Business case

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Reduced use of fossil fuel energy sources and/or increased use of renewable energy

Reduce Energy Consumption

Producing textile and leather products and processing them into apparel and accessories

Fashion and Textiles

Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the social fabric of the community and well-being of the individuals and families.

Social Impact

Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

Impact on increased knowledge and understanding as a result of the case study

Increase Awareness

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Direct and indirect effects that increase revenues or the potential for new revenues, for example from new products, customer segments, partnerships or business models

Revenue Potential

Efficiency gains on operations or transactions either through cultural or technological shifts

Productivity

Scalability

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Reduced use and withdrawal of water and rate of recycling and reuse of water

Save Water (SDG6)

Contributing to the improvement of biodiversity including species diversity, total number of protected species, and ecosystem health

Biodiversity

Impacts

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Switching Gear Enabling Network

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This collection features a selection of inspiring examples of the circular economy in Norway! 

Circular Norway is a driving force for the conversion of Norwegian companies and municipalities to a circular economy through practical tools, innovation, and business development. They collaborate with the leading environments on the circular economy in Europe, and together they contribute to Norway delivering on the sustainability goals and climate goals in the Paris Agreement.

At 2.4%, Norway's circularity rate is below the global average (8.6%). Norway consumes 235 million tonnes of materials—metals, fossil fuels, biomass, and minerals—to fuel its societal needs each year. 97.6% of these materials are never cycled back into the economy. But Norway has enormous potential: the country could see a 20-fold increase in its circularity by restructuring Norwegian business and industry.

To learn more about Norway's initiatives to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, visit www.circularnorway.no/ (content in Norwegian) 

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Circular Norway

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This collection features a selection of case studies, based on the global *Circularity Gap Reports*, that can mitigate climate breakdown by reducing virgin material consumption, waste and greenhouse gas emissions. The latest **[Circularity Gap Report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023#download)** reveals that the global economy is now only 7.2% circular and outlines how circular solutions across four sectors can bring global planetary boundaries back within safe limits. 

In the six years of the *Circularity Gap Report*, the global economy has extracted and used unprecedented amounts of materials. The first edition of the *Report *in 2018 found that global circularity was 9.1% and it has decreased every year since—leaving a Circularity Gap of over 90%. If this trend continues, we will have to find more and better solutions to combat the negative effects of climate change. This is why we have identified case studies from across the globe—based on the needs of society and planetary health—that serve as real-world examples of the circular economy in action.

Circle Economy is a not-for-profit organisation working to accelerate the circular transition. Through the *Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative*, our mission is to deliver an annual global Circularity Metric that measures the state of the world economy and identifies key levers to transition to global circularity. With nature as our guide, we work alongside cross-sector stakeholders from academia, businesses, NGOs and governments to provide a powerful combination of practical and scalable interventions that transform circular opportunities into realities. 


To learn more about these interventions to accelerate the circular transition, read the latest [Circularity Gap Report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023#download), as well as previous editions of the global [Circularity Gap Reports](https://www.circularity-gap.world/global).

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Global Circularity Gap Report 2023

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Producing agricultural products and processing them into food and beverageproducts for consumption

Agri/Food

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

Producing electrical equipment and machinery for industrial use

Capital Equipment

Producing transporation equipment and providing services for thetransportation of goods and people

Transportation and Logistics

Producing and providing business and consumer goods and services

Goods and Services

Providing specialist services to support consumers, businesses, andgovernments

Professional Services

Societal Services

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

Providing public and private education and support services at any level or for any profession, and governmental and public administration services, including judicial, regulatory, and legislative activities, taxation, defence, public order and safety, immigration services, foreign affairs and the administration of government programmes

Education and Government Services

Providing electricity and gas services, including traditional and renewable energy generation, natural and manufactured gas and operating gas networks

Energy Utilities and Independent Power Producers

Providing healthcare services, such as hospitals, medical facilities and patient care services, medical research and clinical trial services, pharmaceuticals and drug development, and genetic engineering services

Healthcare Services

Providing water and sewage services, including water collection and distribution, water treatment systems and sewage treatment facilities

Water and Sewage

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

Providing commercial and consumer financial services, such as lending, credit, financing, banking, asset management, financial exchanges, ratings services, money services, insurance and pension services, etc.

Financial Services

Operating networks and software that enable the exchange and broadcasting of information, such as entertainment and internet software, television, cable, satellite or radio broadcasting systems, and cellular, wireless and/or fixed-line telecommunications services

Software and Communications

Producing and providing services that utilise the creative talent of individuals to generate intellectual property, including movies and television shows, music, live performances, advertising, marketing or public relations services, newspapers, magazines and books, and commercial printing services

Creative Services

Providing various support services for businesses and governments, such as research, testing, certification and consulting services, cleaning and maintenance services, security and protection services, legal, accounting and bookkeeping services, information management, data processing, and business process outsourcing services

Research & Commercial Services

Producing electronics products for businesses and consumers, including cellular phones, personal computers, printers, servers, electronic computer components and peripherals, TVs, audio equipment, as well as household appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines, etc.

Electronics and Appliances

Producing indoor products for the home and office, such as furniture, including upholstery, carpets and wall-coverings, as well as cutlery, cookware, glassware, crystal, silverware, utensils, kitchenware and household specialties

Home and Office Furnishings

Producing and providing leisure and personal products and services for consumers, such as cleaning products, sports equipment and toys, personal and beauty care products, as well as domestic and personal services such as caretaking, cleaning, hairdressing and other beauty treatment, funeral and related activities

Personal Products and Services

Providing goods on the Internet, through mail order, or television, or providing goods in stores, including apparel, electronics, furniture, food and drug, etc.

Retail

Providing recreational and cultural services, including hotels, resorts, casinos, sport and fitness centers, stadiums, golf courses and amusement parks, restaurants, bars, pubs, fast-food or take-out facilities, as well as libraries and museums

Hospitality and Tourism

Providing air, water, rail, and land transportation for passengers, such as airlines, airports, ferries, cruise-ships, tour boat operators, marine ports, railways, train stations, tour bus operators, vehicle rental, and taxi companies, travel agencies and related services

Passenger Transport Services

Providing air, water, rail, and land transportation and related services for the distribution of goods, such as air freight, air courier and logistics services, maritime freight, marine courier and logistics services, rail freight, rail courier and logistics services, land freight, land courier and logistics services, including package and mail delivery and customs agents, as well as storage and warehouse facilities

Logistics Services

Producing transportation equipment for the movement of goods and people by air, rail, sea, and land, including airplanes, spacecraft and military equipment, ships, boats, rail locomotives and rolling stock, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, and related equipment, as well as repair services for such equipment

Transportation Equipment

Producing machinery for mining, construction, industrial, and agricultural use, such as heavy duty trucks, rolling machinery, earth-moving and construction equipment, farm machinery, commercial printing and presses, machine tools, compressors, pollution control equipment, elevators, escalators, insulators, pumps, etc., including their related parts

Machinery

Producing electric cables and wires, power-generating equipment, including solar modules, motors, power turbines, as well as electronic equipment and instruments, including computer chips, communication equipment, analytical instruments, lasers, display screens, point-of-sales machines, security system equipment, and healthcare equipment

Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Providing residential and non-residential construction services, such as architectural, engineering, planning, real-estate, contracting, and inspection services

Construction and Real Estate Services

Producing building materials and finished and semi-finished building products for construction

Construction Materials and Products

Extracting resources and minerals from the earth, such as coal, oil, gas, iron, bauxite, sand, clay, etc.

Mining

Producing and refining oil, gas, and other consumable fuels related to the generation of energy

Consumable Fuels

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Refining and processing ores and producing ferrous and non-ferrous metal and glass products, including packaging

Metal and Glass

Extracting and gathering wood through forestry and producing wood and paper products

Wood and Paper

Producing and gathering crop and animal products from land and water through farming, hunting, and fishing

Agriculture

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

Industries

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Hydrogen

This collection is being created to regroup all case studies related to the packaging industry (CAT purpose)

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Packaging collection

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan urban farmer Francis Wachira credits a soil recycling company with keeping him afloat financially during the coronavirus crisis: it helped him to start producing herbs and vegetables on his tiny Nairobi plot.The locally-owned company, Sprout Organic, mixes animal bone meal, seeds, foliage, dry leaves, twigs and kitchen waste like banana peels, to concoct a composite that is then sold to urban farmers like Wachira to grow food in small spaces.Wachira, 71, used to make a living by renting out tiny tin shacks he built, but the coronavirus pandemic meant his tenants could no longer pay him.Now he sells the produce from his plot, such as kale, spinach and herbs, and says he earns around 1,000 shillings ($9.23).“We are making good money out of this,” he said.Ted Gachanga, an agronomist who co-owns Sprout, says their product resembles black cotton soil. Worms are usually added to the mixture to help it mature, a process that takes about four weeks.A 20 kg bag sells at 3,500 shillings. Gachanga said demand had risen by 10% during the pandemic, which has cut incomes and impinged food supply chains.“People are seeing the need to grow their own produce,” Gachanga said.Close to 15,000 people in Kenya have been infected by the COVID-19 disease since the first case was reported in mid-March, official data showed. Economic growth has slowed down sharply, with many job losses in sectors like tourism.Sprout employs three staff, and its owners say that although their technology is not new, they have patented the formula for the composite. They hope to expand production beyond Nairobi to cover other towns.“Anybody can be an urban farmer,” said Michael Kanywiria, a co-owner of Sprout.

It took the company nearly 10 years to figure out how to build a shoe that can be recycled and turned into another shoe, Adidas said in a statement last week. The new shoe, called Futurecraft.Loop, is made out of a single material, called thermoplastic polyurethane, which can be reused. Switching from mixed materials to a single material, and not using glue to construct the shoe, was a technological challenge — but one that made this type of recycling feasible.It's difficult for recyclers to process mixed materials, like paper and plastic, because their consistencies differ when pulverized. Plastic, for example, can get caught in paper recycling filters and gum up the machines. Traditional running shoes are made of several different materials that offer different benefits — spandex, for example, stretches, and cotton breathes. With a single-material product, Adidas can wash the shoes, grind them up into pellets and melt those pellets into a material that can then be used to create more Futurecraft.Loop sneakers without encountering those problems. To make sure that the shoe performs up to Adidas' standards, it is using the single material to mimic ones traditionally used, Tanyaradzwa Sahanga, manager of technology Innovation at Adidas, told CNN Business. And instead of glue, Adidas uses heat to fuse pieces together. The product is "our first running shoe that is made to be remade," said Eric Liedtke, who is responsible for global brands at Adidas, said in a statement last week, calling it a signal "of our intent to take responsibility for the entire life of our product."The plan only works if Adidas actually gets the shoes back. Adidas thinks that asking people to return their used shoes to a store is the best way to do that. But it's still in early stages of figuring out how exactly the exchange will work. For now, the company is only dispensing the shoes to about 200 "leading creators" who will trial the shoes," return them to Adidas, and share feedback before the company expands beyond beta mode. Each location will handle the return to Adidas differently, a company spokesperson explained, with options "ranging from a central drop off location, courier pick-up or a 'pop-up' event." The "creators" were chosen "based on their dedication and interest in sustainability," the spokesperson said. A wider release is targeted for 2021. The company did not share the shoe's price.Adidas still has a lot to learn about the shoe itself, Sahanga said. "On a technical level, we have a lot of questions," she said. "We don't have all the answer," but the test will offer more clarity, she said. Futurecraft.Loop is Adidas' latest effort to become more environmentally friendly. It already makes shoes using ocean plastics and plans to use only recycled polyester whenever possible by 2024. 

Adidas AG is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world, after Nike.

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<p>Adidas has invested in designing for recyclability and has developed new shoes that are made from 100% recyclable TPU, contain no glue, and use fusion technique instead. After the product is no longer wanted instead of ending up in a landfill, the complete shoe can be reground to make recycled TPU.&nbsp;</p>