Circular Economy businesses showcase their work
Hackney Wick & Fish Island’s first circular economy hub - The Loop, at 119 Wallis Rd - hosted the June 24 edition of local network meeting the Cultural Interest Group. The meeting, attended by over 40 people in person and online, served as an opportunity for the hub’s founding members to present their work, successes to date and vision for the future.
It began with HWFI CDT’s Alex Russell explaining the model currently being explored in this meanwhile use building, and how establishing the hub on a temporary basis can inform a longer-term view on the viability of such facilities. We then heard from a series of guest speakers:
SHIFT
London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC)’s James Mitchell explained the work of SHIFT, the local innovation accelerator that offers funding, mentoring and support for startup businesses looking to enter the circular economy space, with a particular emphasis on East London and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park boroughs.
SHIFT’s Future Industries Demonstrator (FID) programme has completed its first cohort, Natural Cities, and has a second underway, Sustainable Structures. We’ll showcase some of the work from these cohorts in future, meanwhile if you are interested in joining the waitlist for the third FID open innovation challenge which opens later this month, which will be called Nourished Neighbourhoods, find out more and sign up here.
Silo
Acclaimed Hackney Wick zero waste restaurant, Silo, presented their plans for an ambition new fermentation factory at The Loop, which will turn food scraps into an umami flavour bomb known as koji. The presentation included the following video, plus info on the crowdfunder for those who’d like to get involved in this groundbreaking new project.
Growing Concerns
There was a real ‘good news’ story courtesy of gardening centre owner JP Minet, who’s Growing Concerns project was sadly uprooted from its original location on Wick Lane many months ago. JP and his team have now happily reopened at The Loop, bringing an oasis of outdoor plants and gardening supplies to the river front, and a much-loved business back for the people of HW&FI and surrounds.
Zhero
We heard from Joe Sharpe and Ollie King, founders of the rapidly growing green logistics firm Zhero, about their expansion to facilities at The Loop. From being the first e-cargo bike company focused on the arts, interiors, media and fashion industries, Zhero is a locally-born company that has sustainability at the core of everything it does. Beyond moving items around town - including being the first zero-emissions courier to be insured to carry fine art by cargo bike - Zhero has partnerships ranging from tracking tire emissions with sensors on their electric vehicles to exploring a circular economy mushroom-growing project.
Fantasy Fibre Mill
Nick Evans, co-founder of Fantasy Fibre Mill, explained how they are connecting regenerative agriculture to ethical fashion here at The Loop, by producing natural fibre yarn made from flax. We saw some of the fascinating machinery involved in the spinning process and got to touch and feel the ‘hair-like’ end product, that is then spun into an eco-friendly linen. With prototypes in place, the startup is researching the viability of building a soil-to-soil textile economy in the UK, including a textile dye garden with Yodomo in the mobile garden in the Olympic Park.
Are You Mad
Also new to The Loop is the impressive plastic recycling project, Are You Mad, which has already shown over 2.5k young people how to process waste into useful new products, from combs and key fobs to display furniture and tables (some examples of which surrounded the meeting, which took place in their sizable first floor workshop). Founders James and Lottie gave an engaging presentation about their work with big clothing and high street retail brands, showcasing another fantastic project that is a natural fit for this growing hub of eco innovation.
See the full minutes from the CIG meeting plus link to all the presentations here. The next free to attend meeting takes place at The Trampery on Fish Island on July 12th.