Behind and beyond recycling: a question of design
About the right approach to recycling and the difference between upcycling and downcycling. The importance of circular design.
Recycling is often the most discussed and cited solution when it comes to implementing circular economy (CE) principles. However, recycling is the least prioritized solution in a CE. Why? It comes down to the issue of “loss”...
In 2022, recycled material in EU accounted for 11.5% of total material used, an increase of less than one percentage point since 2010 (EEA, 2023)
Perfect collection and sorting facilities do not exist.
Even if these facilities existed, the intrinsic limitations of recycling, leave us heavily dependent on the extraction of new finite materials and the related energy to refine them. Following the recycling path, we lose material quantity (as seen discussed in a previous newsletter, concerning e-waste).
An aluminum can – with a recycling rate of 90% and a useful product life of 3 months – would be entirely lost after 4 years (Metabolic, 2020).
Postponing the landfill and incineration final destination.
Recycling helps reduce litter and pollution, creates new jobs, and recovers some valuable rare materials. However, the hard truth is that with most recycling, we lose quality. While recycling allows us to produce new items, saving precious finite raw materials and limiting CO2 emissions, the final material and product quality is often so low that we are only postponing the landfill or incinerator destination.
The plastic “brain teaser”.
Consider plastic. In most cases, when plastic is recycled, it is mixed with different plastics to produce a hybrid product of lower quality with less stringent technical or aesthetic qualities. For instance, a food-grade plastic beverage bottle often becomes a fleece garment or component for a park bench.
[ok, that’s better than nothing, but we can do better].
Furthermore, chemicals are often added to make the materials “useful” again. As a result, recycled materials have more additives than “virgin1” ones. Researchers are currently exploring different solutions to overcome this issue with positive results.
We can do better!
This is not recycling: this is downcycling.
Downcycling is a recycling process that reduces the quality and economic value of a material or product. It is related to a linear system, where “eco-efficient” techniques seek to minimize the volume, speed and toxicity of the material flow system but are not able to alter its linear progression to the “grave”.
“Less bad” does not equal “good”
Downcycling has an additional disadvantage: it can be very expensive for businesses, requiring energy and resources to convert materials into something they have not been designed for.
The challenge with Paper recycling.
Consider another common material, like paper, made of valuable resources such as wood pulp and water. One of the challenges for recycling is contamination: if the paper is contaminated with other materials like food waste or plastic, it can be either difficult to recycle or the final quality will be lower than the original (for instance, less "smooth"). According to Braungart and McDonough (2009), "because it was not designed with recycling in mind, paper requires extensive bleaching and other chemical processes to make it blank again for reuse. The result is a mixture of chemicals, pulp and sometimes, toxic inks." Sometimes downcycled paper is used for insulation, but additional chemicals must be added to make the material suitable for a use it was never designed for.
Just because a material is recycled does not automatically make it ecologically benign, especially if it was not designed specifically for recycling (Braungart and McDonough, 2009).
Let’s face the truth: many products have not been designed to be recycled; therefore in most cases recycling means downcycling.
The solution lies in better materials, clever product designs and new circular business models.
An (eco)effective solution.
Today the economy is only 7.2% circular. More than 90% of materials are either wasted, lost, or remain unavailable for reuse (Global Circularity Report, 2023).
A definitive solution requires that we rethink the way we make, use and re-use materials so that they don’t become waste in the first place. This is a question of design - eco-effective design – of products, services and systems as opposed to eco-efficient design, which mainly focuses on making “the wrong things less bad” which is no longer enough (Braungart and McDonough, 2009).
The importance of the design phase.
By implementing an eco-effective design approach, all industries can foster upcycling, allowing for the reuse of the same materials for products of the same or better quality than the original ones. This also limits resource consumption and pollution.
For example, if refillable designs and models were applied to all plastic packages used in beauty, personal care, home cleaning, packaging and transport, savings would represent an 80–85% reduction in GHG emissions compared to today’s single-use bottles, not to mention the reduction in raw material consumption (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2021).
This approach requires products to be designed for disassembly, repairability, flexibility or biodegradability enabling reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishment or regeneration – the CE principles illustrated in the “Butterfly Diagram”.
The three golden rules of circular design.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, eco-effective (circular) design should follow three CE key principles:
Eliminate waste and pollution by choosing safe materials designed for repeat circulation, making use of by-products, fostering material efficiency, reducing the amount of material lost during production and engaging in material and product innovation.
Circulate materials and products by designing for repairability, upgradability, durability and even disassembly. Create the reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling systems and business models.
Regenerate nature by designing to improve local biodiversity, air and water quality.
Circularity by design = Designing products that:
1. Last longer
2. Use biodegradable material
3. Can be reused, repaired, redistributed, remanufactured and refurbished
4. Regenerate natural systems
Circular design in practice: Rifo’ Lab, Interface, Repeat Audio.
We already discussed about MUD Jeans venture and how it was able to put into practice the first two principles. Argiano winemaker focuses on regenerating the vineyards and the natural surroundings. HP adopted the re-manufacturing approach with the “Renew Project” .
Rifo’ Lab (IT - apparel)
Rifo’ Lab is a young Italian fashion brand founded in 2017, producing clothing only on pre-order to avoid overproduction. All textiles used in their garments contain recycled fibres (up to 85%) and are fully recyclable at the end of their lifespan. 95% of textiles used are made of only one material. When needed, Rifo’ Lab uses natural dyes, preserving the biodegradability of the garments and avoiding the release of harmful substances into the environment. The design is timeless and the durability is assured by high-quality standards. The production is 100% Italian and local, limiting the environmental impact of transportation and preserving local craftsmanship. A free repair service is offered.
Interface (UK - durable goods, carpets).
Interface is a global and established leader in the design, production, sale of modular carpets for commercial, institutional and residential purposes. With the ambition to neutralize its environmental impact already by 2020, the company committed to reducing manufacturing waste sent to landfill2, reducing water usage, using 100% renewable energy and using raw materials that are recycled or biobased. Additionally, it created the ReEntry™ Reclamation & Recycling program to take back products for repurposing and recycling. Interface launched the world’s first carpet tiles with a negative footprint, from “cradle to gate”—from raw material extraction through manufacturing—without offsets. Another impressive regenerative project is the "Factory as a Forest" concept. The project aims to transform companies’ factories into regenerative ecosystems that function like natural forests providing clean air, energy, potable water and carbon sequestration.
Repeat Audio (NL – durable goods and services, headphones).
Repeat Audio was founded in 2015 in the Netherlands with the mission to offer high-quality and durable headphones through their "Headphones-as-a-Service" business model. They design modular, easily repairable headphones with a lifetime warranty for free repairs. Customers can either purchase the headphones outright or subscribe to a monthly rental service. The modular design with replaceable parts enables customers to easily disassemble and repair their headphones after requesting the replacement part. The lifetime warranty with free repairs allows customers to keep using their headphones indefinitely, reducing e-waste. The subscription service for renting headphones monthly instead of ownership promotes product reuse. The company also has a recycling program for irreparably broken components.
These are all examples of different industries, different companies, different products, with the same circular approach to products, services and business model’ design. Same exceptional results.
Thank you for reading until the end. This is only a small outlook on the amazing and innovative world of CE. Do you know any circular companies achieving extraordinary and innovative results in their field? Or any interesting projects to analyze?
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Keywords: Circular Design, Downcycling, Upcycling, Eco-effective design
Suggested “music pairing”: “Feeling Good" - Nina Simone
The virgin raw material is anything extracted directly from nature without processing (EU, n.d.)
The company was able to reduce manufacturing waste by 84% from 1996 to 2003 (Interface, n.d.).