Designing products with a single material type to more easily recycle them after use

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

Design for recycling - mono-materials

Designing products that can easily breakdown and degrade in the environment

Design for bio-degradability

Designing products of multiple parts that can be easily disassembled

Design for disassembly

Designing products of multiple parts that can be easily exchanged

Design for modularity

Designing products to remove any barriers to recycling and enable easy recyclability

Design for recycling

Designing products so they are able to be easily repaired

Design for repair

Designing products to be reused for the same or different purposes in multiple lifecycles

Design for reuse

Designing to enable multiple uses and lifecycles of a product and its materials

Design for cyclability

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

Designing products that are made to last and to ensure longer use

Design for durability

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use