Circular economy is NOT only waste management

The term Circular economy is both common and misused. How would you define it?

Circularity is a term that has become very popular in the last couple of years. Perhaps it’s not yet part of the mainstream, but it is getting there. In its core, it is all about resource efficiency. How can we use our resources in the most efficient and effective ways, and how can we give these resources a long lifetime? It can be complex, but for many it means recycling and waste management. However, this only narrows it down to the end-of-life of a product or material. If you look at circularity end to end, it’s much broader than that. It starts with how we design products and buildings and things so that they can last a long time, be refurbished and reused. And when we think about using resources efficiently, we are also talking about water and energy, which are very important. 

 

Does it the circularity start at the planning stage?

Yes. Let’s start with the example of a building. You start by planning the building and understanding the resources you are going to use. Are they recycled, bio-based, or virgin? Then we ask, how can I minimise the usage of those resources? Then we think, how can we make this building last a long time? How can we make it modular, reparable, and ensure that the usage of the building can be adjusted over its lifetime, a lifetime which can then be 50 or 100 years. Finally, we need to think, how can the materials used be recycled? Can specific elements like window frames be reused? In the design phase we already set a path which allows the later steps to happen. As well as that, circularity goes beyond the design phase and works throughout the life of the building. 

 

How can we ensure that in 100 years we will be able to make the final stage circular?

This is an important issue. We are already hearing from construction companies who say they are dealing with recycled materials that were used in buildings 50 years ago, but now those materials no longer comply with today’s regulations. We always have to plan from today’s perspective, so this will inevitably mean that mistakes will be made. 

At the same time, we have come a long way in defining the principles of circular economy and circularity. There is a lot happening in the regulatory space and at a city and municipal level, which will help us make a framework that will be able to support these long term developments.

 

Who needs to be responsible for the circular economy?

We are all needed in this. The regulator, but also us consumers. If I am building a house, I should keep this in mind. If I am a company contributing to the built environment, I need to take these things into consideration. The same if I’m an architect or urban planner, and not because I am obligated by regulations, but because it makes sense on a societal level. 

It’s difficult for a single company to be circular all by itself, so you need to work with other stakeholders. If you produce construction materials, you will need to work with the construction companies, the architects, the cities in order to make sure that you create an environment that supports sustainability goals. 

 

Does it make business more complicated?

Circularity adds a level of complexity. If you are a company, traditionally you could consider your impact as far as one or two steps from your company. That is, to your customers or your suppliers, but no further than that. Circularity requires an end-to-end value chain that needs to be respected, a chain that starts from the raw material, where it is sourced and brought to your company, then all the way to the customer, the end-of-life phase and even back into reuse. This extra level of complexity for many companies can be difficult for many companies to understand and address.  

We often see that this chain is broken. An architect could plan a house, the building company builds it then the real estate company sells it, but there is no continuity across the lifecycle of a building. And that’s where something like a digital passport comes into play. This is where you start looking at how a building is built, repaired, maintained, and lived in across a longer time period. 

 

What are the circular design principles?

These are often integrated into the R&D principles that companies have, and you are basically extending the existing principles around the utilizations of resources. You push your designer to look at using recyclable and bio-based materials and ask if you are using the resources in the design as efficiently as possible. In one example we deconstructed a product and realised that many different sized springs were being used. By changing this to just one size of spring, we reduced the resources used whilst completing the same function. 

 

Can you give some examples of different materials which are being used circularly? 

One trend we are seeing is in the demolishing of buildings. Traditionally you would have one big container which would take all of the demonised materials to the landfill. Today, there is an effort to reuse a lot of the materials. 

In terms of concrete there is a lot of effort to electrify many of the concrete process steps. Also, we are looking to replace a lot of different ingredients in the process with recycled materials. If we can use side streams which would normally be waste from another industry to contribute to this process, this would be a valuable input. 

Additionally, harmful materials are being replaced with biomaterials, like wood. There is also a lot of effort to include digital solutions to monitor and document the end-to-end changes that are happening in the construction. 

Plastic can be tricky because there are different kinds. PET is easy to recycle, but in the food industry, plastic waste can be contaminated and it’s not possible to reuse it. 
Another example is with recycled aluminium. The auto industry basically buys up all the available recycled aluminium, so there is none for the market. 

 

How does circularity affect urban planning?

When you talk about urban planning, circularity, and sustainability, one aspect to think about is the usage of materials and resources both in the building, but also in the operational phase. At the same time, we should be looking more and more at how the urban environment will sustain circularity and sustainability. How will it support industrial symbiosis? How can we help urban citizens by giving them repair shops close to them and enabling them with the services and facilities needed for circularity. This will be an additional requirement when planning cities and urban spaces. 

 

What’s the biggest challenge with this circularity?

Bringing a complicated topic like this to our modern world of just reading headlines and not looking in depth, is a challenge. We have to bring the topic down to a very experienceable, relatable level that people where the work is being done can understand and know what they should do. If you are working with a construction company where the upper management all understand and value the importance of circularity, you still need to be able to bring the topic down to the site, where the construction is happening. That is where the people are sorting the waste, using the material, and making sure energy is used efficiently. So, it is them that have a real impact. 

 

What are some factors which could accelerate adoption of circularity? 

It needs to be combination of many things. Regulation to set the right frame, education and telling people how to contribute, creating the urgency, and changing our thinking process around it. But there are promising signals. Many companies are taking the topic seriously and we are seeing an acceleration of focus that will hopefully allow us to drive forward in this area. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet, no simple solution.  

 

What can we, members of society, do?

There are many everyday things we can do. We can change our buying habits and not just buy the cheapest products. In Berlin there is a group of people really looking at how circularity can be done from a grass roots level, looking at the material streams and how we can educate different sectors of the population. We also need to bring the topic into discussion in the political space. If the topic becomes important for a politician’s success, they will start doing something about it. We can also bring this topic up with our companies and colleagues and help it become a talking point for policymakers. 

 

How long do we have to make this work? 

Unfortunately, time is something we are running out of. I hope we get our act together in the next couple of years, before it is too late. As with many cases, it is about all of us doing what we can. It’s about the power of the crowd, the power of society to drive change. One this topic becomes a key agenda issue, and companies see that they cannot sell unsustainable products, they will change very quickly. But as long as there is a market, they will be reluctant to change. 

In summary, we need to get out of our bubble, our traditional way of thinking and familiarise ourselves with circularity, but also with sustainability aspects of urban planning, construction etc. And this goes for all aspects of the economy. Talk about it with your suppliers and partners so that you can jointly address the topic and provide better solutions going forward.