By adopting the principles of a circular economy, resources can be preserved & enhanced as we prioritise regenerative & renewable resources.

There are three key points where circular thinking and principles can be applied that enable us to shift to a circular economy. The pre-use phase (design phase), the in-use phase, and the post use phase (end of life, recovery phase).

A circular economy is based on ten principles that are often called the Ten Rs:

 

THE TEN Rs

Pre-use/Design phase: smarter product use and manufacture

  1. Refuse the use of raw materials and products
  2. Rethink ownership, use, and the end-of life of products
  3. Reduce the use of resources in production and consumption

 

In-Use phase: extend lifespan of product and its parts

  1. Reuse products for second-hand use
  2. Repair products for extended use
  3. Refurbish products to a satisfactory condition for extended use
  4. Remanufacture new products with discarded products or parts
  5. Repurpose products for other uses 

 

Post-use phase – useful application of materials

  1. Recycle materials into new products or materials
  2. Recover energy from waste, resources, and materials

 

Circular Economy activities occur across 5 business models:   

 

  1. Circular Supplies - use renewable energy and bio-based or fully recyclable inputs
  2. Resource Recovery - recover useful resources out of materials, by-products, or waste
  3. Product Life-extension - repair, upgrade and resell products, and through innovative product design
  4. Sharing Platform – connect product users to one another and encourage shared use, access or ownership to increase product use
  5. Products as a Service - move away from product ownership and offer customers paid access to products, allowing companies to retain the benefits of circular resource productivity or ownership to increase product use

 

We are keen to talk to businesses and organisations to map current circular economy activity across these principles to identify the potential for clusters which could be further supported and developed by the LEP with strategic partners.

 

Click here to take our short survey and become a part of creating our collaborative clusters!

 

Explore some of the fantastic examples of activity taking place across Greater Lincolnshire from SmartFert and CorrBoard

 

If you would like to get involved or find out more please contact Caroline.Illingworth@lincolnshire.gov.uk.