Cradle to Cradle and Fab City as examples of innovative approaches Innovation in the circular economy

The thin films used to package vegetables have up to seven layers of various materials. Car tyres that shed material when braking often contain several hundred different harmful substances. 35% of the microplastic in the oceans comes from synthetic clothing.

Design determines recyclability

What does this have to do with the circular economy? For me, the answer lies in the fact that the decision as to whether something is recyclable or thrown away is already made when the products are designed. If a product is designed in such a way that the materials can be strictly separated, these can then be recycled without creating any waste – which also has financial benefits. I compare this to a Lego house that can be used for other buildings. Coffee-to-go cups, on the other hand, cannot be broken down into their component parts, due to their coating. The seven layers of film on supermarket vegetables are also impossible to separate – cups and films cannot circulate in material loops and end up in the thermal recycling system, where they are incinerated. A genuine circular economy requires that pollutants cannot be absorbed by people and the environment or, ideally, are totally eliminated. Tyres would have to release biodegradable substances to end up in a harmless biological cycle at the very least.

Cradle to Cradle – concept

The idea of combining strict separation in a technical cycle with a biological loop for materials that are released into the environment comes from Cradle to Cradle. This product design concept was developed in the late 1990s. Cradle to Cradle certification is also available for products that are developed according to this concept. Übersetzt heißt das „Von der Wiege zur Wiege“. Its name sets the concept apart from the current economic philosophy: Cradle to Grave, where we extract raw materials and use them to make products that are thrown away after use. This linear concept isn’t sustainable. The Cradle to Cradle design concept considers how products can be designed to ensure that they are not harmful, but recyclable and useful. Here are a few examples: a recyclable carpet that removes dust from the air, or a house that produces more energy than it uses and whose materials can be reused, meaning that it could also be described as a materials warehouse. A house facade that filters CO2 from the air is another example. This could create new business models. A washing machine manufacturer could reuse almost all the materials and therefore only rent out the machine. For financial reasons, they would also be interested in a recyclable solution.

Redevelopment of products and buildings for the Cradle to Cradle concept

Innovation is required to implement solutions. For a genuine circular economy based on Cradle to Cradle, every product would have to be redeveloped. This is exactly what is happening now. There are already solutions for everything from water bottles, through toner cartridges, detergents and wall paints, to entire Cradle to Cradle-based houses. Two of the biggest examples: progress is being made in the construction industry. In Hamburg, a Cradle to Cradle-based high-rise building is being constructed (link). In Venlo in the Netherlands, a building has already been constructed according to the Cradle to Cradle concept. It uses just a third of the energy as the previous site; the air inside the building is cleaner than that outside, which has significantly reduced the number of days lost to illness (more information here). In Berlin this summer, a small Cradle to Cradle-based town will be simulated for the second time: the band ‘Die Ärzte’ will perform three concerts over one weekend at Tempelhofer Feld. In accordance with Cradle to Cradle, the organisers are only using recyclable packaging on their food stalls and renewable energy for their power supply and logistics (e.g. electric fork lift trucks) – all as good as it currently gets. You can find more information about this here. The Hamburg start-up, Traceless, is a regional example of Cradle to Cradle. It produces a plastic alternative from biological waste. This is biodegradable and fully recyclable. It contains no harmful substances and should be able to compete with petroleum-based plastic in terms of cost. This Cradle to Cradle approach is so ecologically and economically promising that Traceless won both the Hamburg and the German Start-Up Award in 2022.

Fab City

Fab City is another innovative concept for the circular economy. The fundamental idea is that Hamburg, like other Fab Cities, will be able to independently produce (almost) everything it consumes by 2050. This target appears ambitious. For example, 3D printers would be able to independently produce other 3D printers. As many people as possible will have access to digital manufacturing technologies. Fab Labs will be provided for this purpose, where digital production methods such as laser cutting and 3D printing can be tested. You can already try these out at OpenLabs: link. Products can be developed worldwide and brought to Hamburg via digital manufacturing plans, but they will then be produced locally. So digital data would circulate worldwide, but materials would only circulate locally. In 2019, Hamburg was the first German city to join the global Fab City network.

Here, as in the Cradle to Cradle example, you can see that digitalisation is an important part of implementing a truly circular economy. From February 2027, for example, certain new batteries launched in the EU will need a digital product passport. Other industries are set to follow. The underlying idea: if I want to turn my products into individual recyclable materials, I need information about the reused materials and processes following years or decade of use.

I’m excited to see how these issues develop and how they will be integrated into the plans and structures of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. I’m also interested in how companies embrace and use these ideas to their advantage. If you’re looking for inspiration, please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can also get assistance from TUTECH as part of Project Up2Circ (free of charge) or ‘CIRCO Circular Business Design Track’.

To conclude, here is a brief summary of this article: waste is a human ‘invention’. Humans can use innovation to ensure that waste becomes a thing of the past. Nature acts as the role model, where there is no waste – except when a leaf falls from a tree every now and then.