About

A studio, its Residents and a memory.

Common House helps governments, companies, NGOs and ventures eliminate waste at the source, by turning circular plans into operating systems that people can run.

We are built by practitioners. Our Residents are entrepreneur-operators who have designed, implemented and scaled zero waste models in the real world. With our Powered By partners in design, engineering, logistics, technology and materials, and a curated startup network, we work as one team focused on execution.

We work with lucid optimism: clear-eyed about constraints, confident about progress. We start where success is most likely, earn visible wins and scale step by step, with simple metrics, sound unit economics and local fit.

  • 114
    years our Residents have run these systems
  • 230,000
    documents in Nori
  • 136
    countries with evidence on file
Our mission

Make zero waste the standard, not the exception, and build resilient industries that regenerate our only common house: Earth.

The house

Nori at the centre, and everyone we bring to a case.

Nori holds the evidence; the people around it have done the work. Each case gets the ones who fit it.

Nori
5
Powered By firmsSpecialists who lead a phase
221
StartupsTechnology the plan can use
20
AdvisorsPolicy, method and access
9
ResidentsOperators who ran these systems
How we work

Four rules we do not bend.

  1. 01

    Built by operators

    Every Resident has built and run the kind of system we design. Plans are tested against what it takes to operate them, not against a slide.

  2. 02

    Prevention first

    We work down the waste hierarchy in order: redesign and reuse before compost and recycling. Landfill and burning are what is left.

  3. 03

    Unit economics or it stops at the pilot

    A system that loses money on every cycle ends when the grant does. We model cost per cycle and per tonne avoided before anything is built.

  4. 04

    One team, not a relay

    Through the Powered By network, specialist firms, startups and advisors work on the same case, with one owner from diagnosis to operation.

Founders

Two co-founders.

José Manuel MollerLondon

José Manuel Moller

Co-founder and CEO
  • Vice Chair, UN Zero Waste Advisory Board
  • UN Champion of the Earth 2023
  • Founder, Algramo

Chilean entrepreneur and systems innovator with more than 15 years leading work at the meeting point of business, design and sustainability, building systems that eliminate waste at scale.

Francisco CerdaSantiago

Francisco Cerda

Co-founder and Chairman
  • Founder, Gudcompany
  • 20+ years advising boards

Strategy and organisational consultant, company founder and university lecturer with more than 20 years advising leaders and boards across Latin America, helping organisations align purpose, strategy and structure.

Residents

Nine Residents. 114 years of running these systems.

Meet the Residents →
  • Returnity
    Mike Newman
    United States
  • WeUse
    Mitch Barlas
    United States
  • Dizzie
    Ben Patten
    United Kingdom
  • Muuse
    Jonathan Tostevin
    Singapore, Hong Kong
  • Sinba
    Pipo Reiser
    Peru
  • Algramo
    José Manuel Moller
    London, global
  • DeliverZero
    Lauren Sweeney
    United States
  • Xiclo
    Ana María Villegas
    Colombia
  • Bumerang
    Oriol Segarra
    Spain