Jon Smieja
Trellis Group
Jon earned his BS in Chemistry from the University of St. Thomas and a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of California – San Diego. After graduate school, Jon joined Steelcase Inc. as their environmental chemist and eventually moved into a role as a leader in sustainable design and development. He joined Andersen Windows & Doors where he served as corporate sustainability manager and was responsible for product lifecycle assessments, material ingredient transparency, and preparing Andersen for a future in the circular economy. Jon is now the VP of Circularity and Senior Analyst at Trellis Group, a media and events company that works to accelerate the just transition to a clean economy.
On Running is trying to make shoes more circular
The company's subscription program could make a dent in the shoe waste problem — at least, for its running shoes. Read More
Are modular homes making a comeback?
And how can they get us closer to circularity? Read More
The Sustainability Scorecard, reviewed
Paul Anastas and Urvashi Bhatnagar's new book provides a simple and straightforward method for identifying where a company currently is on their sustainability journey and a method to track progress. Read More
Unlearning what we know about chemistry
To make progress toward a truly circular economy, we need to unlearn much of what we know about chemistry. Read More
Solar panel waste is not the worst thing that’s ever happened
It is always important to put challenges like this in context. Read More
'Using your buying power' isn't enough
The concept of using your buying power only comes with privilege. Read More
Circularity requires collaboration from companies, large and small
Individual circularity efforts are great and they can make a dent, but it’s clear at this point that no level of “going it alone” is going to get us where we need to be economy-wide. Read More
3 observations about circular packaging, from the experts
If you are a brand, a packaging producer, or basically anyone else in the economy, don’t sleep on packaging. Read More
What we should be considering for circular building design
Starting with circularity in mind requires close collaboration between product manufacturers, specifiers and the owners and developers of buildings. Read More
