Article / Report

Consider opportunities to create greater value and align incentives that build on the interaction between products and services

Rethink the business model

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

TU Delft 

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university of cambridge

The transition within business from a linear to a circular economy brings with it a range of practical challenges for companies. The following question is addressed: What are the product design and business model strategies for companies that want to move to a circular economy model? This paper develops a framework of strategies to guide designers and business strategists in the move from a linear to a circular economy. Building on Stahel, the terminology of slowing, closing, and narrowing resource loops is introduced. A list of product design strategies, business model strategies, and examples for key decision-makers in businesses is introduced, to facilitate the move to a circular economy. This framework also opens up a future research agenda for the circular economy.

Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy

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

Increase Awareness

Raise awareness and run information campaigns about  strategies for and impacts of the circular economy in different contexts.

Communication and awareness

Impacts

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Our global society is not sustainable. We all know about the challenges we’re facing: waste, climate change, resource scarcity, loss of biodiversity. At the same time, we want to sustain our economies and offer opportunities for a growing world population. This course is about providing solutions we really believe in: a Circular Economy.
In this course we explore the Circular Economy: how businesses can create value by reusing and recycling products, how designers can come up with amazingly clever solutions, and how you can contribute to make the Circular Economy happen.
You will learn to re-think the economic system you’re experiencing every day, and act upon it. Be a leader in this major paradigm shift! Shape a more circular future together with our global network.
The course is led by TU Delft and co-created with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Sustainability.Episode 1: What is the circular economy?
How can the circular economy provide solutions to the challenges our current, linear economy brings? We explore the roots of the circular economy together with experts in the fields of industrial ecology, cradle to cradle and biomimicry.
Episode 2: Business value in a circular economy
Through closed loop supply chains and reversed logistics, new opportunities for business are created. This episode explores value creation andnew business modelsin a circular economy.
Episode 3: Longer lasting products
The smaller the loop, the greater the profitability of the system. We look at product life extension through the eyes of designers and entrepreneurs. Join us in our repair café!
Episode 4: Remanufacturing
Remanufacturing enables companies to recapture value on a product or component level. It is currently being rediscovered as a promising business opportunity. We’ll explore the topic together with researchers and entrepreneurs.
Episode 5: Waste equals Food
This episode discusses how we can take inspiration from nature, when redesigning the way we deal with waste. We’ll present a fascinating circularcase study. Can you identify opportunities for change in your own area’s?
Episode 6: Thinking in systems
The shift from linear to circular should not be underestimated. This episode will discuss the extent and duration of the transition. It will also ask, is the circular economy really sustainable?
Episode 7: Giving back
We end the course with a webinar. Your teachers will be available in a live session to discuss some of the thorniest issues and to answer your questions. This is also the week of the final exam.Receive an instructor-signed certificate with the institution's logo to verify your achievement and increase your job prospectsAdd the certificate to your CV or resume, or post it directly on LinkedInGive yourself an additional incentive to complete the courseedX, a non-profit, relies on verified certificates to help fund free education for everyone globallyLICENSEThe course materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International License.

We’re a charity committed to creating a circular economy, which is designed to eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. It’s an economic system that delivers better outcomes for people, and the environment.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Sustainability

TU Delft offers an online free course, which is co-created with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Sustainability to enrich people's knowledge about the circular economy. The material provides an introduction into the circular economy and touches upon subjects such as how businesses can create value by reusing and recycling products, how designers can come up with amazingly clever solutions, and how anyone can contribute to make the circular economy happen. It is a great tool for raising awareness and diving deeper for anyone who is interested in the topic.

Online Circular Economy Course

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

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Packaging collection

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

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)

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

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

Chemical and Plastic

Provide guidance or professional training to educate employees to use circular economy principles

Training on the circular economy

Integrate principles of circularity into primary, secondary and tertiary curriculum and conduct workplace trainings

 Education and Curriculum

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

Industries

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                Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) is offering a 100 % online course on Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy. Students and professionals with basic knowledge of the circular economy and an interest in or experience of packaging can start studying anytime, at the time and place of their choosing. The course material is accessible 24/7. This is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that runs on edX. The course programme includes:  Business strategies that support sustainable packaging systems Opportunities for designing with renewable, bio-based materials Best practices through case studies with industry frontrunners How circular design principles can be applied to create 'closed loop' packaging systems.
 You can enrol here. 
 
         

Course videoLearn how to apply the principles of the circular economy to sustainable packaging systems.It has become almost impossible to imagine what our lives would be like without the many benefits of packaging - just think about the different packaging and single-use items you use on a daily basis. Yet as our global population grows in size and affluence, both our collective demand for packaging materials and the waste we generate as a result will increase dramatically.Currently, large amounts of packaging waste escape formal collection and recycling systems and eventually end up polluting the environment. Moreover, their material value is forever lost to the economy. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that uncollected plastic packaging waste alone is worth somewhere between 80 to 120 billion dollars a year.So how can we improve packaging systems in order to capture this wasted potential? Clearly, the way we currently design, recover, and reuse packaging urgently needs a rethink!In this course, you will learn about the design of sustainable packaging systems. To do so we will explore the design and business strategies of the circular economy.Contrary to our current industrial model, which extracts, uses and ultimately disposes of resources, a circular economy is regenerative by design. This means that products and services are reimagined from a systems perspective in order to minimize waste, maximize positive economic, environmental and social impacts, and keep resources locked in a cycle of restoration.This course is for you if you are interested in learning about sustainable packaging design. You'll also benefit if you are a professional in the packaging industry and want to learn how to find circular opportunities in your work. Students - particularly in design - will be able to broaden their knowledge of circular design and business strategies.What you will learn:Business strategies that support these systemsOpportunities of designing with renewable, bio-based materialsBest practices through case studies with industry frontrunnersHow circular design principles can be applied to create 'closed loop' packaging systems"Over 50 employees of Coty participated in the online course "Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy" offered by TU Delft. This resulted in an increased understanding in our teams of sustainability and how it can further be applied to our business. Through this course we will stimulate our employees to participate in and contribute with even more confidence to discussions on sustainable packaging within our company". - Vincent Delavenne, Vice-Président Packaging, Coty LuxuryLicenseUnless otherwise specified, the Course Materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.This is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that runs on edX.PrerequisitesIntended for students and professionals with basic knowledge of the circular economy with an interest in packaging, or students and professionals experienced in packaging looking for circular opportunities.If you want to learn the basics of a Circular Economy we invite you to take a look at the Circular Economy: An introduction MOOC before the start of this course.Industrial and Product Design Technology, Policy & ManagementCircular product design helps design professionals to improve the long-term sustainability performance of their product…Discover and develop sustainable design and engineering methods to improve the reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and recy…Discover the latest developments in Design for Recycling (DfR) of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and the app…

Delft

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Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) is offering a 100 % online course on Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy. As a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), students and professionals with basic knowledge of the circular economy and an interest in or experience of packaging can start learning how to apply the principles of the circular economy to sustainable packaging systems, at the time and place of their choosing.

Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy Online Course

TU Delft is researching how the self-healing capacity of concrete structures
can be improved by using calcite-precipitating bacteria and what conditions
are necessary for these bacteria to thrive. By embedding calcite-precipitating
bacteria in the concrete mixture, it is possible to create concrete that has
self-healing capacities.



Durable self-healing concrete

A research team within the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment
is developing a circular business model based on the use of multifunctional
façades as performance delivering tools. Under this scheme, the client is no
longer the owner of a number of building components, but instead leases them
from the manufacturer through the use of long-term service contracts. This
strategy could increase the rate and depth of building renovations - updating
a large number of university and other commercial buildings in urgent need of
technical retrofit, accelerate the market uptake of new building technologies,
and optimize the reuse and recycling of components and materials within the
construction industry.

 

Read more at:

<https://www.tudelft.nl/en/architecture-and-the-built-
environment/research/projects/green-building-innovation/facade-leasing/facade-
leasing-pilot-project-at-tu-delft/>

Leasing of building components

AbstractFundamental changes in the societal use of biophysical resources are required for a sustainable transformation. Current (urban) metabolism research traces flows of energy and materials to capture resource use along value chains from resource extraction to production and consumption and the discharge of wastes and emissions. However, spatial relation, local carrying capacity and qualitative characteristics of the urban landscape are only featured in very few studies. Simultaneously, spatial studies tend to neglect the dimension of processes of flows and the generated stocks that influence the construction and performance of space. Big data and GIS technologies have the potential to leverage the integration between the two fields of knowledge. Therefore, the article explores the development of an innovative method - Activity-based Spatial Material Flow Analysis (AS-MFA) -&nbsp; that integrates qualitative and quantitative flow specifications in material content and geographical space, starting from the analysis of waste flows relative to the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (NL). Lastly, the article reflects on the results of the application of the AS-MFA method, namely a series of flow maps. Each flow map is a significant data-based network representation of a part of the urban metabolism within the AMA in a specific period of time.

A refined waste flow mapping method.
Addressing the material and spatial dimensions of waste flows in the urban territory through big data: the case of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area