Thomas has spent the past decade in Scandinavia’s leading recycling company, The NG Group – now EVP and CEO of one of the portfolio companies, Zirq Solutions.
Zirq is a pioneer of circularity, having developed ground-breaking technology for recycling medical waste. Thomas has vast experience in developing circular solutions at industrial scale – with profitability.
Please share where your passion for your career comes from. Have you always intended to work in this industry?
My passion is to make a difference – being part of the solution that the world needs. I have a strong passion for keeping materials in the loop – again and again. To succeed with this, I want to play a role in driving new circular solutions – and in order to make a change the solutions must be scaled.
Was there an outstanding moment where your path diverged, or you realised the importance of your profession?
When I started working in the recycling industry in 2013, I soon realised that the industry was in prime position for offering what every customer needs – reduced CO2 and material footprint through industrial and circular solutions. Delivering on this, has been my main motivation in the past decade.
What do you see as the biggest challenge in the circularity of digital health devices today?
There are multiple challenges in the necessary redesign of the value-chain for health devices – regardless of them being digital or not. The biggest challenge at this point in time is the redesign of the reversed logistics system. But there are also big challenges related to technology and regulations for example. I also believe that there is a risk of thinking too small – with the consequence for the new circular solutions developed being nice – but not competitive at large scale.
How would you overcome this challenge?
Working in close partnerships with the most important stakeholders in the value chain. Bringing smart people together. Outdated regulatory barriers must also be overcome – here a lot of people need to work in the same – circular – direction.
How does your expertise relate to DiCE?
My field of expertise is within redesigning and building circular value chains. I have done this for quite a few material streams. The past years one of my main focus areas have been developing circular solutions and value chains for post-consumer medical devices through the company Zirq Solutions.
What do you expect from DiCE? How will it change the “sustainability landscape”?
I expect concrete results that will be scaled. There are many of the right kind of stakeholders within DiCE – thus the foundation for delivering much needed change within the health industry is very good.
