The Circular Pathfinder has been developed by IDEAL&CO within the European FP7 ResCoM project. This project developed
industry pilots and support tools to assist the transition to circular business models and product designs.
The purpose of the Circular Pathfinder tool is to provide guidance to companies that are looking for appropriate circular design strategies for their product(s). It has been designed as a quick and easy to use tool, that gives motivated suggestions based on a maximum of 10 questions.
Depending on the answers, the pathfinder provides recommendations for specific circular design strategies (e.g. refurbishment or recycling), and product examples for each of the strategies.
Methodology
The tool uses an algorithm based on research of ‘best-practices’: cases of companies that have already implemented circular strategies for their products. In the research, the retrospective question was asked which contextual, product-related factors could be used to discern the different circular pathways implemented by the companies.
Six key product decision variables were identified that appear to influence the chosen circular pathways in these cases:
1. The reason for replacing or discarding the product
2. The lifetime of the product
3. Whether users would be interested in buying and using a product that is in good condition
4. Whether users demand a warranty to assure that the used product works well
5. Whether parts of the product are still useful to the company when the product is replaced or discarded
6. Whether the parts or materials of the product could be collected or whether they get dissipated.
The pathfinder’s premise is that factors that can be influenced by the manufacturer’s operations (e.g. product design) do not hold back the potential of a circular pathway. Instead, they are the challenges to overcome if the pathway is pursued.
The Circular Pathfinder has been applied to approximately 40 cases, and used with companies directly or indirectly involved in the ResCoM project. If you would like to suggest a best-practice for the Pathfinder examples, feel free to contact us via koffie@ideal-co.nl
In the Circular pathfinder, terms are used for which quite a number of different definitions exist in literature and practice. Terminology tends to differ across disciplines, countries and companies. We here include a list of the definitions that are used in the Circular Pathfinder.
Circular Cycles | Definitions |
---|---|
Prolong | Prologing the usecycle of a product can be achieved by making the product more durable. Durability can relate to physical durability (e.g. the use of corrosion resistant materials) and emotional durability (a situation where "users and products flourish within long-lasting empathic partnerships"). |
Upgrade | Upgrading is the process of enhancing the functional capabilities (or sometimes cosmetic conditions) of a product relative to the original design specifications to meet changeable user needs. |
Reuse | Reuse of a product or component is the use of a product or component when put back into service for a new usecycle (following an earlier usecycle). A product can be repaired, upgraded or refurbished before its reuse. |
Repair | Repairing corrects specific faults in a product to bring it back to satisfactory working condition. Generally, there is no new warranty on the repaired product, asides from components that have been replaced. |
Refurbish | Refurbishment is the process of returning a product to a satisfactory working condition. It may include repairing or replacing major components of the product. Generally, any warranty on a refurbished product applies to all major wearing parts but is less than that of a newly manufactured equivalent. Usually, a new usecycle (but no new lifecycle) starts after a product is refurbished. |
Remanufacture | Remanufacture denotes the process of disassembly of products into components, testing and recombining those components into a product of at least original performance. Generally, the resultant new product is given a warranty that is identical to that of an equivalent product manufactured out of all new parts. |
Recycle | Recycling is the process of recovering material from products at the end of their lifecycle. The materials recovered feed back into the process as feedstock for the original or other purposes. Use for energy recovery, fuel or backfilling are excluded. |
Biodegrade | Biodegrading is the process in which materials are consumed by microorganisms and returned to compounds found in nature. |