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Circularity Deck

The Circularity Deck is a tool developed to promote circular economy principles through five key strategies: Narrow, Slow, Close, Regenerate, and Inform. Each strategy includes various product, business model, and ecosystem principles aimed at optimizing material and energy flows in businesses. The deck is available under a Creative Commons license and can be ordered in printed form from the creator.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

137 views106 pages

Circularity Deck

Uploaded by

cfores

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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Circularity

Deck

www.circularstrategies.org
TERMS OF USE

The Circularity Deck has been

developed by Jan Konietzko during
his PhD Research at TU Delft,
supervised by Nancy Bocken and
Erik Jan Hultink.

The Circularity Deck is

distributed under the Creative
Commons Attribution License. This
permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original
work is properly cited.

You can order printed versions

of the Circularity Deck. For that,
please reach out to Jan Konietzko
(for example on LinkedIn).
QUICK INTRO (I)

The Circularity Deck is a collection of

circular economy principles, organized
according to five key strategies that you
can apply to the material and energy
flows of your business:

1) Narrow (use less material and energy

during design, production, delivery and
use)

2) Slow (use products, components and

material longer)

3) Close (Use wasted products,

components and materials again)

4) Regenerate (Use non-toxic and

biodegradable materials and renewable
energy)

5) Inform (Use information technology

to narrow, slow, close and regenerate
material and energy flows)
QUICK INTRO (II)

Each principle may require a product,

business model or ecosystem
perspective. This is indicated on each
card. For example, a product principle
for ‘narrowing’ is ‘design with low-
impact inputs’.

To use the cards, you need a print-out

of the circular economy framework.
Then go through the cards and map
them around the framework. Use
post-its to capture: is this being done
already? If yes, by whom? How? If not,
can this be done? How? Who is
responsible to do this? This generates a
circular ecosystem map that captures
the circularity potential of your business
context. For more detailed instructions
on this workshop method, please read:

Konietzko, J.; Bocken, N.; Hultink, E.J. A

Tool to Analyze, Ideate and Develop
Circular Innovation Ecosystems.
Sustainability 2020, 12, 417.
Narrow

Design with
low-impact
inputs

Product
principle
Design products with
‘ingredients’ and materials
that require less land,
energy, water and/or
materials to produce.

Example
The company Impossible Foods
has designed a ‘meaty’
plant-based burger. Compared
to the beef version, it requires
ca. 7 m2 less land, 300l less
water and 5kg less CO2 than
the meat-based alternative.

www.circularstrategies.org
Narrow

Design
light-weight
products

Product
principle
Design products that are
lighter than comparable
products on the market.
Lighter products usually
require less materials and
need less energy to
transport.

Example
Adaptive City Mobility has
designed a car that weighs
650kg incl. battery. This is
around 1/3 of an average car (in
2019), leading to ca. 50% less
battery to operate.

www.circularstrategies.org
Narrow

Design for
multiple
functions

Product
principle
Design products with
multiple functions.
Multi-functional products
can reduce the overall
number of products and
may be usable by different
user groups.

Example
Studio Davero has designed
Puzzle Peace: a modular
furniture kit that can be turned
into multiple types of furniture;
e.g., a bench, table, armchair,
chair, bar or display.

www.circularstrategies.org
Narrow

Enable and
incentivize
users to
consume less

Business
model
principle
Incentivize users to use
less energy or material
during the use of energy
or material-using goods
like washing machines or
cars.

Example
HOMIE offers washing
machines through a pay-per-
wash model. By monitoring user
behavior, the company
increases the resource
efficiency of laundry.

www.circularstrategies.org
Narrow

Organize
light-weight
urban
transport

Business
model
principle
Organize lighter forms of
transportation, for
example electric tricycles.
The lighter the vehicles,
the lower the amount of
energy and materials
required to transport
people and goods.

Example
RYTLE provides a cargo solution
that consists of a light-weight
vehicle, an easily exchangeable
box, storage hubs and software
that connects all entities.

www.circularstrategies.org
Narrow

Localize
supply where
appropriate

Business
model
principle
Find more local suppliers,
where appropriate. More
local suppliers decrease
the amount of
energy needed to
transport goods.

Example
The restaurant chain ‘Dig Inn’ has
developed a supply system of local
farmers in every region it operates in to
provide a scalable, locally adapted and
seasonal restaurant model, reducing
travel distances for food ingredients
and stimulating the regional economy.

www.circularstrategies.org
Narrow

Maximize
capacity use
of products

Ecosystem
principle
Maximize the degree to
which the capacity of a
product is used. This is
sometimes referred to as
‘sharing’, where multiple
user groups have access to
the same product. This can
decrease the overall number
of products in an ecosystem.

Example
The online platform Peerby
enables people to share
everyday goods like drills or
bicycles, which can increase
their usage and reduce the
overall number of personally
owned goods in homes over
time.