Turning old clothes into soil and fertiliser

Business case

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

Fashion and Textiles

Designing products that can easily breakdown and degrade in the environment

Design for bio-degradability

Engaging in discussions with customers to educate and raise awareness of the circular economy and explore circular opportunities together

Customer dialogue, marketing 

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

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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Houdini Sportswear

<p>Swedish outdoor sportswear brand Houdini set out to demonstrate just how environmentally-friendly its clothes are -- by turning them into food. When Houdini customers have worn out their biodegradable gear, the brand's agency McCann Stockholm put the clothes to a different use -- it composted them and turned them into soil and fertiliser for growing vegetables. Houdini then used that soil to grow vegetables, which were then prepared by Swedish celebrity Chef Sebastian Thureson in a fine meal enjoyed by Houdini customers.</p>

Circular Sportswear 

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Switching Gear Enabling Network

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Providing goods on the Internet, through mail order, or television, or providing goods in stores, including apparel, electronics, furniture, food and drug, etc.

Retail

Providing repair services or maintenance services for products or parts

Product maintenance, repair

Marketplaces or services that enable the second hand sale of own-brand products

Own brand second-hand sale

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within other industries

Open loop upcycling

Providing products through leasing, rental, or pay-per-use models instead of sales

Leasing, rental, pay per use

Designing products to resist damage and wear, and serve a long and useful life.

Design for physical durability

Putting in place purchasing guidelines for procurement departments and evaluating suppliers on circular economy principles

Circular procurement

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

Takeback programmes

Make collected and sorted recyclables available for use by citizens, small businesses up to large scale industrial processes. 

Use recyclables

Sweden

<p>Houdini sportswear has several post-consumer waste strategies in operation. Besides offering a life-long warranty, Houdini offers repair services, own brand second-hand sales as well as rental services. Houdini has a take-back system in operation that allows customers to return their old garments, which are then either donated to charity or recycled into new Houdini products.</p>