Brighteco
Home What is Circular Economy ? Our project The encyclopedia Newsletter Langues Brighteco Web : brighteco.se Contact : info@brighteco.se Localisation : Sweden Date of meeting : 15 june 2023 Maturity of the projet : Intermediate EFC Recycling Brighteco is a Swedish start-up founded just over 10 years ago by Joel Smedberg, after he became aware of his material footprint and global impact on the planet. His desire to contribute to the creation of new ways of producing and consuming led him to start his own company, whose purpose is to sell light as a service. Lighting as a service: from identifying user needs to installing luminaires The sale of light as a service is very different from the simple sale of a luminaire to a customer. That’s why the first question we ask our customers is : “Do you really need this ? Are you prepared to take responsibility for these resources ?”. It may seem far removed from a company’s sales objectives, but for Joel, asking these questions builds trust between them and their customers, and also shows that they are honest in their purpose to reduce their material and carbon footprint. “Basically, selling light as a service means selling the function that you need at any particular time.” If the answer to these questions is yes, then the next step is to go on site to analyze the space in question, identify the needs of the users of these spaces, what their schedule will be, will they be sitting or standing, etc. They can install the right luminaires more efficiently and more flexibly by asking what light is needed, for what and for whom. In fact, if the Brighteco team knows whether the space in question will change in 5 or 10 years , they will design more flexible luminaires. Once the luminaires have been installed, Brighteco’s teams provide long-term customer support to ensure that the luminaires continue to meet user expectations. Source image : brighteco.se A circular business model The very design of the luminaires is part of a recycling and eco-design approach. The luminaires are made from old flat screens. These screens contain rare and very precious metals such as indium, for which there are very few mines in the world, so a second life is essential. However, repurposing old flat screens comes with a cost, and that’s why light as a service is born. Rather than investing heavily in luminaires that are much more expensive yet recycled but equivalent in quality to those on the market, customers pay a small sum each month for luminaires that are perfectly adapted to their needs, modular over time and which will therefore have a longer lifespan. For very good quality light, such as in schools, Joel explains that you should expect to pay between 90 and 95 SEK/m²/year, or between €7 and €8/m²/year, but for industrial buildings with very different needs, the price can come down very quickly. Brighteco’s luminaires are therefore designed to be as simple as possible, so that they can be easily repaired by local electricians, converted from a decorative luminaire to a wall or ceiling luminaire, the brightness can be adjusted, and so on. What’s more, they are designed to be easy to remove and not to lock customers in, so they are free to change their lighting supplier if they decide to. Brighteco is backed by a research programme that has calculated a 97% material savings rate in terms of lighting over the lifetime of an office (30-40 years). Committed local municipalities The start-up’s main customers are municipalities, which, according to Joel, are driving the ecological transition in Sweden. They often come with very concrete issues relating to the cost of investing in new lighting but also with a desire to address environmental issues and reduce their material footprint. Buying light as a service therefore meets their needs perfectly. For Joel, what could really change the game and help them to develop would be to introduce an annual resource consumption budget for each municipality : this would encourage everyone to take care of the things around them and make a lot of sense given the depletion of natural resources. Back to encyclopedia Our other articles on the same topics Fritidsbanken Mifactori Madaster Les Pailles de Provence Newsletter CirculAgronomie Facebook Youtube Linkedin Instagram Copyright CirculAgronomie 2020
Fritidsbanken
Home What is Circular Economy ? Our project The encyclopedia Newsletter Langues Fritidsbanken Web : fritidsbanken.se Contact : henric@fritidsbanken.se Localisation : Sweden Date of meeting : 12 june 2023 Maturity of the projet : Mature Functional economy Reuse Sports Borrow sports items Fritidsbanken – “free time bank” in English – is a Swedish NGO founded almost 10 years ago to promote the development of sports libraries throughout Sweden. We had the opportunity to meet Henric, Fritidsbanken Sverige’s communications manager, and Edvin, an employee at Fritidsbanken Karlstad, one of the country’s largest sports libraries. “We have three pillars at Fritidsbanken: basically all the items have been donated, everything is free and anyone can borrow them.” Henric Byström, Head of Communications at Fritidsbanken Sverige From a simple idea to a national concept The story of Fritidsbanken can be told most authentically by Henric. It was his wife, Carina Haak, who came up with the idea 10 years ago. She found it strange that people could borrow books from municipal libraries but not sports equipment. What’s more, as the deacon of the small municipality of Forshaga, she was in regular contact with single mothers in financial difficulty who couldn’t provide their children with the equipment they needed for winter sports day at school. So it was in autumn 2012 that the first equipment began to be collected in the municipality of Forshaga and the first Fritidsbank officially opened in January 2013, with some 200 items. Ten years later, there are 127 Fritidsbanken across the country with almost 500,000 items of sports equipment available for use. These local Fritidsbanken are 90% managed by municipalities that have requested them, with the remaining 10% managed by sports associations, non profit organizations or charities. According to Henric and Edvin, in view of the ever-increasing demand, they will most likely all be managed by municipalities within a few years, with the latter putting them on the political agenda. “The staff who work here are paid by the municipality because it was decided that this was an initiative in which money should be invested.” Edwyn – employee at Fritidsbank Karlstad All the municipalities and associations that run local Fritidsbanken are members of the NGO Fritidsbanken Sverige, which receives funding from the Swedish National Sports Confederation, the Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of Sport, the Värmland region, etc. Where do the items come from ? Basically all the equipment found in all the Fritidsbanken in Sweden is donated by private individuals, who are encouraged by the NGO to part with it if they are not using it. Sometimes companies, sport clubs and other organizations donate equipment as well. “If you’re not using it, someone else could.” Henric, Head of Communications at Fritidsbanken Sverige Donations are collected directly at the Fritidsbanken and in some large towns, such as Karlstad, there are drop-off points more centrally located in the town so that everyone can donate without having to travel too far. Once an item has been donated, it is put into the digital system almost immediately if it is in good condition and there are no security concerns. To open a new Fritidsbank, it’s recommended to have at least 1,000 pieces of equipment to ensure a complete offer and also to give a ‘wow’ feeling, as Edwyn describes it, which makes people want to buy from such places. That’s why establishments that have been around for longer donate some of their equipment to new establishments that sometimes find it difficult to establish themselves. Who can borrow and how ? As the pillars of Fritidsbanken state: everything is free and anyone can borrow. Edwyn explains that new visitors are always quite confused when they are told that they don’t need a membership, ID card or bank card. Anyone can come and borrow as much equipment as they like and the only thing they need to leave is a name and a phone number or email. In this way, even young children can borrow equipment on their own, simply by leaving the telephone number of one of their parents. After two weeks’ use, anyone can return the item, and it’s as simple as that. “It’s so simple it’s almost deceptively simple.” Edwyn – employee at Fritidsbank Karlstad “We trust and hope that people will take what they like here, use it appropriately and come back with what they took. And it works 99% of the time.” Henric, Head of Communications at Fritidsbanken Sverige According to them, this way of proceeding encourages people to continue coming and it builds a relationship of mutual trust. Henric tells us about a man from Syria who came to borrow equipment and was shocked not to have to show his identity card. It was very important for him because it was “the first time since he arrived in Sweden that he didn’t have to prove his identity, he was simply trusted”. Why use Fritidsbanken ? There are many ecological and economic reasons to borrow equipment from a Fritidsbank. One of them is to extend the life span of objects that would otherwise have been thrown away, but also to prevent the unnecessary production of new objects. “Many people think it’s for the poor, for those who can’t afford to buy their own things. This is the case if you think that buying your own items is the right thing to do. If you only use an item for one day a year, it doesn’t make much sense to buy it and store it for 364 days.” Henric, Head of Communications at Fritidsbanken Sverige Edvin explains that the aim of Fritidsbanken is not to take everyone’s equipment and make it available collectively. The idea is to allow everyone to discover different activities and to enjoy one so much that you end up feeling the need to buy your own equipment. “Let’s say someone wants to try ice skating, we have different sizes of skates that they can use over several weeks, then borrow new ones, and maybe in