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This collection features a selection of inspiring examples of the circular economy, compiled in the context of the Switch to Circular Economy Value Chains programme (SWITCH).

Launched in 2020, SWITCH is a five-year initiative that assists EU multinational companies and their suppliers from developing countries to switch to more circular economy approaches and practices in three selected value chains: [Plastic Packaging](https://knowledge-hub.circle-lab.com/switchtocircular/search?collections=832%3D0&framework_elements__5=111), [Textile & Garments](https://knowledge-hub.circle-lab.com/switchtocircular/search?collections=832%3D0&framework_elements__5=99), and ICT and Electronics.

The overall objective of SWITCH is to support the “transformation towards a circular economy”, and to contribute to sustainable growth, low carbon and climate resilient development, decent jobs creation, and a safer, healthier and pollution-free environment.

SWITCH is co-funded by the European Union and the Government of Finland, and implemented by UNIDO, in collaboration with Chatham House, Circle Economy, and the European Investment Bank.
Learn more at www.switchtocircular.eu

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Switch to Circular Economy Value Chains

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Business case

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)

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

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

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

Collection programmes that process products and parts for reuse or recycling within the same industry

Closed loop collection

Using waste materials that have been processed and recycled to produce new products within the same industry

Using closed loop recycled materials

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

Design for recycling

Working together with industry peers to engage in business activities or exploratory projects that advance the circular economy

Joint industry ventures, projects, pilots

Takeback and return of products from customers after end-of-use

Takeback programmes

Integrating circular economy thinking into employee evaluations that are tied to professional compensation

Financial incentives tied to circular economy

Tax breaks

Technology standards

Labelling

Impacts

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Industries

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A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policy Instruments

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

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

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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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Tens of thousands of brightly coloured plastic drinks bottles tumble from the back of a truck on to a conveyor belt before disappearing slowly inside a warehouse on the outskirts of Oslo.As a workman picks up a few Coke bottles that have escaped, Kjell Olav Maldum looks on. “It is a system that works,” he says as another truck rumbles past. “It could be used in the UK, I think lots of countries could learn from it.”Infinitum runs Norway’s deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans. Photograph: Elin Høyland/The GuardianMaldum is the chief executive of Infinitum, the organisation which runs Norway’s deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans. Its success is unarguable – 97% of all plastic drinks bottles in Norway are recycled, 92% to such a high standard that they are turned back into drinks bottles. Maldum says some of the material has been recycled more than 50 times already. Less than 1% of plastic bottles end up in the environment.Earlier this year, as public awareness of the plastic pollution crisis grew, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, announced that England would be introducing its own deposit return scheme. As with many of the announcements to emanate from the environment department under Gove, the headline was big but the details small.However, a clue as to what may come next emerged late last year when environment minister Thérèse Coffey visited Maldum at the Infinitum warehouse in Oslo. “She was well-briefed and engaged and asked the right questions,” said Maldum. “She understood what we are doing here.”The scale of the plastic pollution crisis is well documented. Even the world’s most remote oceans and seabeds are contaminated with unknown consequences for wildlife and human health. And plastic bottles are a major source of that pollution. Last year a Guardian investigation revealed that 1m plastic bottles are made around the globe every minute – with 13bn used in the UK each year. And that figure is only likely to increase after it emerged that fossil fuel companies are investing billions of pounds in new plastic production facilities in the US.As concern has grown, Maldum has had a steady stream of high-level visitors to his industrial estate – from countries as far afield as India to ; China to Rwanda; Belgium to Wales – to find out what Norway is doing. The Norwegian system is simple. The government places an environmental tax on all producers of plastic bottles. The more they recycle, the more that tax is reduced. If they collectively recycle more than 95% – which they have done every year since 2011 – they do not have to pay the tax.For the customer the deal is equally straightforward. A deposit of 10p to 25p depending on size is paid on each bottle. People can then return it to a machine or over the counter where they bought it. A barcode is read and they are handed a coupon or cash.The Infinitum recycling plant in Fetsund, Norway. Photograph: Elin Høyland/The GuardianMaldum says the underlying principle is clear, if drinks firms and retailers can get bottles to the shops and sell them, they are more than capable of collecting them back again and recycling them.“It is a system that puts the emphasis on the producer to pay for and devise a system that works. We think we have come up with the most efficient and environmentally friendly system anywhere in the world.”And he says it also encourages a fundamental change of thinking from consumers.“We want to get to the point where people realise they are buying the product but just borrowing the packaging.”Producers of plastic bottles which want to be part of the scheme [more than 99% in Norway according to Maldum] have to use approved labels, bottle tops and glue to improve and streamline the recycling process. All stores which sell bottles are also obliged to collect them. Many bigger stores have installed machines that scan, crush and pack the bottles ready for collection. Smaller ones often collect bottles and cans mannually over the counter. Every store gets a small fee per bottle or can, and more importantly retailers say it increases footfall.At a small supermarket a few miles from the Infinitum plant a new deposit return scheme has been installed that can take bags full of bottles and cans at the same time.On a quiet Monday afternoon there is a steady stream of customers coming to return bottles before doing their shopping.Ivan Einbo, a 35-year-old carpenter is with his wife and young daughter, and has a crateload of bottles to return. He is surprised to learn the UK does not have a similar system. “It could not be easier.”Behind him in the queue Eivind and Turgut have been collecting bottles at work and have three bulging bin liners full.“We are collecting them to pay for a sort of end-of-year Christmas party for everyone at work,” says Eivind as the machine starts to tot up the deposits automatically. Looking on is the store manager Ole Petter. “It is fantastic for us. It is a service that attracts people to come here and that means we get more customers and more sales.”But even with the success of Norway’s scheme there are still challenges. Recycled material only provides 10% of the plastic used in bottles in the country, the rest – because oil is cheap – comes from newly manufactured “virgin” material.Maldum says the system produces enough high-grade material to meet 80% of demand – much of which is currently exported. That is why he and his colleagues are pushing the government to introduce a “materials tax” alongside the existing environment tax. Working on the same principle, it would be reduced as manufacturers increased the amount of recycled plastic they use. “It is a positive incentive and something manufacturers support. We just need to persuade ministers,” he said.In England, ministers’ plans are still at an early stage. Scotland, which is also introducing a deposit return scheme is slightly further ahead. But there are no agreed figures for the number of plastic bottles successfully recycled in the UK. Some analysts believe it could be as low as 20%, although others suggest the figure could be nearer 45%.The consultation announced by Gove is due to open before the end of the year. Campaigners are hoping for the details of the scheme to be published early in 2019.There has been some suggestion from the drinks industry that the English scheme should focus only on smaller bottles and cans that are used “on the go”, rather than including all plastic drinks bottles.The Infinitum warehouse runs 24 hours a day, five days a week. Photograph: Elin Høyland/The GuardianSamantha Harding, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England says that would be a serious error.“Only those with a vested interest in the outcome would suggest that England’s deposit system should be designed to exclude a large amount of the plastic, glass and aluminium it’s supposed to collect,” she said. “Yet again, industry is trying to keep the financial burden of dealing with their packaging on us as taxpayers.”Back inside the Infinitum warehouse, Maldum, an engineer by background, is on a gangway looking down on the Willy Wonka-esq tower of conveyor belts, sorting and crushing machines that he and a colleague designed.The warehouse runs 24 hours a day, five days a week transforming Norway’s discarded bottles into bales of clean, colour-coded plastic that is ready for recycling.What would his advice be for the UK as it designs its own deposit return scheme?“Include all plastic bottles and aluminium cans to start – it won’t work well if you don’t. Get that right and once it is up and running maybe look at glass or Tetra Pak.”He pauses for a moment before adding with a smile. “And please do it quickly because all the plastic bottles washing up on Norwegian beaches are not coming from us – they are coming from you and the rest of Europe!”

 People in Norway are world champions when it comes to returning their empty bottles and cans. All the plastic and aluminium recovered is recycled, though a lot of it ends up in entirely different products. Now Infinitum, which manages Norway’s deposit-return scheme, wants to make the system even more environment friendly by reusing more of the material in Norwegian beverage containers.  WORLD CHAMPIONS: People in Norway are world champions when it comes to returning their empty bottles and cans. The beverage industry now wants to use more of the recycled materials itself, instead of selling them to other countries. Photo: Katrine Lunke.  Last year, we returned 585 million bottles and 800 million cans in Norway, which generated 22,000 tonnes of plastic and 11,000 tonnes of aluminium for recycling. There is huge demand for these materials in Europe.
“Because we have a separate materials stream from the reverse vending machines, everything is of the same high quality and meets the strictest standards for recycling into food and beverage packaging,” explains Infinitum’s CEO Kjell Olav Maldum.
This makes the recycled Norwegian plastic attractive for many companies wishing to be sustainable, but lacking their own collection systems.
“We see that our plastic ends up in products like clothes, car parts and washing machines. This is not an optimal use for such clean plastic,” says Maldum.
Eliminate dead-ends
Both plastic and aluminium can be recycled many times.
“We are not happy that some of our PET plastic ends up in bottles in countries that don’t have a deposit-return system, or in other products for which there is no collection scheme. That represents a dead-end for the materials, which can and should be recycled many times over,” explains Maldum. He points out that this is not sustainable.
“The upshot is that we in Norway are obliged to use a larger volume of ‘virgin’ materials than necessary. It can also lead to companies in other markets failing to take enough responsibility for collecting in their products, but appearing to be sustainable because they use the materials we have collected back in,” he adds.
Green industry
Infinitum is working continuously to make the deposit-return system as environment friendly as possible. This summer, it opened a new recycling plant for plastic bottles in partnership with Veolia. The plant is located next to Infinitum’s sorting facility at Heia in Lillestrøm. Its location reduces the need for transport between sorting and recycling, and ensures first-class materials are available for new bottles. Previously, all bottles were transported abroad for recycling.
“This is a good example of how green industry can create new jobs,” said Jan Tore Sanner, then Minister of Finance, at the plant’s official opening.
Focus on reuse
The establishment of the recycling plant is an important step in Infinitum’s strategy to ensure that the recovered plastic is reused for new bottles in Norway. It is the retail and beverage industry’s clear wish that as much as possible of the returned material should be turned back into new bottles here in Norway, instead of being exported.
“We want to close the loop, so that our materials are used and reused as many times as possible. We have strict control of the bottles before they are allowed to enter the deposit-return scheme to ensure the recycling process is as efficient as possible. This will be a modern and more environment-friendly version of the old-fashioned reuse system. While the bottles themselves used to be reused at that time, we now reuse the material instead. This is more resource efficient, and strengthens our position as the world’s most environment-friendly system for beverage containers,” says Infinitum’s CEO Kjell Olav Maldum. 

Norway

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Infinitum

<p>Infinitum was established by beverage manufacturers and grocery chains in Norway to drive efficient collection and recycling of beverage bottles and cans. The “pant” system motivates Norwegians to return drinks bottles or cans to the supermarket by refunding deposit paid when purchasing the drink (bottle/can).</p>