How Irene Atance Built a Skincare Brand from Coffee Waste

Irene Atance is a Spanish-born entrepreneur and founder of Go Cirkulär, a Malmö-based skincare company that repurposes discarded coffee grounds into natural beauty products. Her journey began far from corporate offices or established business circles. With a degree in Public Health and Nutrition from the University of Copenhagen, she worked across the UK, Chile, and Denmark before moving to Sweden.

While pursuing a master’s in Leadership for Sustainability at Malmö University, she noticed how much coffee waste Sweden produced every day. The country’s love of coffee was generating an overlooked resource that could be reused. Instead of letting it go to waste, Irene decided to give it a second life through skincare.

Her concept was simple but purposeful. She saw that coffee grounds could become exfoliants, while natural oils and plant-based ingredients could create clean, effective skincare without artificial preservatives. What began as a university project soon grew into a registered business. In 2021, Go Cirkulär introduced its first coffee scrub and began selling across Sweden.

What is the Business Model

Go Cirkulär operates through local partnerships, sustainable production, and consistent quality control. The company collects used coffee grounds from Malmö cafés, cleans and processes them, and transforms them into skincare products such as body scrubs, oils, and creams. Every product is made with plant-based ingredients and packaged in compostable materials derived from seaweed.

The approach keeps production small, manageable, and true to Irene’s standards. By working with local cafés and suppliers, she created an ecosystem where waste becomes input and manufacturing stays close to the source. Nothing about her business feels decorative or experimental. It is built with the kind of precision that comes from both scientific training and hands-on experience.

Each step of production is guided by a straightforward rule: keep things local, keep things honest, and make products that work.

How Did She Build the Start-Up

Laying the Groundwork: Irene started Go Cirkulär with limited resources. She joined a Malmö incubator for new entrepreneurs where she found lab access, mentorship, and guidance on safety standards. Her background in nutrition helped her understand the science behind each ingredient and maintain high product quality from the beginning.

She began with small batches, selling at local markets and online platforms. Customers were initially sustainability enthusiasts, but word spread as the products proved effective.

Scaling from Batch to Brand: As demand increased, Irene expanded production and refined her formulas without compromising her values. She managed supply chains, handled packaging, and coordinated with small teams while keeping manufacturing standards high.

Her method is patient and deliberate. Growth for her means getting better, not just bigger. She focuses on what she can sustain rather than what she can chase. This gives Go Cirkulär an unusual steadiness among young brands that often rush to scale.

Will Circular Beauty Become the Norm

Irene often asks whether circular beauty can grow without losing its integrity. Many companies talk about sustainability, but few embed it into every stage of production. For her, circularity is not a slogan. It is a working model built on logic and restraint.

Go Cirkulär’s process depends on small partnerships, transparent sourcing, and products that perform. She believes this model can succeed if it remains grounded in discipline rather than trends. Expansion, she says, should never come at the cost of quality.

The next phase of her work involves refining operations while proving that circular production can compete with mass manufacturing. For Irene, progress means endurance. A company must last long enough to make a difference, and it can only do that through reliability, not speed.

She explains that every ingredient, package, and supplier must serve a clear purpose. Nothing is decorative or wasted. That principle holds the business together.

Philosophy Built on Consistency and Respect

Irene values consistency more than novelty. She spends as much time in production as she does managing operations, ensuring that every product performs as intended. Her approach is grounded in traditional business discipline. She believes success depends on dependability, endurance, and respect for people who make the system work.

Go Cirkulär includes everyone in its process, from the café worker who collects coffee grounds to the technician who formulates scrubs and the customer who uses them. Each plays a part in a single system that keeps value circulating instead of depleting it.

This gives Go Cirkulär a character that feels closer to manufacturing than marketing. The work involves repetition, precision, and responsibility. Irene does not chase novelty. She refines what exists until it meets her standards.

A Focus on Longevity: She believes that circular businesses can only last if they deliver consistent performance. A customer might try a product once for its story, but they return for its results. That repeat trust is the foundation of longevity.

A Return to Fundamentals: For Irene, progress means rediscovering what has always worked in business. Local production, transparent supply chains, and honest craftsmanship still hold their place. Innovation, in her view, comes from improving what already exists rather than reinventing it for attention.

Building for the Long Term

Irene Atance built Go Cirkulär from a simple idea and turned discarded material into something of worth through persistence and conviction. Her success rests not on scale but on structure. She has created something useful and enduring without excess.

Go Cirkulär shows that growth can be thoughtful rather than forceful. It connects production with purpose and reminds the industry that progress begins with care for the resources already in hand. Every decision, from ingredient sourcing to packaging, reflects a belief that improvement begins with responsibility.

If this approach spreads, it could redefine how smaller businesses view manufacturing and resource use. Irene Atance’s work rejects the noise and pretence often found in modern entrepreneurship. She shows that progress is built through steady work, respect for process and strength of purpose.

By reusing what others discard, Go Cirkulär demonstrates how restraint and precision can give waste new worth.