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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

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)

Providing air, water, rail, and land transportation and related services for the distribution of goods, such as air freight, air courier and logistics services, maritime freight, marine courier and logistics services, rail freight, rail courier and logistics services, land freight, land courier and logistics services, including package and mail delivery and customs agents, as well as storage and warehouse facilities

Logistics Services

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

Chemical and Plastic

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

Cross-industry projects, pilots

Utilising data and models to to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Data analytics, modelling

Connecting products and services into the internet of things to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Internet enabled, connected operations

Solidify definitions and create frameworks to support the understanding of the circular economy across contexts and maintain cohesive systems of data sharing, processing and storing.


 Knowledge Management

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

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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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          Circularity, transparency and traceability tools to achieve your sustainability goals.We work with industry leading corporates, governments, start-ups and research institutes to bring transparency and trusted data sharing to global supply chains.         Circularise helps stakeholders across supply chains to trace raw materials from source, into parts and ultimately to end products. By digitising materials on blockchain Circularise is able to create a digital thread through the whole supply chain, enabling material traceability, assuring law compliance, mitigating risks across the supply chain and enabling organisations to create new revenue streams, avoid greenwashing, make validated claims about their materials and products, and track the CO2 footprints and other sustainability metrics like water savings. MISSIONOur mission is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy and enable sustainable practices on a mass scale by promoting reliable and standardised information on material flows, material composition and components.         Product traceability and provenance in different industries, including plastics, textile, metals, automotive, electronics and more. Find out moreEnable validation of your sustainability claims through standards and certifications.Find out more                 Making the plastics supply chain more fair, transparent and profitable. Explore more         The open, distributed and secure communications protocol for transparency in supply chains. Making transparency and communication in value chains possible by utilising blockchain and zero knowledge.Explore more                                                                                                                      

       Home    /  Sustainability at our core     /  Using the blockchain to boost ...            Climate change and pollution are major challenges facing our planet in the 21st century. Traces of plastic can be found in the deepest parts of the oceans and in the most remote lakes in the mountains. DOMO Chemicals is determined to address these issues with a circular economy strategy built on the crucial three principles of circularity: reduce, reuse and recycle.           To ensure that plastics can be reused or recycled, however, it is essential to be able to trace the origin of all raw materials in the product. That is the idea behind the Circularise Plastics project, which makes it possible to find the source of all raw material inputs throughout the plastics supply chain.    
        Circularise Plastics is a collaborative project between Covestro, a major supplier of high-tech polymers; Circularise, an innovative transparency start-up; and DOMO. Launched in 2019, this cutting-edge initiative harnesses blockchain technology to enable circularity in the plastics industry. Thanks to this pioneering technology, better traceability can be established for plastics across the value chain, allowing all actors to choose sustainable options more confidently.     
      In 2021, Circularise received a Responsible Care® award for a sustainability project for Porsche. Through this initiative, Porsche can prove the use of sustainable materials in its cars. The “digital product passport” ensures material traceability and tracks the CO2 footprint and other sustainability metrics like water savings. The special commendation for the Circularise Plastics initiative confirms the leading role DOMO is playing when it comes to sustainability.       
        In 2020, Circularise, as part of the Startup Autobahn innovation program, launched a project with Porsche and its material suppliers – Borealis, Covestro and DOMO Chemicals – to enable the traceability of plastics on blockchain and to ensure that the use of sustainable materials in Porsche cars can be proven. By digitizing materials Circularise was able to create a digital thread through the whole supply chain, enabling material traceability, tracking the CO2 footprint and other sustainability metrics like water savings. Porsche has a large number of suppliers providing parts to its cars but it does not stop the company looking for more information about the materials that go into its cars. With the help of Circularise, as well as with the help of their partners Porsche able to trace for a number of specific cases plastics from raw material production to the final car.    
               
      

BoilerplateAbout DOMO Chemicals: DOMO Chemicals is a leading producer of high-quality engineering materials for a diverse range of markets, including the automotive, food, medical, pharmaceutical, chemicals and electronics industries. The company offers a complete portfolio of integrated nylon 6 products, including intermediates, resins, engineering plastics and packaging film and distribution of petrochemical products. Headquartered in Germany, the family-owned company leverages advanced technology and consumer insights to deliver sustainable & innovative solutions. DOMO generated 2018 sales over EUR 900 million and employs approximately 1,100 employees worldwide.www.domochemicals.com About Circularise: Circularise is a block chain technology start-up offering an open-source protocol and decentralised platform to bring transparency to global supply chains and empower businesses to move towards a circular economy. Circularise enables brands, suppliers, and manufacturers to choose sustainable and circular materials and present information about products and their supply chains in a transparent way without risking privacy.www.circularise.com About Covestro: With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, Covestro is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018. https://solutions.covestro.com/de/highlights/campaigns/ces-2020 Find more information at www.covestro.com. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/covestro Forward-looking statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Circularise, Domo and Covestro AG. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. The companies assume no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments. 

Netherlands

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Circularise

We are a leading engineering materials company and highly integrated solution provider committed to the sustainable future of polyamides. 

Caring is our formula to create value – for our customers and consumers, for our teams and our people, for our shareholders as well as for the wider society and communities, in which we operate.

DOMO

Covestro is among the leading suppliers of premium polymers. Our materials and application solutions are found in nearly every area of modern life. Innovation and sustainability are the driving forces behind the continuous development of our products, processes and facilities.

Covestro

<p>Circularise Plastics is a collaborative project between Covestro, a major supplier of high-tech polymers; Circularise, an innovative transparency start-up; and DOMO, a polyamide supplier. Launched in 2019, this cutting-edge initiative harnesses blockchain technology to enable circularity in the plastics industry.</p>