What is a circular economy?
A circular economy is an economic system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakages are minimised by cycling, extending, intensifying, and dematerialising material, water, and energy loops.
This can be achieved through digitalisation, servitisation, sharing solutions, long-lasting product design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recycling.
Materials and energy are recycled within the system through:
Reuse
Products at the end of their life and their parts are used again as long as possible (for example, refillable bottles)
Re-manufacturing
The cores of products at the end of their life are processed into new products and parts (for example, remanufacturing truck parts)
Refurbishing
Cleaning, repairing, and updating an end-of-life item (for example, refurbished smart phones)
Recycling
Materials and energy are recovered from end-of-life products (for example, recycled plastic bottles)
The use phase of the product is extended through:
Long-lasting design
Product life is increased through sturdy, timeless and/or upgradable design (for example, handmade shoes)
Marketing
Advertise product as timeless classic and encourage long use (for example, mechanical watches)
Maintenance
Use predictive and reactive maintenance to extend product lifetime (for example, industrial robots)
Repair
Remove failure modes and restore broken products to extend their lifetime (for example, cars)
The use phase of the product is intensified through:
Sharing economy solutions
Increase product utilisation by sharing it among users (for example, car sharing)
Public goods
Avoid private product ownership by public offering (for example, public transport)
Product utility is provided without hardware through substitution with:
Service solutions
Use services instead of owning products (for example, plane turbines)
Software solutions
Use apps and computer programs instead of physical products (for example, news apps)
Efficiency
Increase energy and material efficiency to reduce resource intake (for example, 3D printing)
Renewables
Shift from finite to inherently renewable feedstock and energy inputs (for example, wind energy)