Glossary:
34. Closing the Loop: An Introduction to the Circular Economy
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Circular Business Model | Circular business models focus on strategies to slow, extend, and close resource cycles, reducing resource input and preserving value, while breaking linear production patterns through restructuring, innovation, and development. |
Circular Economy Action Plan | The European Commission's Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), adopted in March 2020 as part of the European Green Deal, aims to drive sustainable growth by reducing pressure on natural resources, creating jobs, and achieving climate neutrality and biodiversity conservation targets by 2050. It includes initiatives across product life cycles, targeting design, circular processes, consumption, waste prevention, and resource retention within the EU economy, focusing on key resource-intensive sectors like electronics, packaging, textiles, and construction. |
Circular Economy (revised) | Circular Economy (CE) iis an economic model operating within an (almost) closed loop of production and consumption that aspires to achieve economic growth within planetary boundaries by decoupling from raw material and natural resource extraction. Thus, the Circular Economy aims to eliminate waste by design and by retaining the highest utility and value of products, components, and materials for as long as possible. This model is underpinned by a range of circularity strategies throughout the product and service value chains, including sustainable and eco design, resource-efficient production, as well as sustainable business and consumption models that aim to extend the lifespan of products and materials. Examples for circularity activities following these strategies encompass sharing, leasing, reuse, repair, refurbishment, repurpose and high-value recycling (e.g. EEA, EMF). |
Composting | Microbial breakdown of organic matter in the presence of oxygen.
In a circular economy, composting can be used to convert food by-products and other biodegradeable materials into compost, which can be used as a soil enhancer |
Cradle-to-Cradle Design (revised) | Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) Design is a design principle that describes a system for the production and industrial processes that allows the safe and potentially infinite circulation of materials kept as "nutrients" in closed loops. This design principle is inspired by nature, where waste in today's sense, as produced by the previous “take-make-waste” model, no longer exists but only usable nutrients exist. All materials can safely return to the environment or and be safely recycled for reuse and. The aim is not only to minimize negative influences, but also to leave a positive footprint (Michael Braungart, EPEA) |
Digital Product Passport | Digital product passports (DPPs) aim to provide comprehensive data on a product and its supply chain to all stakeholders, facilitating informed decisions regarding environmental impact and supporting the transition to circular economy. |
Downcycling | Downcycling is the conventional practice in a linear economy: to recycle material in a way that results in the loss of valuable material or the degradation of material quality (for example, in the recycling of plastic, which often only becomes park benches). |
Industrial Ecology (revised) | Industrial Ecology (IE) is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field that studies the interactions between industrial systems and natural ecosystems. IE seeks to improve resourc efficiency and optimize the total material flow, from virgin material to finished material, component, product, to waste products, and to ultimate disposal. |
Regenerativive production | Regenerative production provides food and materials in ways that support positive outcomes for nature, which include but are not limited to: healthy and stable soils, improved local biodiversity, improved air and water quality. In agriculture, regenerative production schools of thought include agroecology, agroforestry, and conservation agriculture (EMF). |
Renewable energy | Energy derived from resources that are not depleted on timescales relevant to the economy, i.e. not geological timescales.
Examples include: wind, solar, hydropower, hydrothermal, ocean (wave and tidal), geothermal, and biogas from anaerobic digestion (EMF). |
Renewable materials | Materials that are continually replenished at a rate equal to or greater than the rate of depletion.
Examples include: cotton, hemp, maize, wood, wool, leather, agricultural by-products, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and sea salt. To fit in a circular economy such materials (where relevant) must be produced using regenerative production practices (EMF). |
Right to Repair | The European Commission is advancing a 'right to repair' policy, aiming to reduce costs for consumers and promote circular economy practices, covering repair within and after legal guarantees, as well as consumer self-repair rights, with initiatives including legislation, consumer empowerment, and design requirements, while addressing concerns over intellectual property and promoting professional repair services. |
The European Green Deal | The European Green Deal is the EU's comprehensive strategy aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and promoting fair, zero-emission and digitalised growth, covering various sectors such as climate, energy, transport and industry. |
Upcycling | Upcycling is the desired practice in a Circular Economy: to recycle in a way that no valuable material is lost and the same or better material quality is achieved (opposite of "downcycling") |
Value Hill | The Value Hill Business Model illustrates the life cycle of a product's value, which begins with an increase during manufacturing and peaks when it is sold, followed by a decline after consumption. This model guides companies in the creation, delivery and capture of value in a circular context and facilitates the strategic positioning and optimisation of the value chain. |
Virgin materials | Materials that have not yet been used in the economy. |
