What B2B marketers can learn from NOUS anti-gaspi, Too Good To Go and Back Market about positioning, proof and conversion.

There is something quietly interesting about walking into a shop that sells products other retailers did not want to keep.

A packet may have a short date, a fruit may look less polished, a product might come from surplus stock, or a phone may have had a previous life before being refurbished and sold again.

The product may still have real value, while asking the customer for a little more trust before they choose it.

• Is this still good?
• Is it safe?
• Is the lower price hiding a weaker experience?
• Am I making a smart choice, or accepting a compromise?

That question is what makes anti-waste commerce such a strong marketing case study.

“Brands like NOUS anti-gaspi, Too Good To Go and Back Market sell products that need trust before they can be chosen. Their growth depends on making products with an initial trust gap feel understandable, credible and worth choosing.”

In B2B marketing, buyers also make decisions under uncertainty. They may be interested in a product, but still unsure about implementation, risk, quality, data, support, compliance or internal buy-in. In categories like this, conversion is not just persuasion. It is risk reduction.

The value of “imperfect” depends on how it is framed

A short-dated product is not automatically a bad product. A wonky vegetable is not less nutritious. A surplus item is not less useful. A refurbished phone is not necessarily less reliable.

The meaning attached to the product often matters as much as the product itself.

Modern commerce has spent years making quality feel synonymous with freshness, abundance and newness. A full shelf feels reassuring, a pristine product feels safer, and a new device often feels easier to trust than one with a previous life.

Positioning matters here because it shapes whether the customer sees imperfection as a risk or as part of the value.

Many B2B products also carry a perceived flaw. They can be complex, technical, regulated, expensive, hard to implement or difficult to compare. Weak marketing tries to smooth over that friction. Stronger marketing explains why the friction exists and what value it creates.

Anti-waste commerce has grown because it solves several tensions at once

Food waste is not a small problem. The European Commission states that more than 58 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually in the EU, with an associated market value estimated at €132 billion. [1]

In France, anti-waste and food destocking have become a more visible commercial category. Xerfi estimated that the turnover of food destocking and anti-waste specialists reached €520 million in France in 2024. [2]

Those figures explain the economic relevance of the category. The buying decision itself is more layered.

The best models make the buying decision feel both rational and emotionally acceptable. The customer can say: “I saved money, avoided waste, and still got something useful.”

It also connects with something I explored in From Scarcity to Stewardship: The New Psychology of Conscious Consumers. Responsible consumption is no longer only about values. It is also about proof, affordability, usefulness and trust.

Awareness does not remove hesitation

Most people already understand that food waste is a problem, and many consumers know that buying refurbished can reduce environmental impact. Awareness creates interest; confidence turns that interest into behaviour.

“At the moment of purchase, the buyer needs more than awareness. They need to feel that the product is safe, the price reflects real value and the sustainability message is not hiding a weaker experience.”

A similar pattern appears in B2B SaaS, fintech and marketplaces.

Buyers may understand the problem and agree with your category narrative, but they still need practical reassurance: will the product work, can the team deliver, is implementation manageable, is the data reliable, and can the decision be defended internally?

That is why the most interesting anti-waste brands do more than create demand. They design the buying experience around the hesitation itself.

NOUS anti-gaspi makes anti-waste feel like normal shopping

NOUS anti-gaspi is interesting because it brings anti-waste into a familiar retail format.

From the outside, the model is simple: sell everyday products that would otherwise risk being wasted, often at lower prices, through physical stores. The marketing challenge is more subtle. NOUS anti-gaspi sells discounted products, but its real marketing challenge is to normalise a different way of shopping.

For the model to work, customers need to feel that buying anti-waste products is not strange, risky or second best. It has to feel like a practical grocery choice.

The brand connects several layers of value at once: price, everyday usefulness, waste reduction, local shopping habits and a familiar retail experience.

According to Plan Bio, NOUS anti-gaspi raised €3 million in 2024 and reported 28 stores and €41 million in turnover for 2023. [3] In January 2026, Linéaires reported that the brand planned to open eight new stores in 2026, including a Paris opening on Boulevard Richard Lenoir, with further development planned in Paris, Bordeaux and Lyon. [4]

The exact figures will evolve, but the direction is clear: anti-waste is no longer only a niche activist behaviour. It is becoming a more structured retail proposition.

For B2B marketers, the useful lesson is about adoption. A new behaviour becomes easier to accept when it is embedded in a format the buyer already understands.

If your product asks buyers to change how they work, report, buy, analyse or decide, the experience cannot feel completely foreign. You need to make the new behaviour legible through familiar cues: clear categories, simple next steps, transparent pricing, recognisable workflows, proof points and onboarding that reduces uncertainty.

Too Good To Go makes waste reduction feel small enough to act on

Instead of putting anti-waste into a physical grocery format, it turns surplus food into a small, repeatable action. The customer opens the app, finds a nearby partner, reserves a discounted surprise bag and collects it during a specific time window.

The surprise element could have been a barrier. People do not always know exactly what they will get, and that uncertainty creates friction. Too Good To Go gives that uncertainty a structure.

Too Good To Go says it has grown to more than 120 million registered users and 180,000 active business partners and has helped save more than 500 million meals from being wasted. [5] As this is company-reported data, it should be treated as self-reported impact rather than independent verification. Still, it shows the scale of the behaviour the company is trying to build.

That is why the first action matters. It gives the customer a way to test the promise without needing to believe the whole story upfront.

Back Market shows why proof has to appear before conversion

Refurbished electronics carry one of the clearest trust problems in circular commerce.

“The value proposition is attractive: cheaper devices, less waste, less pressure to buy new. But the buyer may still worry about battery life, hidden defects, seller quality, warranty, support and what happens if the device fails.”

Back Market has to make refurbished feel safe enough to choose, with sustainability as part of the value rather than the whole argument.

The company does this through visible trust mechanisms. Its own site highlights refurbishment standards, up to 100-point quality inspections, free 30-day returns and a 1-year warranty. [6]

In 2024, The Guardian reported that Back Market had expanded to 18 countries, raised more than $1 billion and worked with around 1,700 traders and refurbishers. The same article quoted CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze describing the “trust gap” between refurbished products and new devices. [7]

A trust gap closes when quality control, guarantees and seller standards become visible before the customer feels too much risk.

Many companies have strong operational proof, but they hide it too deep in the journey. The best evidence sits in sales decks, onboarding calls, legal documents, security questionnaires, help centres or customer success processes. By the time the buyer sees it, they may already have hesitated.

When operations answer a real objection, they should be part of the story. In B2B, that proof can come from onboarding processes, data governance, customer support, partner vetting, security standards or implementation frameworks.

Before the buyer says yes

Across these examples, the important work happens before the customer says yes.

The brand changes how the buyer interprets the perceived flaw, then adds enough proof to make the decision feel reasonable.

The pattern is simple: identify the hesitation, make the trade-off clear, show proof early, and make the first step feel low-risk. Anti-waste brands do this because they have to. B2B marketers should do it because buyers are already asking these questions before they convert.

A lot of marketing becomes too thin at exactly this stage. It jumps from claim to CTA without doing the confidence-building work in between.

A company may say it is more sustainable, more efficient, AI-powered, future-facing or built for growth, while the buyer is still wondering whether the claim is credible, what will actually change, how difficult adoption will be and whether the decision can be defended internally.

The experience still has to hold

This is also where the limits of anti-waste commerce become important. These models can easily become romantic stories about better consumption, but they are operationally difficult businesses.

Supply can be unpredictable, margins can be thin, quality may vary, and operations are often complex. There is also a deeper paradox: if society becomes better at preventing waste, businesses built around surplus need to keep evolving.

Poor quality, unclear impact or inflated claims can make consumers question whether the model truly reduces waste or whether it simply turns surplus into another polished commercial story.

Ethical intent may create the first reason to care, but repeat behaviour still depends on the experience. A weak product, a disappointing basket or an unreliable warranty quickly remind customers that mission alone cannot carry the relationship.

The brands that hold up over time combine mission with practical value. Price, convenience, reassurance, local access, guarantees and repeatable behaviour all matter.

What B2B marketers can take from this

Anti-waste commerce gives B2B marketers a useful logic: study the hesitation before trying to accelerate the conversion. A SaaS company does not need to behave like a grocery store, and a fintech platform does not need to imitate an anti-waste app.

Make the trade-off visible

B2B buyers need to understand what they are choosing.

A clear trade-off is easier to trust than a polished promise. Setup time, specialisation, structured workflows or higher pricing do not have to weaken the offer, as long as the buyer understands what each constraint protects, clarifies or helps avoid.

Turn abstract claims into customer jobs

A lot of B2B messaging starts too high up. Words like growth, innovation, efficiency, transformation and AI-powered performance may be relevant, but they often fail to explain what the buyer can actually do next.

Move proof closer to the first moment of doubt

If a buyer has to book a demo before they understand your methodology, security posture, onboarding process or customer results, the journey is asking for trust too early.

Move proof into the places where hesitation already appears: landing pages, comparison pages, FAQs, pricing pages, case studies, product explainers, demo follow-ups, nurture emails and onboarding content.

This is where anti-waste commerce connects with circular growth loops: the strongest models do not simply acquire users. They create repeat behaviours around value, trust and participation.

Growth is what happens when the customer has enough confidence to come back.

Look for trust leakage before adding more traffic

Trust leakage happens when a buyer understands the offer but still does not feel safe enough to move forward. More traffic will not fix that. The friction sits inside the proof, the reassurance, the onboarding story or the perceived risk.

This is where B2B marketers should look before assuming the problem is demand.

This is a more useful way to diagnose growth in trust-sensitive categories. Not every conversion problem is a CTA problem. Sometimes the buyer simply does not have enough confidence yet.

FAQ

What is anti-waste commerce?

Anti-waste commerce is the sale, redistribution or revalorisation of products that are still usable but at risk of being wasted, discarded or undervalued. This can include surplus food, short-date groceries, imperfect products, unsold meals, refurbished electronics and other circular commerce models.

Why are anti-waste brands relevant to B2B marketing?

Because they sell under imperfect conditions. Their products often carry a perceived flaw, which makes them useful examples for B2B categories where trust, risk and proof shape conversion.

What can SaaS companies learn from Too Good To Go or Back Market?

SaaS companies can learn how to reduce perceived risk before conversion. Too Good To Go turns a big problem into a simple, repeatable action. Back Market makes quality control and reassurance visible. Both show that trust should be designed into the customer journey, not added at the end.

Is anti-waste commerce only about sustainability?

Sustainability sits alongside price, convenience, quality reassurance, trust signals and repeat behaviour.

How can B2B marketers reduce perceived risk before conversion?

By making proof visible earlier: customer evidence, methodology, security information, onboarding clarity, transparent FAQs and operational credibility.

Conclusion

Anti-waste commerce is interesting because it begins with products that can raise doubts, then builds a buying experience around those doubts.

NOUS anti-gaspi does it through familiarity. Too Good To Go does it by making uncertainty feel small and actionable. Back Market does it by making proof visible before the customer has to take the risk.

For B2B marketers, the useful lesson is to notice where buyers hesitate before trying to accelerate the conversion. Sometimes the problem is not demand, positioning or traffic in isolation. Sometimes the buyer simply does not feel safe enough to move.

In anti-waste commerce and B2B growth, trust is part of the system that makes conversion possible.

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Sources

[1] European Commission, Food waste, accessed May 2026. The Commission states that over 58 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually in the EU, with an associated market value estimated at €132 billion.

[2] Xerfi, Le marché du déstockage et de l’anti-gaspi alimentaire, published 27 June 2025. Xerfi estimates that the turnover of food destocking and anti-waste specialists reached €520 million in France in 2024.

[3] Plan Bio, L’enseigne NOUS anti-gaspi lève trois millions d’euros et ouvrira 3 magasins d’ici fin 2024, published 2024. The article reports NOUS anti-gaspi’s €3 million fundraising, 28 stores and €41 million turnover in 2023.

[4] Linéaires, NOUS anti-gaspi ouvrira 8 magasins en 2026, published 15 January 2026. The article reports the brand’s plan to open eight new stores in 2026, including a Paris opening on Boulevard Richard Lenoir.

[5] Too Good To Go, Too Good To Go Accelerates U.S. Expansion, published 27 August 2025. The company states that it has 120 million registered users, 180,000 active partners across 19 countries and more than 500 million meals saved from waste.

[6] Back Market, Back Market: refurbished tech that’s better for the planet, accessed May 2026. Back Market highlights refurbishment standards, up to 100-point quality inspection, 30-day returns and a 1-year warranty.

[7] The Guardian, “It should be a right to fix your phone”: the boss of booming secondhand tech firm Back Market, published 11 June 2024. The article discusses Back Market’s international growth, refurbisher network and the trust gap around refurbished electronics.

The post How Anti-Waste Brands Make Imperfect Products Easier to Trust appeared first on SAMIN GHIASI | GROWTH MARKETING CONSULTANT | FR/EN.

Building circular systems that value both people and planet.

Every brand is familiar with the word “sustainable.” Many speak of zero waste, circularity, and the next big green initiative. But what if we have been focusing on the wrong target?

Because if circularity only optimises resource flows while leaving behind the people, the labour, and the communities who sustain those flows, then we are merely redesigning waste, not justice.

This post shifts the lens. Ethical creation is not simply about fewer emissions or fewer mistakes. It is about care, justice, and small-scale regeneration. It is about building systems where people and planet thrive together, not one at the cost of the other.[1][2][3]

1. Ecological healing and the invisible economy of care

When discussing the circular economy, we tend to focus on materials, energy, and closed loops. Yet one dimension remains largely invisible: the care work that holds regenerative systems together.

This includes:

• Repairing community structures
• Emotional labour in stakeholder relationships
• Invisible coordination and social glue
• Unpaid or underpaid work, still disproportionately carried by women

Research on just and gender-inclusive circular economies shows that true transition requires developing care awareness and assuming responsibility, not just optimising resource flows.[4][5]

When care is invisible, it is undervalued. When it is undervalued, systems quietly rely on unpaid or low-paid labour and call the result “innovation”.[1][4]

In B2B marketing, agriculture, and supply chains, this raises a fundamental question:

“Who is caring for what remains, and how is that labour valued?“

Reviews of circular economy practices highlight a common blind spot: technical efficiency is advancing, but the social and justice dimensions lag.[2][3]

We cannot regenerate ecosystems while depleting the people who maintain them.

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2. Decentred success and the refusal of extractive metrics

Most modern systems still run on familiar pressure points:
“growth at all costs”, “scale fast”, “max output”.

But ethical creation asks:

What does success look like if it centres justice, redistribution, and human dignity?[3]

Recent work on the social dimension of the circular economy has characterised it as “weak” compared to the technical and economic aspects.[2]

That weakness becomes a blind spot: businesses claim circularity, but do not meaningfully change how value, risk, or power are shared.

So instead of asking only:

• How many leads did we generate?

We might ask:

• How many downstream actors in the value chain gained capability?
• How many small producers benefited from fairer terms?
• How many relationships deepened instead of remaining transactional?[6]

Extractive behaviour—whether in business models, team culture, or client relationships—burns trust. And trust is the foundation of long-term value creation.[3][6]

Circularity without justice is just efficiency in disguise.

3. Small scale as a strength

Big scale is seductive. However, small-scale often allows for deeper connections, local regeneration, and meaningful value flows.

When circular economy models scale without rethinking power dynamics, they reproduce the same extractive logic, just with bigger loops.[3][5]

Small scale is not a limitation. It is a resilience strategy.

Work on just circular transitions shows that two justice dimensions matter:

1. Repairing historic inequalities
2. Anticipating future shocks on workers and industries[5]

Small-scale and place-based systems make this possible. They support:

• Adaptation to local context
• Community participation
• Long-term relationships
• Shared stewardship of land and resources

Example near Paris: regenerative farms that use cover cropping, agroforestry, and rotational grazing regenerate soil, strengthen biodiversity, and build resilience, while maintaining tight links with local communities and markets.[7]

In marketing terms, a campaign built for one local cluster of producers, with care and consultation, may deliver more durable impact than a mass-blast campaign with no roots.

Durability beats reach.

4. A case in practice: Emmaüs and RREUSE

Circular marketing is not just efficient. It is ethical.

RREUSE is a European network of social enterprises working in reuse, repair, and recycling.

It represents tens of thousands of workers, trainees, and volunteers across multiple countries.[8] Their core idea is simple: use circular activities like reuse and repair to create dignified work and fight exclusion.

In the Paris region, Emmaüs Coup de Main operates at the intersection of housing support, socio-professional reintegration, and product reuse. They collect and sort large volumes of second-hand goods each year, with high rates of reuse and recycling, while offering training, contracts, and pathways back into stable work.[9]

These are not just sustainability metrics.

They are justice metrics:

• People trained
• Households stabilised
• Communities supported
• Materials saved from landfill
• Skills and dignity restored

Emmaüs and RREUSE show what circularity looks like when social inclusion and care are part of the loop itself, not a CSR line at the end.[1][3][8]

5. How to act: Four habits for ethical creation

a. Design for care

Build campaigns and systems that explicitly account for the labour of care.
Make visible who cares, how much time it takes, and what support they need.
Design governance and budgets that protect this labour instead of assuming it “just happens”.[4][5]

b. Measure justice, not just efficiency

Alongside classic KPIs, track:

• Fairness of contracts and conditions
• How much value stays local
• Whether relationships and skills deepen over time
• Who gains decision power in the process[1][2]

In B2B marketing, that might mean tracking trust and transparency indicators with clients and partners, not only acquisition costs or impressions.[6]

c. Centre small-scale systems, then scale ethically

Start with local ecosystems and thick relationships.
Learn with one cooperative, one region, one niche community.

Then scale by connecting resilient nodes, not by stripping out relationships for speed.[3][5]

d. Leave tangible resilience behind

Ask of every campaign, service, or partnership:

“What remains when we leave?“

A shared playbook, a training, a new cooperative structure, a repair habit, a pricing practice that protects small producers—these are resilience assets.[10]

If nothing remains except a temporary spike in metrics, then the model is still linear, even if the visuals are green.

How to measure: Signals of ethical creation

To track whether your work moves toward ethical creation, look for:

• Improved labour conditions or stability among people in your value chain[2]
• Longevity of relationships, not just one-off transactions[6]
• Reuse/repair volumes and number of people trained in those activities[8][9]
• Local value retention: how much economic value stays in the region rather than leaking out[1]
• Narrative shifts: Are care workers, small producers, and communities visible in your storytelling, or still invisible?[3]

These indicators show whether your system is becoming regenerative—or simply more efficient at extraction.[10]

Why this matters

Ecosystems include humans, communities, labour, and culture—not only materials and carbon.[1][3]

Without addressing justice, the circular economy risks becoming a cleaner version of business as usual.
In agriculture and B2B supply chains, you are not just selling a product.

You are co-creating capacity, resilience, and social infrastructure.[7][10]

Systems built on extraction eventually crack under pressure.
Systems built on care and shared power endure.[1][3]

Quick actions this week

• Map your value chain: Identify invisible labour and unpaid care sustaining your product or service.[4][5]
• Add one justice indicator to your next campaign’s definition of success (for example, number of small partners involved on fair terms).[1][2]
• Pilot one small-scale initiative with a local partner that intentionally builds relationships and skills, not just reach.[3][7][10]
• Interview one “care worker” in your ecosystem (farm manager, cooperative coordinator, social entrepreneur, repair technician) and put their voice at the centre of a piece of content.[8][9]

Next in the Circular Economy series: Data Without Damage – How to collect less, use it meaningfully, and return value to the user.

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References

[1] Promoting Social Justice through Circular Economy – Circular Economy

[2] The Social Dimension of the Circular Economy – Sustainable Earth Reviews (BioMed Central)

[3] Justice, Equity and the Circular Economy – Taylor & Francis, 2024

[4] Gender and Sustainability in the Circular Economy – Just2CE

[5] Toward a Just Circular Economy – conceptualising environmental labour and gender justice in circularity studies

[6] Ethical and Transparent Marketing in B2B – OrangeOwl Marketing

[7] Effective Regenerative Agricultural Practices in France – South Pole

[8] RREUSE – Re-use and Social Enterprise Network

[9] Emmaüs Coup de Main – Nos actions

[10] Seven Steps to Build a Regenerative Business – Earthly

The post Justice, Care, and the Future of Ethical Creation appeared first on SAMIN GHIASI | GROWTH MARKETING CONSULTANT | FR/EN.

Every year, millions are poured into campaigns that vanish within weeks. A brief spike in traffic, a few clicks, then silence. It is the marketing equivalent of single-use plastic. Expensive, wasteful, and unsustainable.

The circular economy shows us a better way: design systems that reduce waste, reuse resources, and regenerate value. Applied to marketing, it means building campaigns that keep working long after launch. Campaigns that flow back into your ecosystem instead of going to landfill.

And in Europe, especially in France, where consumers are quick to spot waste and demand accountability, this approach is not just smart. It is becoming expected [2]. French organisations such as ADEME have been pushing for resource efficiency for years, and the public conversation is steadily moving in that direction [1][6].

1. The four habits that make campaigns circular

Circular campaigns are built on four habits that reduce waste and increase impact.

a. Create once, use often

Think in modules, not single-use assets. Instead of building one ad for one channel, designs can be cut, remixed, and distributed widely. A single data visual can become:

• A LinkedIn carousel
• A short-form reel
• A slide for webinars
• A static post for forums

This modular mindset saves effort and ensures consistency. Industry research consistently links repurposing to better long-term performance and lower production waste [4].

b. Anchor on evergreen value

Every campaign should orbit a core resource that remains useful: a report, a toolkit, a guide. This hub lives on beyond the campaign and keeps pulling in organic traffic. Guidance from Think with Google (EMEA) also stresses planning for evergreen discovery alongside trending moments [5].

Example: ADEME (France’s Agency for Ecological Transition) publishes sustainability guides, such as Panorama sur l’économie de la fonctionnalité et de la coopération (2019–2023), that journalists, NGOs, and businesses continue referencing months later. That is evergreen in action [1][6].

c. Circulate through networks

Paid ads are fuel, not the engine. The real staying power comes when content moves through trusted communities. In France, that might be CSR associations, local cooperatives, or zero-waste Facebook groups. Shared through them, your campaign carries credibility you cannot buy, and aligns with wider European shifts in the ad ecosystem and trust expectations [2][3].

d. Leave something useful behind

Ask yourself: What remains when the campaign ends? A downloadable checklist, a mini playbook, a replay people can bookmark? That is how campaigns build an asset library instead of a waste heap. Repurposable, keepable assets are a recurring best practice in European content benchmarks [4][5].

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2. A French example in practice

Suppose you are launching a sustainable food brand in Paris. A disposable campaign might offer “10% off organic pasta this week only.”

A circular campaign could:

• Publish a hub guide: Zero-Waste Kitchens in France: 2025 Edition
• Slice it into formats: TikTok recipe reels, Instagram infographics, LinkedIn stats
• Share through eco-bloggers and French food-waste NGOs
• Invite community recipes and hacks to extend reach
• End with a free zero-waste shopping planner that keeps bringing people back

Six months later, the guide is still ranking on search. The planner drives newsletter sign-ups. Community hacks generate ongoing shares.

3. How to measure if a campaign is circular

To move beyond vanity metrics, track signs of durability:

• Reuse rate: percentage of assets repurposed across channels [4]
• Traffic sustainability: visitors to the hub after 30, 60, 90 days [5]
• Engagement lifespan: how long people keep sharing or downloading [4]
• Community contribution: proportion of posts generated outside your team [3]

Benchmarks: industry research shows modular, reusable content sustains traffic and discovery over time; see CMI’s 2025 benchmarks on repurposing and Google’s evergreen guidance [4][5].

In France, recent media and trust research highlights that efficient use of resources and credible communication are increasingly tied to brand strength and consumer expectations [2][7].

4. Ethics first

Circular marketing is not just efficient. It is ethical.

Every notification, every headline, every ad competes for the same scarce resource: attention. Before you launch, ask:

1. Will this still feel valuable in three months?
2. Does it help people act, not just scroll?
3. Does it respect attention as scarce, not free?

When you pass this test, campaigns become more than promotions. They become contributions [2].

Why matters

Circular campaigns compound. They lower acquisition costs, reduce waste, and strengthen brand trust. They protect your team’s energy. And in markets like France, they align perfectly with a culture that values stewardship over excess.

Quick actions this week

• Audit your last three campaigns: Which assets still deliver?
• Choose one evergreen hub for your next launch
• Plan three modular spin-offs from the start
• Create one resource people will want to keep

Next in the Circular Economy series: Justice, care, and the future of ethical creation.

References

[1] ADEME. Panorama sur l’économie de la fonctionnalité et de la coopération (2019–2023).

[2] Edelman. 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer — France Report (PDF).

[3] IAB Europe. Ad-Funding Online Services Report 2025 (PDF).

[4] Content Marketing Institute. B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2025.

[5] Think with Google (EMEA). Programming and channel strategy — combine trending and evergreen content for lasting discovery.

[6] ADEME. Panorama national et pistes d’action pour l’économie de la fonctionnalité (resource page).

[7] Kantar Media. Media Trends and Predictions 2025 (PDF).

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How modern business quietly erodes ecosystems, trust, and time.

Walk into any boardroom, flip through a pitch deck, or scan the latest product launch announcement. Underneath the polished metrics and bold projections, you’ll find the same relentless drumbeat: growth.

Always more. Faster, bigger, louder.

“Beneath those sleek KPIs and ambitious targets, something essential is quietly disappearing—ecosystems, wellbeing, and the trust that makes sustainable business possible. All that growth begs the fundamental question: growth toward what?“

This isn’t about rejecting ambition. It’s about recognising what gets sacrificed when business follows a straight line: extract, scale, discard.

1. Extraction, dressed up as innovation

When we hear “extraction,” we picture oil rigs and strip mines. But the same logic runs through digital platforms that harvest attention, agencies that burn through junior talent, and startups that treat people as scalable resources.

Consider the now-familiar pattern: hire 50 people in six months, then lay off 30 when funding tightens [1]. Or agencies that drain their teams during campaign season, calling it agility. These aren’t aberrations; they’re features of a system designed to extract value as quickly as possible.

This extraction mindset shows up everywhere:

• Tech companies are shipping fast without thinking through the consequences
• Marketing teams are automating before they understand their audience
• Sales organisations are chasing numbers with no time to build real relationships

For leaders navigating these pressures, these aren’t abstract critiques. They’re the daily tensions behind every quarterly goal; the impossible balance between growth targets and the human cost of achieving them.

2. The hidden burnout tax

Modern workplaces rarely acknowledge the emotional overhead of constant scaling.

Yet the signs are unmistakable: productivity theatre masquerading as actual results, endless Slack threads bleeding into personal time, creative professionals quietly checking out.

Hyper-growth cultures celebrate grit and output, but underneath, meaning erodes. People become metrics. Time becomes overhead. The best ideas get crushed by urgency.

“Strategy shaped by investor urgency, not customer care. Speed over substance. Talent quietly disengages until they eventually walk away.“

Research shows that 75% of employees who survive layoffs report increased anxiety and diminished trust in leadership [2]. This is a design flaw in how we build companies [3].

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3. Convenience that shifts the real cost

In today’s business environment, convenience usually means someone else is paying the price. That seamless customer experience? It’s built on warehouse workers tracked by algorithms through 10-hour shifts.

Those AI tools that promise efficiency? They’re powered by energy-intensive data centres and precarious labour hidden from view [4].

When convenience becomes the primary metric, the true costs get pushed elsewhere:

• Gig workers are absorbing all the market uncertainty
• Employee mental health is sacrificed to content production cycles
• Environmental impact externalised beyond the balance sheet

These hidden costs don’t disappear; they compound. What starts as frictionless efficiency eventually becomes systemically unsustainable.

4. Time for circular thinking

Circularity isn’t just about recycling materials. It’s about designing business systems that regenerate rather than deplete—where people, ideas, and resources can renew themselves instead of burning out.

This requires different questions:

• What if regeneration is a key performance indicator?
• What if we optimise for connection, not just conversion?
• What if businesses strengthen the conditions they depend on?

Some companies are already experimenting with this approach. Patagonia built its resale and repair programmes into a core strategy, making product longevity a competitive advantage [5]. In B2B, cooperative platforms like Enspiral prioritise shared value creation over extraction.

Bio-innovation is opening new doors: Mycelium-based pioneers Ecovative are redesigning packaging and textiles from fungal roots—growing materials that biodegrade naturally and replace plastics in high-impact sectors.

These aren’t just greener alternatives, but proof that regenerative design can scale [6].

“The real waste isn’t inefficiency, it’s building a future on systems that systematically undermine the conditions for long-term value creation.“

Growth can be circular instead of linear. Regenerative instead of extractive. Resilient by design.

Next in the Circular Economy series: Designing Circular Campaigns in France: Building Marketing That Lasts

References

[1] Wired. The Startup Hiring Frenzy That Backfired. 2024.

[2] HRD Connect. The other side of layoffs – survivor’s guilt. 2024.

[3] LeadDev. Burnout is on the rise as layoffs reshape the tech industry. 2025.

[4] Spotlight. Growing pains in scale-ups: How scaling affects new venture employee burnout and job satisfaction. 2024.

[5] Patagonia. Circular Economy Award at Davos. 2017.

[6] Ecovative. Scaling mycelium tech for packaging and fashion. 2024.

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