In this episode, Rose VanHecke, Sustainability Director at Electrolux for Europe, APAC and MEA, shares one of the most inspiring business stories in the appliance industry. Discover how making new fridges from the recycled plastic of old ones helps close the resource loop, while creating a highly unique selling point and a thriving circular business model.

The result? A distinctive greige color that couldn't be hidden. Instead of hiding it, Electrolux leaned in. When consumers understood where that color came from, something remarkable happened: they didn't just accept it. They wanted it.

Listen to this masterclass in green entrepreneurship to hear how transparency about materials turned a technical constraint into a competitive edge, a new industry benchmark, and how closing the loop on fridges became proof that going circular pays off. Literally.

🎧 Chapters & Key Topics:

• (00:00) Introduction: Going Beyond Brand Heritage

• (01:31) Meet Christian & The Overarching Manufacturing Challenge: Supply Chain Resilience

• (02:26) Meet Rose VanHecke: Driving Strategic Partnerships and Trust

• (04:00) Consumer Expectations: Why Product Performance and Materials Matter

• (05:13) The "Aha" and "Oh No" Moments: Turning a Gray Recycled Plastic Constraint into Customer Demand

• (07:05) Measuring Success: Moving from a Sustainability Gimmick to Factory-Wide Integration

• (07:44) The 2017 Origins: How the Product Care Team Initiated Recycled Plastics

• (08:52) Food Safety Protocol Challenges and the 70% Recycled Target Explained

• (10:35) Convincing Stakeholders: Aligning Design, Business Scale, and Trade Partners

• (12:35) The Regulatory Landscape: Leveraging European Standards as a Sustainability Leader

• (14:07) Building Durability and Repairability into the Core Brand Value

• (16:11) Design for Recyclability: Collaborating with Recycling Plants to Stop Gluing and Start Screwing

• (18:00) Supply Chain Control Points: Setting Contract Requirements for Direct Raw Materials

• (19:50) Raising the Bar: Managing the Sourcing Ecosystem and Joint Preparation for Legislation

• (22:00) The Modern Business Case: Shifting to Fixed-Price Repairs, Extended Warranties, and AI

• (23:54) Profit to be Proud of: Green Financing, Operational Cost Efficiencies, and Variable Cost Reduction

• (26:11) Hindsight and Boldness: Making Sustainability Foundational in a Tough Business Climate

Do you also want to make going circular work and worthwhile? This series explores real sustainable business stories from leaders who are building a sustainable business that is cleaner, greener, more just, and future-proof. Tune in to learn how to create resilient value chains and launch a successful greener business with a compelling value proposition at its heart. At Innoboost, we see that a strong, circular business case drives real change in many sectors—creating profit to be proud of through actionable sustainable business practices.

Listen now on your favorite podcast platform and get inspired by these ecofriendly business stories!

Show notes

• Discover more about how ⁠Electrolux⁠ sets a new industry benchmark for the use of recycled plastics.

• Follow ⁠Rose Vanhecke⁠ on her journey going circular.

• Visit⁠ innoboost.com⁠ for more insights, research and tools on going circular. Drop us a note if you want to share your story via sandra.horlings@innoboost.com

  
  

Credits

This is a podcast by Innoboost | Creating Profit to be proud of

• Hosts: Sandra Horlings & Christiaan Kraaijenhagen

• Production & Edit: Malou van der Starre

• Sound: Joris van Grunsven, Studio Takt