.
There are many, many more technologies to explore and scale, and hundreds of amazing companies and teams working hard to make them a reality.
The challenge is to innovate and integrate these technologies into every facet of our economy, creating legislative frameworks that support their growth and adoption, training and retraining people (yes, we will still need them) to use these technologies, and creating economic models that work for everyone.
