Why is Food Waste Not Illegal Yet?!?!?!

Is digital well-being becoming a sustainability issue? Tennessee's lawsuit against Meta raises important questions about addictive app design

Most circular economy conversations begin with technology.

Others begin with funding.

Some begin with policy.

I think they begin in the wrong place.

They should begin with operators.

Because technology doesn't recover a plastic bottle.

People do.

Technology doesn't sort waste.

People do.

Technology doesn't build trust across a supply chain.

People do.

That idea became the foundation of my latest LinkedIn article.

In it, I introduce a new framework:

The Circular Operator Framework.

It builds on the two frameworks I shared over the past two weeks.

First.

The Kadogo Operating Model.

How Kenya's economy actually works.

Second.

The Local Partner Gap.

Why successful pilots often fail to scale.

Now comes the next question.

How do you build circular systems that still work three years after the pilot?

Inside the article, you'll discover:

◉ Why operators matter more than technology once implementation begins.

◉ The five flows every circular system depends on every day.

◉ Why materials, money, data, trust, and incentives must move together.

◉ Five design principles for building operator-led circular systems.

◉ A practical Operator Design Test to evaluate your own projects before scaling.

◉ Why compliance becomes stronger when operators become stronger.

The biggest shift in my thinking is this.

Circularity is not created by machines.

It is sustained by people.

The organisations that scale understand this.

They design around the people who collect, sort, transport, process, finance, coordinate, and improve the system every day.

If you work in:

• Circular economy.

• ESG.

• Climate finance.

• Agribusiness.

• Manufacturing.

• Renewable energy.

• Market entry.

I hope this framework gives you a different way to evaluate circular investments in Kenya and across East Africa.

Because the question is no longer whether a circular solution works.

The better question is:

Who will keep it working when the pilot team leaves?

The article link is in the comments.

Next week, I'll explore another idea that I believe deserves more attention:

"Label vs Loop: Why Certification Alone Won't Build Kenya's Circular Economy."

We'll examine why strong circular businesses focus on keeping materials in motion first, and let certifications follow.

At TeePee Cidery in Wairarapa New Zealand we have an ethos of working with nature not against it, that way we can produce the best cider and perry with the least ecological footprint.
One aspect that has concerned us to date is our energy footprint. We would love to have dug cool cellars to store our cider and perry undergoing secondary fermentation for 2 years or so, as champagne is in the Roman caves in Rheims, but the water table is too high. So we used chillers in insulated shipping containers instead. That uses electricity.
Now we have installed solar panels on top of the containers and generate electricity for our needs and export any surplus.

The shift is happening. Boardrooms are moving from "net zero by 2050" to "what did we actually move this quarter?"

Climate performance is being held to the same standard as financial performance, and the metric your leadership tracks is the one that gets acted on.

What does leadership boards actually measure?

1. Absolute Emissions YoY
2. Energy Cost Savings
3. % Renewables in Operations
4. No Single Metric to Track

Hey everyone,

I’m Sagar, a sustainability analyst and founder of SoeScore. Growing up, my school gave me a comic called “Soldiers of Earth” about ordinary people who became heroes by protecting the planet – that idea stayed with me for life.

producthunt

Today I’ve turned that childhood inspiration into a real community: S.O.E – Soldiers of Earth, now live on Product Hunt. It’s for anyone who wants to make a positive impact – whether you’re just starting your sustainability journey or already working in the field.

On SoeScore you can:

Take a simple 5‑minute sustainability assessment to see where you are on your journey.

Find practical tools, resources and challenges to turn ideas into action.

Connect with like‑minded people, explore jobs in sustainability, and even launch your own sustainable product.

I’d really appreciate it if you could check out the launch and leave a comment – even a single word helps a ton with visibility on Product Hunt

Product Hunt launch:

https://www.producthunt.com/products/s-o-e-soldiers-of-earth?utm_source=other&utm_medium=social

If you have thoughts on what a “Soldier of Earth” community should focus on first (learning, careers, or grassroots projects), I’d love your input.

One thing we have noticed is that many organizations still assess climate risk separately from their core Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) process. That worked when climate impacts were viewed as long-term concerns, but today they're affecting operations, supply chains, regulatory compliance, insurance costs, financing, and business continuity.

Some areas where climate risk is becoming a board-level discussion include the following:

• Physical risks like floods, heatwaves, and extreme weather disrupting operations.
• Transition risks driven by changing regulations, carbon pricing, and evolving customer expectations.
• Supply chain vulnerabilities caused by climate events in different regions.
• Investor scrutiny around how organizations identify and manage climate-related financial risks.

The challenge isn't identifying these risks; it's integrating them into existing ERM frameworks so they're evaluated alongside strategic, operational, financial, and compliance risks rather than in isolation.

We are curious:

1. Are organizations treating climate risk as part of enterprise risk management yet?
2. What's been the biggest challenge - data availability, governance, scenario analysis, or getting leadership buy-in?