Circl4Life

It aims to develop and test three new business models in different sectors based in the circular economy including these approaches:

• co-creation of products and services,
• sustainable consumption,
• collaborative recycling and reuse.

“A circular economy is a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimised by slowing, closing, and narrowing energy and material loops. This is in contrast to a linear economy which is a ‘take, make, dispose’ model of production.” Ellen Mc Arthur Foundation

The Co-creation of Products/Services model will bring end-users closer to the design and manufacturing phases by identifying consumer preferences Big-data online mining product reviews and evaluating product specifications and prototypes through Living Labs to customise end-user requirements.

The Sustainable Consumption model will develop a method to calculate the eco-points of products based on the outcome of the FP7 myEcoCost project, assess product environment footprints (PEF), provide a traceable solution to monitor product’s sustainability along the value chain, and support end-users and stakeholders to actively implement the circular economy by raising awareness and implementing activities that share knowledge..

The Collaborative Recycling/Reuse model will develop a system for stakeholders to interact with each other in order to facilitate the use/reuse of end-of-life products and it will reduce waste, and implement the eco-credits awarding scheme to encourage people to recycle/reuse.

This project will be demonstrated at a large scale in 4 sectors: electrical and electronic products (tablets, domestic and industrial lightning) and farming and agri-foods sectors (pigmeat and organic vegetables). Demonstrators will be developed in the UK (Cornwall and Berkshire Counties) and Spain (Regions of Murcia, Basque Country and Valencia).