HARALD FRIEDL
we care · we can
— An interactive primer · The 11R framework
WASTE IS
JUST value
IN exile.
Eleven strategies sit between a linear economy that extracts and a circular one that regenerates. The higher you climb, the tighter the loop, and the more value you keep in the system. Before any of them, there is one shift that makes the rest possible.
tap a strategy to step inside it
11 STRATEGIES.
1 SHIFT.
infinite
POSSIBILITY.
Circularity is more than a framework. It's a human, regenerative way of being, shaping how we live, lead and belong. Every R below is a doorway. Every doorway leads back to the relationship we've forgotten and now have a chance to renew.
— A view from above
THE WIDER THE TIER,
THE MORE circular
THE STRATEGY.
Foundation
Short loops
Medium loops
Long loops
↓ FROM EGO-SYSTEM TO ECO-SYSTEM ↓
↑ CIRCULAR ECONOMY
R0
RECONNECT to nature, and to ourselves
From ego-system to eco-system · the human side of systems change
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What it means
Most circular strategies fail not because the technology is missing, but because the relationship is. We design as if we were separate from the systems that sustain us. R0 Reconnect names the prior move: a re-membering of our place inside the living world, and inside ourselves. It is what allows leaders to move beyond the intention-action gap, and organisations to design ecosystems that regenerate rather than extract. It is the shift from doing circular to being circular.
Where it shows up in practice
Patagonia ↗
USA · Apparel
Mission rewritten in 2018: "We're in business to save our home planet." Profit serves purpose, not the other way around.
Interface ↗
USA · Flooring
Ray Anderson's "spear in the chest" moment turned a petrochemical carpet company into Mission Zero, then Climate Take Back.
Faith in Nature ↗
UK · Personal care
In 2022 became the first company to legally appoint Nature itself as a director on its board, with voice and vote on company decisions.
Eileen Fisher ↗
USA · Apparel
B-Corp built around quiet listening to materials, makers and customers. The Renew take-back programme rests on decades of mindful sourcing.
Dr. Bronner's ↗
USA · Soap
Regenerative organic supply chains, capped executive pay, rooted in the founder's belief that "we are all one."
Natura & Co ↗
Brazil · Beauty
Sources from over 40 Amazon communities through fair-trade partnerships, treating the rainforest as both teacher and partner.
Tony's Chocolonely ↗
Netherlands · Food
Built around the relationship with cocoa farmers and the goal of 100% slave-free chocolate. Reconnects supply chain to human dignity.
Guayakí Yerba Mate ↗
USA / S. America · Beverage
"Market-driven restoration" model: every cup of yerba mate funds reforestation and indigenous livelihood in the Atlantic Forest.
Lush ↗
UK · Cosmetics
"We believe in our right to make mistakes" reads the manifesto. A values-led company where reconnection drives ingredient and packaging decisions.
Weleda ↗
Switzerland · Health
Founded a century ago on biodynamic principles. Treats soil, plant, human and cosmos as one system in every product.
R1
REFUSE consumers can do without it
Phase out · ban · render redundant
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What it means
Bans materials proven harmful, ends a destructive production process, or replaces a damaging product with one that is genuinely better, or no longer needed at all. Slower fashion, the disposable straw, the incandescent bulb, the gas boiler.
Where it shows up in practice
Broadbit ↗
Finland · Batteries
EV and grid-storage batteries from metallic sodium and table salt, refusing the lithium, cobalt and nickel mining cycle entirely.
Apeel Sciences ↗
USA · Food tech
Edible plant-based coating on fresh fruit and vegetables that refuses single-use plastic shrink-wrap entirely.
Lush Naked ↗
UK · Cosmetics
Solid shampoos, conditioners and soaps engineered to refuse the bottle. Over 6 million plastic bottles avoided per year.
Allbirds ↗
USA / NZ · Footwear
Refuses petroleum-based synthetics by building shoes from merino wool, eucalyptus fibre and sugarcane foam. Every product carbon-labelled.
IKEA ↗
Sweden · Home
Phased out incandescent and halogen bulbs from global stores in 2015, becoming the first major retailer to sell only LEDs.
TUSHY ↗
USA · Home
Modern bidets that refuse the toilet paper habit. Each seat saves an estimated 384 trees per person per year.
LEGO Group ↗
Denmark · Toys
Refusing single-use plastic packaging across its product range, replacing with FSC-certified paper bags by 2025.
Beyond Meat ↗
USA · Food
Plant-based meat that refuses the industrial livestock chain. Each Beyond Burger uses 99% less water than a beef equivalent.
Unilever Trans-Fat Ban ↗
UK / NL · FMCG
Eliminated industrial trans fats from all food products globally, refusing an entire category of harmful ingredient ahead of regulation.
Octopus Energy ↗
UK · Energy
100% renewable electricity utility refusing fossil-generation supply contracts. Powers millions of homes across nine countries.
R2
RETHINK sharing is caring, and scalable
Use-intensify · multi-functional · access over ownership
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What it means
Make the same product do more. Sharing platforms, leasing, multi-functional design, battery swapping, reusable cups. The artefact stays the same, but its time in active use multiplies.
Where it shows up in practice
Grover ↗
Germany · Electronics
Rents over 5,000 tech items on demand. Returns are assessed, refurbished and sent back into circulation, lengthening each device's life.
MUD Jeans ↗
Netherlands · Apparel
"Lease A Jeans" model. Pay a monthly fee to wear them, return when finished, and the garment circles back as raw material.
Gogoro ↗
Taiwan · Mobility
Swappable battery network for electric scooters with 1.5 million daily swaps. You own the scooter, the energy is shared infrastructure.
Peerby ↗
Netherlands · Sharing
Neighbourhood sharing platform for drills, ladders, party gear. Borrow from a neighbour instead of buying things you'll use twice a year.
Olio ↗
UK · Food
App connecting neighbours and businesses with surplus food. Over 8 million users have shared more than 100 million portions.
Airbnb ↗
USA · Hospitality
Rethinks empty bedrooms and second homes as productive infrastructure. Use-intensifies an enormous global stock of underused space.
Zipcar ↗
USA · Mobility
Each shared vehicle replaces an estimated 13 privately owned cars in cities, slashing the embodied steel, plastic and lithium per traveller.
Rent the Runway ↗
USA · Apparel
Subscription wardrobe rental for designer fashion. One garment is worn dozens of times across many people instead of hanging unused.
Donkey Republic ↗
Denmark · Mobility
Bike-sharing across 90+ European cities. Each bike replaces multiple private bicycles bought, used briefly and abandoned.
Too Good To Go ↗
Denmark · Food
Rethinks the end-of-day "bin" as a marketplace. Over 350 million surplus meals saved across 19 countries.
R3
REDUCE less is more efficient
Efficiency · lean manufacture · bio-based inputs
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What it means
Use fewer natural resources to deliver the same outcome, through digital tools, lean manufacturing, bio-based materials, lighter design. A smaller global material footprint on the way in.
Where it shows up in practice
Pure Waste ↗
Finland · Apparel
100% recycled-fibre clothing. One t-shirt: 1.2 litres of water against 1,426 for a virgin equivalent. Cumulative saving nearly 5 billion litres.
Oxara ↗
Switzerland · Construction
Cement-free binder Oulesse® turns excavation soil into building material. Cuts embodied CO₂ by up to 90% versus conventional concrete.
Ecover ↗
Belgium · Cleaning
Concentrated cleaning formulas in lighter packaging plus refill stations across Europe. Up to 80% less plastic and water.
Tetra Pak ↗
Sweden · Packaging
Lightweighting programme has cut average carton weight by 20% since 1990, while moving toward fully renewable plant-based plastic layers.
Unilever Compressed ↗
UK / NL · FMCG
Compressed deodorant innovation cut aluminium and propellant per can by 25%, applied across hundreds of millions of units.
Geberit ↗
Switzerland · Sanitary
Dual-flush WC technology has saved an estimated 32 trillion litres of water since invented, reducing household water use by up to 70%.
Solar Foods ↗
Finland · Food
Protein "Solein" produced from air, water and electricity, using 100x less water and 1/20 the land of soya per kg of protein.
Dell ↗
USA · Electronics
Reduced packaging weight by 20% across product lines and uses ocean-bound plastics in trays, cutting tens of millions of kg of virgin plastic.
Impossible Foods ↗
USA · Food
Plant-based burger uses 87% less water, 96% less land and produces 89% less GHG than beef. Reduces every input across the chain.
Dyson ↗
UK · Appliances
Reinvented fans without blades, motors that last decades, hand dryers using 80% less energy than warm-air dryers.
R4
REUSE trash is treasure
Second-hand · standardisation · same function, new owner
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What it means
A discarded product, still in good condition, finds a new user and continues its original function. From second-hand markets to standardised pallets and glass bottles that travel between industries.
Where it shows up in practice
r.Cup ↗
USA · Beverage
Reusable cup systems scaled across North American venues. Cups are collected, washed, sanitised, inspected and returned.
Loop ↗
USA · Packaging
A "milkman model" for global brands like Häagen-Dazs and Persil. Empties are picked up, washed, refilled and returned to shelves.
Vinted ↗
Lithuania · Apparel
Peer-to-peer second-hand fashion platform with over 100 million users across Europe. Each transaction extends a garment's life.
CHEP ↗
Australia · Logistics
Pool of 360 million reusable pallets and containers shared across global supply chains, replacing dozens of single-use wooden equivalents.
Back Market ↗
France · Electronics
Marketplace exclusively for refurbished phones, laptops and appliances, with over 15 million customers across Europe and the US.
ThredUp ↗
USA · Apparel
One of the world's largest online resale platforms. Processes 100,000+ used garments daily, extending each item across multiple owners.
Depop ↗
UK · Apparel
Gen-Z social marketplace for second-hand clothing. Over 30 million users, demonstrating that resale is now as aspirational as new.
Marktplaats ↗
Netherlands · Marketplace
The Dutch standard for second-hand goods, with over 7 million active listings and roughly 80% of Dutch adults using it. Reuse as habit.
Dansk Retursystem ↗
Denmark · Beverage
Denmark's deposit-return system collects 92% of beer and soda bottles, reusing each glass bottle on average 30 times before recycling.
Vytal ↗
Germany · Food packaging
Reusable food container deposit system across 7,000+ partner locations in Europe, replacing single-use takeaway packaging at scale.
R5
REPAIR it has life in it yet
Fix · maintain · right to repair
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What it means
Fix a defective product so it works again. Recent Right to Repair laws are tackling the obstacles owners face, the same obstacles that drive higher consumer cost and push people toward single-use replacement.
Where it shows up in practice
John Deere ↗
USA · Agriculture
From early 2023, the world's largest maker of tractors and combines now allows farmers to fix their own equipment.
iFixit ↗
USA · Repair platform
Free online repair manuals for over 100,000 devices, plus tools and parts. Has led the global Right to Repair movement.
Repair Café ↗
Netherlands · Civic
Started in Amsterdam in 2009. Over 2,500 community Repair Cafés worldwide where volunteers fix clothes, electronics and bikes for free.
Fairphone ↗
Netherlands · Electronics
Modular smartphone designed to be opened with a single screwdriver. Replace screen, battery or camera yourself, lifespan 7+ years.
Patagonia Worn Wear ↗
USA · Apparel
Free repair services in stores plus the largest garment repair facility in North America, fixing over 100,000 items per year.
Framework ↗
USA · Electronics
Modular laptop designed for full user repair and upgrade. Mainboard, screen, ports, battery all swappable.
Miele ↗
Germany · Appliances
Engineers appliances to last 20+ years, with spare parts guaranteed for 15. A repair-first business model that resists planned obsolescence.
Dyson Repair ↗
UK · Appliances
In-home and depot repair network for vacuums and air purifiers, with publicly stocked spare parts to reduce replacement-driven waste.
Vibram Sole Factor ↗
Italy · Footwear
Resoling service that replaces only the worn rubber, doubling the life of premium boots and athletic shoes from any brand.
Bosch Power Tools ↗
Germany · Tools
Repair guarantee programme for professional power tools, with available spare parts and service centres extending working life by years.
R6
REFURBISH it can be updated
Restore · modernise · upgrade in place
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What it means
Restore an old product and bring it up to date. New components inside, fresh fabric or paint outside. Tech makes the obvious example, but it also fits jeans, cognac bottles and outdoor wear.
Where it shows up in practice
Apple Certified Refurbished ↗
USA · Electronics
Returned and trade-in devices stripped, tested, fitted with new battery and casing, then sold with full warranty.
Rolls-Royce TotalCare ↗
UK · Aviation
Aircraft engines sold "by the hour". The engine remains Rolls-Royce's responsibility and is regularly refurbished and returned to service.
Rype Office ↗
UK · Furniture
Refurbishes and remanufactures existing office furniture for corporate clients, cutting cost and carbon by 60–80% versus buying new.
Rebuy ↗
Germany · Electronics
Buys used phones, laptops, books and games, refurbishes them in-house, and resells with warranty. Over 35 million products kept in circulation.
Swappa ↗
USA · Electronics
Marketplace for fully functional, refurbished consumer electronics. Strict working-condition standards keep buyers' devices reliably in use.
Refurbed ↗
Austria · Electronics
European marketplace for refurbished electronics with up to 40% lower price than new. Plants a tree for every product sold.
Kalkhoff Re-Bike ↗
Germany · Mobility
Take-back programme for used e-bikes, refurbishing batteries, drives and frames before reselling at significantly lower carbon footprint.
Renault Refactory Flins ↗
France · Automotive
Europe's first circular factory for vehicles. Refurbishes engines, batteries and entire cars at industrial scale.
Signify Light-as-a-Service ↗
Netherlands · Lighting
Sells light, not bulbs. Fixtures stay company-owned, get refurbished and upgraded, taken back at end of life. Pioneered for Schiphol Airport.
Steelcase Phase 2 ↗
USA · Furniture
Take-back and refurbishment programme for office furniture, restoring chairs and desks to as-new condition for resale.
R7
REMANUFACTURE parts make a whole
Component recovery · industrial scale · same function
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What it means
Intact components from used products are integrated into new ones with the same function. More rigorous than refurbishment and typically industrial. Ellen MacArthur Foundation research finds savings up to 80% energy, 88% water, 92% chemicals and 70% waste.
Where it shows up in practice
ZF ↗
Germany · Automotive
More than 20 remanufacturing plants worldwide. At one site, 40–50 tonnes of used clutch cores arrive daily, with 80–95% returned to market.
Renault Re-Factory ↗
France · Automotive
Europe's first dedicated circular-economy plant for vehicles in Flins. Targets 120,000 cars and 45,000 batteries remanufactured per year by 2030.
Caterpillar Reman ↗
USA · Heavy machinery
A 50-year-old programme. Used engines and components restored to original spec, sold with the same warranty as new.
Xerox ↗
USA · Office equipment
Pioneer of remanufactured copiers and printers since the 1990s. Devices designed for disassembly, keeping 100,000+ tonnes out of landfill.
Philips Refurbished Systems ↗
Netherlands · Healthcare
Refurbishes and remanufactures medical imaging equipment (MRI, CT, ultrasound). Same diagnostic performance, fraction of carbon and cost.
Cummins ReCon ↗
USA · Engines
Remanufactured diesel engines and components for trucks, buses and equipment. Saves up to 85% of the energy of building from raw materials.
MTU Reman ↗
Germany · Engines
Rolls-Royce Power Systems brand remanufacturing large diesel and gas engines for marine, rail and industrial use.
Bosch Rexroth ↗
Germany · Hydraulics
Remanufactures industrial hydraulics, drives and gearboxes globally, restoring components to OEM standard and extending service life.
HP Inc. ↗
USA · Print & PCs
Remanufactures Original HP toner and ink cartridges, returning millions of units to market each year using recovered components.
KONE Modernization ↗
Finland · Lifts
Remanufactures elevator and escalator components in existing buildings, replacing only key parts and avoiding total system replacement.
R8
REPURPOSE the original is reborn
New function · cross-sector · creative reuse
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What it means
Discarded components are folded into a completely different product, serving a new purpose. The strategy fosters innovation and creates unique, value-added goods that wouldn't otherwise exist.
Where it shows up in practice
Tracegrow ↗
Finland · Agriculture
Patented process turns used alkaline batteries into organic-certified fertiliser, separating micronutrients that boost crop productivity.
Toast Ale ↗
UK · Beverage
Beer brewed from surplus fresh bread that would otherwise be wasted. Over 3 million slices saved, with profits going to food-waste charities.
Bureo ↗
Chile / USA · Outdoor
Collects discarded fishing nets and repurposes the nylon into skateboards, sunglasses and Patagonia hat brims. 4M+ kg diverted from oceans.
Freitag ↗
Switzerland · Bags
Iconic messenger bags made from used truck tarpaulins, bicycle inner tubes and seatbelts. Every bag unique. The original Swiss circular icon.
Looop by H&M ↗
Sweden · Apparel
In-store machine that breaks down old garments and re-spins them into new yarn in front of the customer, no water or dyes added.
Elvis & Kresse ↗
UK · Accessories
Transforms decommissioned London Fire Brigade hoses into luxury bags. Donates 50% of profits to the Fire Fighters Charity.
Wijld ↗
Germany · Apparel
Wood-fibre t-shirts spun from beech-tree sawmill offcuts. Repurposes a forestry by-product into soft fabric using closed-loop solvent recovery.
Ecovative ↗
USA · Materials
Mushroom-based packaging and materials grown on agricultural waste. Repurposes farm waste into Styrofoam-replacing protective packaging.
Rubies in the Rubble ↗
UK · Food
Condiments made from surplus fruit and vegetables that supermarkets reject for cosmetic reasons. Over 1,000 tonnes of food saved.
Bolt Threads Mylo ↗
USA · Materials
Mycelium-based leather alternative used by Stella McCartney, Adidas and Lululemon. Repurposes the biological intelligence of fungus.
R9
RECYCLE material lives again
Sort · process · upcycle or downcycle
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What it means
Collect, sort and process materials into new ones. Sometimes upcycling, where fishnets become ECONYL outerwear. Sometimes downcycling, where wood becomes paper pulp. Either way, value is partially retained.
Where it shows up in practice
TerraCycle ↗
USA · Hard-to-recycle
Specialises in materials no local facility will take: cigarette butts, snack bags, coffee capsules. Operating in 21 countries.
Aquafil ECONYL ↗
Italy · Textiles
Recycles fishing nets, fabric scraps and industrial plastic into regenerated nylon used by Prada, Adidas, Stella McCartney.
Gamle Mursten ↗
Denmark · Construction
Reclaims and cleans old bricks from demolition sites for reuse in new construction. 95% energy savings versus new bricks.
Novelis ↗
USA · Aluminium
World's largest recycler of aluminium beverage cans, over 80 billion per year. A recycled can is back on shelf as new in roughly 60 days.
Carbios ↗
France · Plastics
Enzymatic recycling that breaks PET plastic into building blocks and rebuilds it as virgin-quality plastic. Demonstrated with L'Oréal and Nestlé.
Tomra ↗
Norway · Recycling tech
Reverse-vending machines and AI-powered sensor sorting that recover billions of bottles, cans and metals from the global waste stream.
Veolia ↗
France · Waste
Operates hundreds of materials-recovery facilities globally, recycling over 50 million tonnes of waste into secondary raw material each year.
SUEZ ↗
France · Waste
European leader in plastic recycling, with PET and HDPE plants supplying brands like Coca-Cola and Nestlé with food-grade recycled content.
Umicore ↗
Belgium · Metals
Hoboken plant recovers 17 different metals from EV batteries, electronics and catalytic converters. The world's most advanced complex-metal recycler.
Redwood Materials ↗
USA · Batteries
Recycles end-of-life lithium-ion batteries to recover lithium, cobalt and nickel for new battery production, closing the loop on EV materials.
R10
RECOVER organic waste is hot
Energy from waste · anaerobic digestion · biogas
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What it means
The last meaningful stop before landfill. Compost organic waste through anaerobic digestion to produce biogas, capture landfill gas, or generate electricity and heat from incineration of what cannot otherwise be saved.
Where it shows up in practice
Biogas Energía ↗
Mexico · Energy
Processes manure, food waste and municipal solid waste. One plant alone handles 1,000 tonnes per day, generating 1 MW of electricity from biogas.
CopenHill ↗
Denmark · Energy
Copenhagen's waste-to-energy plant powers 150,000 households and doubles as a public ski slope on its roof. Infrastructure as civic asset.
LanzaTech ↗
USA · Industrial
Captures carbon emissions from steel mills and refineries, then ferments them with bacteria into ethanol. Fuel from would-be smoke.
Veolia AD Plants ↗
France · Utilities
Operates 60+ anaerobic digestion facilities globally, recovering biogas and digestate fertiliser from food waste and agricultural residue.
Ukraine Eco-Industrial Park ↗
Ukraine · Reconstruction
Concept turning post-war waste streams, including municipal organic waste, into methanol via gasification. Reconstruction fuel from would-be ash.
Anaergia ↗
Canada · Waste-to-energy
Transforms organic waste, sewage and agricultural residue into renewable natural gas, electricity, fertiliser and clean water at scale.
Nature Energy ↗
Denmark · Biogas
Largest biogas producer in Northern Europe. Converts manure and food waste into renewable natural gas injected directly into national grids.
Fortum Waste-to-Energy ↗
Finland · Energy
Operates clean waste-to-energy facilities across the Nordics, recovering heat and electricity for district heating networks.
Cleanaway ↗
Australia · Waste
Captures landfill gas at 27 sites and converts it into electricity, powering tens of thousands of homes from would-be atmospheric methane.
SELCHP London ↗
UK · Energy
South East London Combined Heat & Power. Recovers energy from 420,000 tonnes of household waste each year, powering 50,000+ homes.
↓ The line that breaks the circle
LANDFILL or INCINERATION
Loss of resources. Value lost. Environmental pollution. Where a linear economy ends, and where every R-strategy above is a reason to never let things arrive.
↓ LINEAR ECONOMY
— A closing thought
THE 11 RS ARE NOT
A LIST TO MEMORISE.
THEY ARE AN invitation.
we care · we can HARALD FRIEDL