01Companies
They bringPackaging targets, EPR fees, a refill pilot that never scaled.
We redesign products, packaging and logistics for reuse, and build the business case finance signs off.
Zero Waste Studio · London
The best waste is the waste never made.
A zero waste studio of operators who have built reuse, refill and return at scale, backed by Nori, our AI evidence platform. Now working on yours.
9Residents
114years operating
7markets
Where the world’s waste goes
Today, 79% of it is burned, buried or dumped.
Recycling and composting take barely a fifth. Switch on the interventions in the order we implement them and watch where the flow goes.
Today
0%never made or kept in use
2.56 bn tthrown away a year
Never made0%Redesign · refilltoday 0%
Kept in use0%Reuse · return · repairtoday 0%
Composted6%Organics back to soiltoday 6%
Recycled15%Back into productiontoday 15%
Burned20%Incinerationtoday 20%
Landfilled29%Buriedtoday 29%
Dumped or uncollected30%Open dumps · never collectedtoday 30%
World Bank, What a Waste 3.0 (2022 data). Prevention first is illustrative.
Why
The world can no longer afford industries designed around waste.
Solving the crisis means stopping waste before it is created, through reuse, redesign and regenerative systems. That takes expertise earned in implementation, not in theory.
Our missionMake zero waste the standard, not the exception, and build resilient industries that regenerate our only common house: Earth.
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Residents
Nine Residents. 114 years of running these systems.
We work with
City halls, brands, funders and founders.
Each one arrives with a different problem. The method is the same; what we build around it is theirs.
01
02Governments and cities
They bringA zero waste plan on paper and a collection budget that keeps growing.
We start where impact is highest, run short pilots and scale district by district with operations staff can run.
03NGOs and funders
They bringA strategy that needs to show results on the ground.
We turn it into reuse and composting systems in real communities, with monitoring that holds up.
04Ventures
They bringA reuse model that works in one place and has to work in ten.
Operators who have raised, sold and scaled reuse businesses work on positioning, pipeline and unit economics.
Clients and partners
Common House’s private AI230,000 documents → distilled into 4,230 cases
applied to your project.
By
Nori at work
A sample master plan
Example: a grocery retailer wants reuse in its stores. Nori reads every comparable project it holds and drafts the plan. The structure is real; the numbers inside it belong to the client.
BriefReuse in grocery retail
0cases read
0comparable projects
0closures studied
0learnings applied
Master plan
Reuse in grocery retail
Draft by Nori · 44 projects · 16 countries · 2016 to 2026
Workstream00Diagnose01Compose02Deliver03Scale
Readiness gateBusiness caseMeasured result
Model
System and formatRefill, return or both51 casesFormat per store type
ProductsSKU triage36 casesFirst product waveBrands on board
EconomicsBreak-even unit and horizon48 casesBusiness case per pointMargin per point, testedEconomics across the network
Operations
Stores and usersStore and customer mapPilot store selectionFirst site, known users68 cases3Roll-out by network
Staff and replenishmentStaffing model19 cases1Store team training49 findings
Reverse logistics and washingWashing capacity nearbyReturn and wash loop design85 findingsReturn and wash runningShared washing by zone
Quality and food safetyHealth rules and labelling45 casesHygiene and sampling protocol66 findingsTraceability per container
Customer and brand
Marketing and customerCustomer profile and habitsValue proposition, price and deposit237 findingsIn-store launchRepeat purchase
MeasurementBaselineKPIs and targetsKPIs read after the campaign44 cases2
Risks designed out30 closures and 3 post-mortems behind this row
Gate: Criteria set in your project
Nori’s notes on this plan
- 1It fails in the aisle, not in the message
Empty or broken dispensers cost more adoption than any campaign wins back.
Failure modes · 14 sources - 2Measure after the campaign, not during it
Adoption rises while the push lasts and can end below where it started.
Measurement · 43 sources - 3Start where users are known
Closed loops with identified users return far more than open systems.
Return on the go · 80 sources - +66 more notes, delivered in your project
Method
Four stages. Each one ends at a gate that can say no.
We do not sell studies that end in a PDF. If a case is not worth building, the first gate is where you hear it.
01
Diagnose
A baseline from your own data, and a go or no-go.
Gate · Readiness gate02
Compose
A costed set of interventions, with KPIs, capex and payback.
Gate · Business case03
Deliver
Interventions operating, measured against the baseline for a year.
Gate · Measured result04
Scale
A proven model, and impact that compounds site after site.
Gate · ReplicationGet in touch
Share your challenge. We’ll put the world’s best on it.
A site, a product line, a district or a portfolio. Tell us what you are facing and we will bring the operators, firms and evidence that have already solved it somewhere else.