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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

Marketplaces or services that enable the second hand sale of products

Second-hand sale, distribution

Collection programmes that process products and parts for reuse or recycling within other industries

Open loop collection

Working together with stakeholders and parties in other unrelated industries to implement circular economy strategies and opportunities

Cross-industry projects, pilots

Other

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

Takeback programmes

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

Closed loop collection

Transforming waste products into materials and lower value products within other industries

Open loop downcycling

Providing repair services or maintenance services for products or parts

Product maintenance, repair

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

Fashion and Textiles

Impacts

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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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  Skip to content                                             Our separate textile waste collection service is aimed mainly at municipalities and institutions. Besides the collection itself, we provide the whole follow-up textile recovery, along with a full range of support services like maintenance, legal consultations, public communication, data processing and reporting.                     CONTACT US FOR MORE DETAILS     

           





                      Our in-store collection solution was specially designed to provide the one stop solution for retailers who’d like to develop their textile sustainability offerings. Take advantage of TexCycle’s take-back solution to introduce a point-of-sale take-back clothing service that covers the whole process from setting up a custom branded bin, through the collection, recovery, and reporting about the utilized textiles. Read more about our take-back program and other services aimed at fashion retailers in our dedicated RETAIL SOLUTIONS section       CHECK OUR TAKE-BACK PROPOSAL          

         We cover the needs for collection and recovery of various industries that generate textile waste as a result of their business activities. Learn more about the utilization solutions we offer at our RECYCLING section.                                                     

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Bulgaria

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TexCycle is an ecosystem of textile recovery solutions provided by an established, sustainability-proven company.

TexCycle

<p>TexCycle is an ecosystem of textile recovery solutions provided by an established, sustainability-proven company in Bulgaria. With the cooperation of the municipalities they have positioned specialised clothing and footwear collection bins where citizens can drop off their unwanted garments. TexCycle handles the collection and eventually the further processing (sorting, cleaning, repair, distribution, recycling) of the collected items.</p>

TexCycle - bringing textile street collection in Bulgaria

Solutions at all stages of the textiles value chain.

Zero Waste Textiles

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within the same industry

Valorise waste streams - closed loop

Engage with the local community where facilities or offices are located

Community collaboration

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

Reduce Energy Consumption

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

Implementation of strategies to collect recyclable waste in order to make it accessible and available to be used as an input in industrial processes (big or small). These are door-to-door collection (higher recovery rates but more costly intensive), drop-off schemes (cheaper but less effective, more common in cities with high housing density), or a combination of the two, and their corresponding incentive schemes. 

Collect recyclables

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within other industries

Valorise waste streams - open loop

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)

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

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

<p>Landfilling clothing at its end-of-life has a huge environmental impact: some textiles need more than 50 years to decompose, and emit methane as they break down. Toxic substances from these items pollute soil and groundwater, and can have far-ranging impacts. Bulgaria-based TexCycle aims to combat this by collecting used clothing from designated bins placed around municipalities. The items are then either sold as second-hand clothing, reused as rags, turned into recycled fibres or filling, or as a last resort, used as a source of energy. The service accepts clothes, shoes, bags, accessories and evening some household textiles such as curtains.</p>