Circular South East is the regional hub for accelerating the transition to a circular economy across Sussex, Kent and the wider South East of England, led by Tech-Takeback with project partners Kent County Council and Claire Potter Design. We also have a Strategic Advisory Board and sector working groups informing our direction.
As part of the United Circles programme, funded through Horizon Europe, the Hub sits within a wider international network of Circularity Hubs working to transform how resources are used, shared and valued. You can watch a short video about United Circles here.
Circular South East is focussed on enabling practical, scalable solutions —reducing waste, cutting carbon and strengthening regional resilience.
Who We Are
Meet the team
Dr David Greenfield (Tech Takeback)
David Greenfield works across sustainability, circular economy, waste management, and resource innovation through a range of leadership, advisory, and entrepreneurial roles. He founded SOENECS in 2014, delivering consultancy, training, and research focused on circular economy, waste management, and environmental auditing. In 2020, David co-founded Tech-Takeback, a pioneering initiative transforming end-of-life electrical collection and reuse in Brighton & Hove. Its “RevaluElectricals” service, powered by The ZeroNet, won the 2021 BusinessGreen Leaders Award for Circular Economy and generated more than £30 million in social value between 2024 and 2026. In 2026, the organisation evolved into TTB CircularIT and the Tech-Takeback Foundation. TTB CircularIT now delivers two Horizon Europe projects: UNITED CIRCLES, including Circular South East, a pathfinder hub for industrial–urban symbiosis, and Circuit4EU, focused on robotic recovery of critical raw materials from end-of-life electricals. David is Programme Director for the UK elements of both projects.
Dr Ryan Woodard (Tech Takeback)
Ryan Woodard is a waste management and circular economy specialist with more than 25 years’ experience delivering practical solutions to improve resource efficiency and circularity. His work combines research, policy insight, and applied consultancy to support circular economy initiatives internationally. Ryan is currently Research Lead for Circular South East and Research Director at SOENECS, supporting public and private sector organisations to adopt circular economy approaches. Ryan holds a PhD in waste management and has led more than 50 projects covering waste management, recycling systems, resource recovery, and community-based circular economy initiatives. His experience ranges from analysing waste flows into UK landfill sites to developing waste solutions in South African township communities. He has worked extensively with local authorities on recycling and behaviour change programmes, helping inform policy and strategy development.
Mita Patel (Tech Takeback)
Mita is a Senior Sustainability Specialist and Strategic Advisor with 30 years’ experience leading, coordinating, and influencing high-impact climate and environmental strategies, policy, and practice across communities, local government, and at EU level. Mita is Programme Manager for Circular South East which aims to facilitate circular economy and industrial symbiosis across the hub area as part of the the Horizon Europe UNITED CIRCLES project. Prior to this Mita lead pioneering work on sustainability at Brighton & Hove City Council for 18 years. As Strategic Lead for Sustainability at Brighton & Hove City Council, Mita drove transformative environmental action by securing cross-departmental engagement, senior management support, and political commitment to a wide range of climate agendas, policies, programmes, and projects.
Rob Robinson (Kent County Council)
Rob leads the Low Carbon Kent team at Kent County Council, where he has co-designed and delivered a wide range of projects since 2016, many of which have been supported through European funding programmes. With an academic background including an HND in Applied Biology and a BSc in Biomedical Science, Rob began his career working within the NHS and pharmaceutical sector before moving into medical casework and later the third sector. The projects delivered by the Low Carbon Kent team focus on supporting, promoting, and growing the low carbon and circular economy across Kent, Medway, and the wider South East region. Rob has programme managed or played a leading role in a number of major initiatives, including Low Carbon Across the South & East (LoCASE), South East New Energy, Upcycle Your Waste, BLUEPRINT to a Circular Economy, Shift to Net Zero, and Clean Growth South East.
Richard Izzard (Kent County Council)
As Senior Circular Economy Officer at Kent County Council (KCC), Richard leads innovative projects that reduce waste, improve resource efficiency, and support the transition to a circular economy. His work includes leading the e-Waste Warriors project, engaging over 30 schools and 20,000 students in repair and recycling, and managing major programmes such as LoCASE, which supported more than 1,200 SMEs to improve environmental performance. Richard has developed business support programmes, community repair initiatives, and circular economy pilots, including establishing a repair café network with over 100 members and organising Kent’s first repair café conference.
Claire Potter (claire potter design)
Claire Potter is an Associate Professor of Design and the Circular Economy and Head of Product Design at the University of Sussex. Claire is also a UK Design Council Expert in the sectors of Circularity, Education and the Built Environment and helped to write the new Skills for Planet Framework published in 2025 and also Director of Claire Potter Design - an award-winning circular economy design, research and consultancy studio based in Brighton. CPD studio projects range from increasing the value of second-life materials through reprocessing and redesign to international standards writing, with Claire most recently assisting in the writing of EN17988 Circular Design of Fishing Gear and Aquaculture Equipment standards suite which came into force in 2025. Her first book, 'Welcome to the Circular Economy' was published in 2021.
Circular South East brings together businesses, local authorities, utilities, universities and community organisations to identify and deliver opportunities for industrial and urban symbiosis and unlock the value of underutilised resources.
This includes facilitating practical, digital and data-led solutions that keep materials, products and components in use for as long as possible - across sectors that do not traditionally collaborate.
What we do
By improving visibility of resources and facilitating new connections, we help organisations reduce reliance on virgin materials and embed circularity into procurement, design and operations.
Our focus
Our priority sectors include the built environment, electronics, textiles and agri-food—areas where there is significant potential to reduce environmental impact while creating economic and social value. Our sectoral working groups will be informing these areas in coming months.
Our mission
Through collaboration, innovation and evidence-led action, Circular South East is working to position the region as a leader in circular economy practice—delivering tangible outcomes locally while contributing to systemic change across the UK and Europe.
Our region
Circular South East covers multiple counties across the south coast and beyond - stretching from West Sussex through to Kent in the East.
Contact us:
Reach out to the team at Circular South East for collaboration or questions about industrial symbiosis.