Circular business at ARCC Innovations
Kelly Sant and Arash Kaynama have sold thousands of flat-packed mannequins to conscientious fashion designers and high-street brands globally. From.a chemist industry by-product, they have created a truly recyclable and flexible alternative to the traditional glass fibre mannequins. 80% of mannequins produced globally are still made using this toxic, non-recyclable material.
But as Mannequino’s success has grown, so have the founders realised further ingenious methods to create deeper levels of circularity, starting with their manufacturing waste as part of the wider supply chain.
Circular economy: a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing , refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. (Source: European Parliament)
“We started to think about how to link up with other businesses in the community, bringing together industries and seeing locally what we have, what is being thrown away and can be made from our collective raw material waste that normally shipped out of the country - effectively, how to create our own open loop network.” says Kelly, “We felt if we could use our innovative skills and engineering backgrounds to turn it into high value products, we could rethink how we do everything n the future.”
Addressing food scarcity and the demand for fresh non-meat produce locally seemed an appropriate place to begin.
“Once you know what you have, and you put in principles of circular design, clever manufacturing and business skills, this really is just the beginning of innovation.” explains Arash.
In their part of the ARCC Innovations hub, large bags of shredded cardboard from Mannequino and the campus’ other businesses are stacked alongside labels of ‘Messiah Mushrooms’, the creative duo’s latest product line.
Taking cardboard waste from ARCC and mixing in local hard-wood and straw waste and coffee grounds from Cambridge cafes, they have formed the perfect farming conditions for high-quality oyster mushrooms, concentrating on high yields, low energy consumption, minimal labour and materials and premium flavour. These Messiah mushrooms are sufficient in taste and quality to be stocked in Cambridgeshire’s finest restaurants, prized by several Michelin star chefs and featuring in Feast Anglia.
The principle of circular and open loop economy networks rely on re-using, re-purposing, sharing and recycling existing materials as long as possible - finding new ways to cope and transform ‘spent’ resources and reducing the social and environmental impact of large-scale global consumerism.
Learn more about about Mannequino on their website or with a visit to ARCC Innovations.
Are you interested in working at our state-of-the-art research facility?
With ARCC Futures, we’re developing more space for entrepreneurs and inventors, like Kelly and Arash, to design and build their products.
Email info@arcc.co.uk to find out more.