Celebrating 30 Years of Circular Economy Consulting
In June 2024, Oakdene Hollins celebrates a magnificent 30 years of consulting in sustainability and the circular economy. We are excited to share this remarkable achievement with our clients, colleagues and associates, past, future and present and thank you for helping to shape Oakdene Hollins and a more sustainable world. With such a deep-rooted history to explore, we asked our colleagues to name 30 of our achievements and impacts to date.
Working on over 600 projects. We are proud to have been involved in over 670 projects, not including monitoring hundreds of Innovate projects over the years.
Supporting clients across the globe on their sustainability missions. We have worked with over 200 different across the world, from the UK to mainland Europe, North America and Asia, not including hundreds of other stakeholders involved in research or partnering on projects.
Diverse and talented staff. Over the years, more than 50 staff and associates have worked with Oakdene Hollins to share their expertise and develop their careers. We are proud to have staff still working for us since the company's first few years as well as staff that have utilised their time at Oakdene Hollins as a springboard for their careers moving on to companies such as Volvo, Local Governments and other consultancies.
Foundations in the circular economy. As an early pioneers, Oakdene Hollins have 30 years of roots in the circular economy. In 1994, Oakdene Hollins was born on the premise of supporting waste companies in optimising their processes to reduce waste. Over time, we developed expertise in resource efficiency after a programme of work with Defra and later expanded our services with the formation of the CER.
Range of technical expertise. We have worked on a myriad of projects from aerospace and automotive, to packaging and plastics, to manufacturing and metals. Our work has spanned services, including market studies, scope 1-3 carbon accounting, sustainability strategy, workshop facilitation and tool development. This includes over 150 circular economy focused projects and over 40 net-zero focused projects.
Managing the UK EU Ecolabel. In 2008, we won a contract with the European Union (EU) to manage the UK implementation of the EU Ecolabel. We assessed EU Ecolabel applications and provided licenses to forward thinking organisations in pursuit of sustainable products. This ran until 2016 when the programme was stopped in the UK.
Formation of the CER. Following the Horizon 2020 project – European Remanufacturing Network (ERN) – the European Remanufacturing Council (CER) was founded. This preliminary report gathered data on remanufacturing across nine key sectors to calculate the current level of reman activity in EU member states in terms of economic value, numbers employed and approximate carbon benefits. This also coincided with our private sector and trade association transition – starting with the M&S Plan A Strategy with a focus on zero waste to landfill.
Rich history of high-profile clients. We are proud to have worked with many large corporations over the years including the likes of Microsoft, Volvo and M & S as well as large public bodies including the EU and Defra.
Public sector and Private sector expertise. Following an expansion into the private sector we leveraged our experience and evidence base development approaches honed in public sector work. Alongside SNG and NBF, mattresses became a key topic. Best Environmental Management Practice (BEMPs) for food and drink and STOA delivered for EU commission.
Supporting industry leaders in accelerating their business opportunities. We have been working with industry-leading mattress manufacturer Silentnight Group since 2017 on their sustainability journey which was pivotal in them securing a contract with Premier Inn.
Identifying Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) at the forefront of sustainability. In 2014, we led a study for the European Commission which added six more critical raw materials to the 14 listed by the EU in 2010. CRMs are at the forefront of resource security issues meaning that they are a priority for implementing sustainable practices. Since this work in 2014, we have been involved in a number of other projects based on products containing CRMS for example our work on WEEE, renewables and batteries.
Championing the circular economy. We have to move away from thinking of waste as a problem to realising that it is a resource. This requires cooperation between the waste industry and circular economy enterprises, engaged citizens and integrated infrastructure at all levels from local to EU-wide. In 2017 we developed a report for the European Parliament to showcase the benefits of moving towards a circular economy and away. The report examined five waste streams identified in the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan: municipal, packaging, food, bio- and critical raw material wastes.
Closing the loop in the textiles industry. Oakdene Hollins has been working in the textiles industry since 2013 to provide research, quantification of flows and recommendations for the textiles industry on how they can increase recycling and reuse. We have worked with the likes of WRAP in the UK and NACTR in Canada.
Developing our carbon offering. With the onboarding of a new team focused on supporting companies with net-zero, we developed our carbon offering to support clients in setting targets, aligning with SBTi, conducting Scope 1-3 assessments and assessing their net-zero readiness.
Pioneering research in the automotive industry. The automotive industry is one which we have developed many years of expertise and technical experience from automotive parts, insurance and components such as batteries. Our work has included carbon footprinting, forecasting of materials and recommendation report generation.
Supporting ART for the Circular Economy. From 2019 to 2023, we worked with advanced recycling technology (ART) start-up Fiberight and several other partners on a Horizon-2020 funded project VAMOS (value-added materials from organic waste sugars). This project, at the forefront of the circular economy, utilises waste materials from household recycling such as greasy cardboard, and converts them into products which could be used as plastic alternatives.
Circular economy benchmarking. Working with an electronic company, we evaluated their strategic approach to the circular economy, including how this is communicated to consumers and other stakeholders.
Closing the glass loop. Products in glass bottles and jars are usually consumed and discarded in two major points of consumption: households and hotels, cafés and restaurants (HORECA). We worked with Close the Glass Loop to help understand and recommend solutions for tackling this problem. The study found that in 2019, there were 91.7 billion beverage containers placed on market (POM) in glass in the EU-27MS + the UK and one-way HORECA glass accounted for 9.6 billion units or 10%. This is a significant quantity of glass and therefore, a concerted effort is required to increase the collection for recycling rate to enable the CGL initiative to meet its 90% target by 2030.
Showcasing the benefits of remanufacturing in the steel sector with The World Steel Association (WSA). Over several years we have built a relationship with WSA to share and build internal knowledge of the circular economy, particularly remanufacturing and its benefits for the steel sector. This has included the formation of the Remanufacturing Working Group (RWG) managed by Oakdene Hollins to share insights between industry stakeholders through a LinkedIn platform, interactive workshop and dynamic Power BI tool.
Walking the talk- making strides in reducing our own carbon footprint. In 2021, we signed up to SBTi, setting targets for reducing our own carbon footprint. Since then our Net-Zero team has conducted annual emissions reporting and has implemented a number of bespoke initiatives including our green procurement policy, energy efficiency measures and carbon rewards system.
NBF Bed Show. Having developed expertise within the mattress industry, we have enjoyed attending the annual NBF Bed how for several years. As part of our work with the NBF we have developed EoL mattress reports since 2014. It is fantastic to see how the industry has developed since our first report for the NBF.
Transforming the foundation industries. As part of its 'Transforming Foundation Industries’ challenge, Innovate UK has commissioned Oakdene Hollins to assess the potential for demand-led innovation in the packaging sector. This study is looking to showcase the products that fall into the category of ‘demand-led innovation’ and to provide an estimate of the transformative impacts these products could have on the market. The insights presented in this report highlight the industry's perspectives on the key challenges they face.
Giving back to our local environment. We had a successful volunteering day planting trees at our local Hogshaw Farm in the new year of 2024. This was a fantastic team building exercise as well as reminding us why we do what we do. We look forward to building our relationship with Hogshaw Farm with more volunteering days to come.
Developing our nature offering. Having developed a strong foundation in our net-zero services, we are now working with industry-leading clients on linking carbon reduction initiatives with nature-based solutions. We see this as a new developing and growing area of work which we hope to expand to more clients in the future.
Forming recommendations for investment into circular steel. As a highly recyclable material, steel has the potential to achieve high levels of circularity, and there is an active, global market for steel scrap.As a high-performance material (e.g., durable and strong), steel is expected to be in high demand to contribute to the building of renewables capacity as part of the energy transition. For Zero Waste Scotland, we produced a report alongside the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) to understand the current landscape for steel scrap generation in Scotland and its subsequent treatment, and to explore what opportunities there may be for increasing the circularity of the steel within Scotland.
Providing research to future-proof the automotive aftermarket sector with clients SYNETIQ. The purpose of this work was to provide SYNETIQ with an operational level review of the current landscape and future opportunities related to the uptake of hydrogen fuel cell technology. This project identified and explored challenges and opportunities from electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles in relation to SYNETIQ’s current operations. The project will produce communication material for both customers and the internal team summarising findings and opportunities and include a workshop to share findings and build consensus within the SYNETIQ team.
Preparing the insurance sector for climate change related risks. As GHG emissions increase in our atmosphere increase each year largely in response to our use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, the impact on various sectors of the economy becomes increasingly evident. Businesses, products, processes and people need insurance. The insurance sector therefore has a unique exposure to these changes and is one of the first to witness the real world consequences. As the frequency and intensity of climatic risks increase, insurers may need to adapt their practices to address emerging challenges. We have worked with several insurance companies including global companies to prepare for climate change through carbon footprinting and engaging with their supply chain. This includes conducting a carbon footprint assessment for IAA Canada for use in their SBTi commitment for Aviva Canada, additional deliverable to produce a data management improvement roadmap over the course of two years up until the point when they formally submit to SBTi for target validation.
Building a strong Oakdene Hollins community. We are proud of our team and all of the wonderful work that they do. Our small but growing team of consultants, admin and finance, have formed strong work relationships and friendships over the years. We have celebrated project wins and completions, Christmases and birthdays, with fun social events and treats for the team including our famous muffin run to a local café. We are proud of the community and ethos we have built for our team.
Supporting the development of our staff. We have weekly skills development sessions to share learning between staff. Additionally, we are proud to have supported three staff in the past few years on Masters courses in sustainability and the circular economy.
30 years of consulting in the circular economy. It is a big achievement, and we are proud of where we have come from, the staff we have had past and present, the clients which we have supported and who have championed the circular economy. As we look ahead, we hope to celebrate further achievements from groundbreaking research to pioneering innovation. We look forward to the relationships we will develop with staff and industry leaders and towards a future where the circular economy presides.