How can circular business models cater for critical raw materials?

Pep is a high-level event host, keynote speaker, communication trainer, stand-up comedian and collaborative partner. Pep hosts high-profile events like The Nordic Business Forum where he made Barack Obama laugh and receives higher audience ratings than most speakers. His interviews with thought leaders like Simon Sinek, Brené Brown and Malcolm Gladwell get rave reviews. As co-founder and director of content for Boom Chicago for Business, Pep puts Boom's philosophy, “Humor Makes Business Better,” into effect hosting business events, where he uses comedy to make hard-to-communicate messages land and stick. His interactive keynotes, including, “Up Your Leadership Game with Humor” is in high demand. Pep was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on America’s long-running television show, Saturday Night Live.

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Florian Marin is an economist specialising in local and rural development, sustainable development, circularity and managing European structural and investment funds. He is the former vice-president of the Romanian Economic and Social Council, an alternate member in the executive board of the National Trade Union Block confederation, president of the Federation of Free Trade Unions in Romania and member of the European Social Fund monitoring committee. Marin has a PhD and conducts postdoctoral research in economic sciences.

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Karl Vrancken is responsible for development and implementation of Indaver’s sustainability strategy. He has over 25 years’ experience as an expert in the science-policy interface, working with VITO on waste management, best available techniques and the circular economy. He was the PFAS Commissioner for the Flemish Government, bringing coordination and communication in the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) crisis in 2021-2022. He has a part-time assignment as associate professor at the bioengineering department at the University of Antwerp, where he teaches sustainable resources management. Karl is member of the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency and the International Advisory Board of the Wuppertal Institute for Energy and Environment. Throughout his career he has been building connections between policy, industry and research in the field of sustainable consumption and production.

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Bringing over 20 years of industry and social enterprise experience, Claire Downey is responsible for leading the Rediscovery Centre’s research team in providing an evidence base for policy development and supporting circular living models. She has delivered multiple national and international projects including research related to circular metrics and targets, circular textiles, reuse quality marks, citizen and community engagement. Claire also leads the education team in delivering excellence in circular economy education and driving curriculum change. Claire is an active member of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform’s leadership group on circular behaviour, the RREUSE network, the Irish National Waste Advisory Group, the Irish National Textiles Advisory Group, the Irish EPA’s National Reuse and Repair Network and is a fellow with the Chartered Institute of Waste Management. She is also a board member of Green Foundation Ireland.

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Jones heads an interdisciplinary team of more than 250 researchers focusing on the exploration, extraction, processing, refining and recycling of the energy-transition metals that are essential for a sustainable society. He has been working in this field for over 20 years, since completing his PhD in metallurgy in 2001. Jones is also the co-founder of KU Leuven’s SOLVOMET Research & Innovation Centre, a platform that provides (circular) hydrometallurgy expertise to industrial partners. Jones has been a coordinator or partner in more than 30 EU-funded projects on sustainable metallurgy and critical raw materials. Additionally, he is the author of several books, including “Terra Incognita”, “Klimaatcrisis”, and “Terra Reversa”, as well as presenter of documentaries including “Responsible mining in Europe”, “Made in Europe: from mine to Electric Vehicle”, “The Sámi Perspective” and “Europe's Mining Renaissance”.

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Rikarnto Bountis joined EuRIC in October 2020. He has a bachelor’s in environmental engineering from the Polytechnic University of Patra and a master’s in waste and resource management from the University of the West of Scotland. After completing his studies, Rikarnto worked in the energy sector for a British consultancy, and then joined amfori, the leading global business association for open and sustainable trade, as an environmental expert. At EuRIC, he is managing technical issues that emerge from the interface between waste, chemicals and product legislation as well as relevant reference documents. The legislative files followed by Rikarnto include the production, collection and end of life treatment of ferrous and non-ferrous metals as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment.

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Susanne van Berkum’s background is in chemistry. She has experience in chemical recycling of PET as well as working for a producer responsibility organisation responsible for the recycling of end-of-life vehicles. Currently Susanne is working for TNO in the field of circular value chains for critical raw materials, using practical experience to bridge the gap between knowing where to find these materials and recovering them from different waste streams to get the most out of them.

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Pep is a high-level event host, keynote speaker, communication trainer, stand-up comedian and collaborative partner. Pep hosts high-profile events like The Nordic Business Forum where he made Barack Obama laugh and receives higher audience ratings than most speakers. His interviews with thought leaders like Simon Sinek, Brené Brown and Malcolm Gladwell get rave reviews. As co-founder and director of content for Boom Chicago for Business, Pep puts Boom's philosophy, “Humor Makes Business Better,” into effect hosting business events, where he uses comedy to make hard-to-communicate messages land and stick. His interactive keynotes, including, “Up Your Leadership Game with Humor” is in high demand. Pep was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on America’s long-running television show, Saturday Night Live.

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John Wante is advisor on environment policy for the Belgian federal minister of Environment, Climate, Sustainable Development and Green Deal. He works on product policy, the circular economy and critical raw materials. Before that he worked as policy officer with OVAM, the Flemish Public Waste Agency, on waste and materials policy, on the regional, federal, European and international level. His educational background is chemical engineering.

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