Business case

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

Fashion and Textiles

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

Agriculture

Using bio-based materials such as bioplastics, mushroom-based materials, etc.

Alternative bio-based materials and inputs

Locally produced food has to travel shorter, which means less fuel is consumed and less greenhouse gases are generated. Moreover, buying locally produced food helps local farmers and markets and creates more jobs in the local businesses. 


Produce locally

Derive chemicals and fuels from organic waste matter, for example, wasted fats, grease and oils can be used for biodiesel production. Food waste such as corn starch and sugar cane can be used for PLA (Polylactic Acid) to replace plastic packaging, liquid fats and solid meat products can be used as raw materials in the rendering industry (animal food, cosmetics, soap, etc.).


Derive fuel and materials

Solutions at all stages of the textiles value chain.

Zero Waste Textiles

Other

Industries

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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

Urban Opportunities

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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            Redefining Leather with Mycelium  Creating materials with the power of organic technology.Our Product            Made from one of nature's most abundant resources  We use mycelium, the vegetative tissue of mushrooms, to create sustainable alternatives to leather, plastic foams, and other problematic materials.             Versatile and Engineerable  We can grow textures and features right into the material.More qualities                   We love the qualities of leather, but it’s a resource–intensive product that is tied to the livestock industry. At MycoWorks, we found a solution in nature.We have created a new kind of leather grown rapidly frommycelium and agricultural byproducts in a carbon-negative process. Our custom-engineered material is sustainable, versatile, and animal–free. Best of all, it feels and performs like leather.         Our material is strong, flexible, and durable, just like conventional leathers. It is also water-resistant. And since it's made from natural fibers, it breathes and feels like leather.Our leather is uniquely customizable. We can grow textures and other features right into the material. And unlike animal hides, our materials can be grown to nearly any size and shape.Our closed-loop process uses abundant, natural fibers to create 100‰ biodegradable materials, making this an infinitely renewable technology.It takes a fraction of the time and resources to grow our leather compared to processes for making leather from animal hides.         We are working together to solve today’s greatest challenges with products made from mycelium, a rapidly renewable natural resource. Our discoveries are foundational to the field of mycotecture and draw from over 20 years of research into designing and engineering mycelium materials. Along with our visionary partners and customers, MycoWorks is building a better world with nature’s best tools.Dr. Amanda Parkes,Chief of Technology & Research, Manufacture NYAdvisor to Mycoworks

United States

San Francisco

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Mycoworks 

<p>Leather is a resource-intensive product that is tied to the livestock industry. MycoWorks has created a new kind of leather grown rapidly from mycelium and agricultural byproducts in a carbon-negative process. The custom- engineered material is sustainable, versatile, and animal-free. But it feels and performs like leather. Read more at:</p>

Biobased mycelium leather

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

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

Increase Awareness

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)

Producing and providing business and consumer goods and services

Goods and Services

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Design for the future

Utilise bio-based, reusable, non-toxic and non-critical materials

Regenerative materials

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

Design for cyclability

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

Designing products that can easily breakdown and degrade in the environment

Design for bio-degradability

Slow strategies aim to keep materials in use for as long as possible, for example through design for durability and repairability. A more circular economy is also a slower one: materials, components, and products—and even buildings and infrastructure—that we lock in stocks are made to last. This will lower material demand in the long run, in essence also serving to narrow resource flows.

Slow

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

Impacts

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a diverse digital database that acts as a valuable guide in gaining insight and information about a product directly from the manufacturer, and serves as a rich reference point in developing a project or scheme.  milan, new york, beijing, tokyo,  since 1999   

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France

Hermès

<p>The French luxury brand has teamed up with a California-based start-up, MycoWorks, to develop a non-leather alternative that resembles elements of Hermès’ calfskin and the brand’s amber-hued material. With the mushroom-leather offering, Hermès hopes to address the growing consumer concern of sustainability. The new bag is expected to become available by the end of 2021 and is expected to be a new product offering amongst Hermès’ classic bags in the traditional materials.</p>