Business case

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

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Producing and providing leisure and personal products and services for consumers, such as cleaning products, sports equipment and toys, personal and beauty care products, as well as domestic and personal services such as caretaking, cleaning, hairdressing and other beauty treatment, funeral and related activities

Personal Products and Services

Providing repair services or maintenance services for products or parts

Product maintenance, repair

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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 Tennis balls are made of materials that last much longer than the balls' useful life to tennis players. Once tennis balls start getting smacked around, they begin to lose pressure, eventually getting to the point that they're useless on the court. Although they sometimes end up as dog chew toys or padding for walkers, one company wants to make tennis balls' first lives much longer.

Rebounces is a small, three-person operation that formed in 2007 to extend the use of tennis balls by repressurizing them, and just last month launched a repressurizing machine aimed at tennis teachers and other who go through large volumes of balls quickly. "You can double or triple the life of a tennis ball," said Grant Garland, co-founder of Rebounces, about his company's technology.

The company received a big boost last month as well when it collected about 15,000 tennis balls with the help of FedEx at one of the largest tennis tournaments in the United States. Since its founding, Rebounces has taken mailed-in tennis balls and put them through its repressurizing machine, which can hold several thousand balls at a time and repressurize them over a few days through a patented process. Rebounces provides prepaid shipping labels, so it doesn't cost people anything to send in balls. The company resells the balls that it's able to repressurize for less than the cost of new balls. Sometimes Rebounces ends up with balls that are too worn out to be repressurized and reused. In that case, they distribute them to adult care facilities, hospitals, schools or animal shelters to be used on the bottom of furniture or walkers, or as chew toys.

And for those balls in even worse shape, Rebounces is looking at different ideas such as grinding them up to be turned into sport surfacing similar to Nike's recycled-rubber Grind flooring. The version of the repressurizing machine Rebounces is selling, called the Green Machine, is a bit smaller, with a capacity of 400 balls. "It's really designed for teaching professionals," Garland said. The machine was launched at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., a two-week tennis tournament where Rebounces also collected close to 15,000 balls. A couple years ago, the tournament organizers contacted Rebounces to see if they wanted to be at the event. After its first, small setup at the tournament in 2009, Rebounces had more time to prepare for this year's event. Garland said he reached out to FedEx, which has its Freight division headquartered in Harrison, Ark., the same city Rebounces is based out of. Rebounces was doing all of its shipping through FedEx, and after speaking with various departments within the company, Garland got in touch with FedEx Ground, which agreed to provide free shipping for all of the balls from the tournament in California back to Rebounces' headquarters. "Because we were a growing client within FedEx, it just made sense to try to get them involved," Garland said. The exposure from the event has brought plenty of attention to Rebounces. "We've been contacted by many big tournaments in the U.S. and they want to hold similar events," Garland said. Rebounces is still in touch with FedEx Ground, talking about the possibility of continuing the partnership from the BNP Paribas Open.

Garland said they are also receiving queries from outside of the U.S. as well since tennis balls can cost much more in overseas locations what they cost in the United States.
Tennis balls - http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/ / CC BY 2.0 






 
  

United States

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The patented Green Tennis Machine process is a bulk tennis ball re-pressurization system that allows tennis facilities to extend the life of their practice balls and increase their bottom line. reBounces is also the first and only company to offer a free tennis ball recycling program for facilities and individuals in the continental United States who need to dispose of tennis balls responsibly.

reBounces

<p>reBounces manufactures the Green Tennis Machines that can re-pressurize tennis balls prolonging their use many times</p>