Project seeks to use distributed ledger technology to provide a secure, trustworthy underpinning for the emerging circular economy. It will demonstrate this through addressing specific challenges identified by global consultants McKinsey & Company for the UK-based charity Oxfam. These challenges involve changes to Oxfam’s business model to provide a “smart” environment that is both comprehensible and safe for all users, including donors, volunteers, shop managers and potential shoppers that maximise value capture while also reducing environmental impact from donated artefacts. These changes involve the development of secure and trustworthy tools and platforms that capture and track interactions surrounding donated items in a secure and trustworthy manner so that they: (i) enhance processes of valuing and distributing artefacts to locations in which they can retail for higher margins and; (ii) subsequently avoid artefacts being recycled. 

Project funded by EPSRC