Circularity at Airbus: How SecondLife Cuts Waste and Costs
Irresistible Circular Business
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Show Notes
How can a reuse marketplace for unused industrial assets reduce costs and waste at scale?
In this episode, Nathalie Clement, Amanda Fiorillo, and Bernd Schmid from Airbus Defence and Space explain how Airbus built SecondLife, a digital platform where employees trade unused equipment. In three years, 160 tons of waste were avoided and 1,600 tons of CO₂ were saved.
What you'll hear in this episode: • How Airbus structured a three-step reuse strategy: internal marketplace, external resale and supplier buyback, and donation as a last resort • Why the financial case is central: a 150% ROI over three years and €1.5 billion in asset value exchanged internally • How KPIs turned a pilot into a scalable system across the company
Featured in this episode is also Heiko Tullney from Indeed Innovation as co-host. This is the final episode of the Irresistible Circular Business series, produced in partnership with Indeed Innovation, the global design and innovation firm pioneering the circular economy.
People Nathalie Clement, Environmental Projects Coordinator https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathalie-clement-mac-farlane-98081b2/
Amanda Fiorillo, Business Digital Improver for Industrial Systems https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-fiorillo-2a83561/
Bernd Schmid, Program Manager Transformation Space Systems at Airbus https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernd-schmid/
Heiko Tullney, Executive Director at Indeed Innovation https://www.linkedin.com/in/heiko-tullney/
Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypscher/
Chapters 00:00 Intro 04:31 Airbus and Its Circularity Strategy 07:29 How SecondLife Started and How It Works 15:45 Getting Buy-In and Building Internal Traction 22:12 Commercial and Circular Impact 25:51 External Resale: Strategy, Buyers, and Compliance 37:05 External Commercial Impact and Donation 41:40 What Makes SecondLife Irresistible 42:55 Outro
About Airbus is one of the world's largest aerospace and defence companies, designing and manufacturing commercial aircraft, helicopters, military transports, and satellites. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company generated €69.2 billion in revenue in 2024 and employs around 150,000 people across more than 180 countries.
Convinced that digital technology is a powerful accelerator for sustainable transformation, Airbus developed SecondLife, an internal digital marketplace that allows employees to give unused industrial assets a new purpose rather than sending them to waste. The platform is part of Airbus's broader "Digital for Green" strategy and has expanded across all major divisions, with ambitions to eventually open to external partners.
Further Links ReCommerce Playbook https://www.indeed-innovation.com/the-recommerce-playbook-from-returns-to-revenue/
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