The R Strategies - where circularity begins

I have given a lot of presentations on the circular economy and listened to many more.

Whether I am speaking or listening, I always like to look out for members of the audience that are experiencing one of those “Ah! Now I get it” moments, where you can almost see the lightbulb flicker into life above their heads.

Where I see that happening most often is when the presenter pulls up their PowerPoint slide of the "10 Rs Ladder".

Here’s mine:

The R-strategies, also known as the R-Hierarchy or R-Ladder, are a framework used to express the different stages and priorities of resource use in the circular economy.

There are 10 strategies numbered R0 to R9 and categorised by the length of the loop that they represent. The shorter the loop, the more sustainable is the strategy from both an environmental and economic sense of the word.

It's always great to see those that think the circular economy is "all about recycling" register the fact that it comes so far down the list.

It (or versions of it) have become so common that it’s important to give proper credit to its origins. It was first published by José Potting and her colleagues from Utrecht University in their hugely influential paper ‘Circular Economy: Measuring Innovation in the Product Chain’ (2017).

Short Loops (Smarter Product Design and Manufacture)

The first category - Refuse, Rethink, Reduce

R0 - Refuse

The most environmentally friendly product is that which isn't used at all.

Applying this strategy requires companies to look both upstream and downstream in their value chains. Companies should look to their material supply chains and avoid using harmful materials and excess packaging.

Companies can find questioning their own products and asking which they should refuse to make anymore a challenge. Obviously, no organisation wants to declare its own offerings obsolete and unsustainable, but it has to recognise that its customers may well be making their own decisions about what they can refuse to buy.

That's why it is vital that all companies anticipate that by rethinking what their offering is.

R1 - Rethink

This strategy is about finding ways to increase the use-intensity of a product. How can we find ways to extract maximum value from the resources sunk into a product.

A great example of where we are seeing a whole industry rethinking is to be found in automotive.

According to a study by CoMoUK , over 80% of UK drivers, use their first car for just 1 hour per day, driving less than 10 miles each way. For the rest of the time our cars are parked, representing a colossally inefficient use of materials, resources and land.

The World Economic Forum Circular Car Initiative targets a sustainable future in which global demand for car journeys could be met with 400m fewer cars in the world. Achieving that would depend on applying all of the R-strategies, but most importantly, a fundamental rethink of how car journeys are consumed.

The rethinking of the automotive sector is also a good example of R2 - Reduce

R2 - Reduce

Reducing resource use aims to deliver value efficiently and applies to the entire life cycle of a product particularly its design, production and use phases.

At the production phase, processes can be optimised via technology, lean manufacturing methods, and sustainable materials. In the use phase, it is delivered by energy efficiency and greater product utilisation, which reduces the need for excess products.

At the design stage, many manufacturers are realising that small changes can reduce material use without compromising the product's quality or performance.

I particularly like the way in which Greiner show that simple adjustments to the design of their Polypropylene cups reduced material inputs by 20%.

Medium Loops (Extend Life Cycles)

The second group of strategies seek to extend product life and create multiple use cycles.

R0-R2 embody the principles of sustainable manufacturing but R3-R7 are the strategies that most characterise the circular economy. They are also the strategies that require most innovation and systemic change as they depend upon new approaches to product design, supply chains and business models.

R3 - Reuse

Ideally, once a user no longer has a need for a product, it should, if still fit for purpose be transferred to another user. That second-life user would continue to use the product for its original function until they too no longer have need of it.

Consumers have embraced reuse and the phenomenal growth of market place platforms like eBay , Vinted and Vinterior show that it is now more than a passing trend. A similar movement in B2B materials markets is emerging, but still faces technological and commercial barriers.

What can be achieved is shown in the built environment. The UN Environment Programme says that "the buildings and construction sector is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for a staggering 37% of global emissions. The production and use of materials such as cement, steel, and aluminium have a significant carbon footprint."

That is why the direct reuse of those materials, with minimal further impacts and costs created by reprocessing is the most viable and sustainable choice.

In the UK, the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products is actively promoting reuse in the built environment through their Reuse Now campaign. Circular supply chains bring new challenges, particularly for construction material reuse. This article ‘The journey to circular cities: the current problem with materials’ is full of case studies and insights into what barriers need to be overcome.

R4 - Repair

Maintaining and repairing broken or worn products is the most obvious example of product life extension, yet we can all share stories of having had to replace clothes, household appliances, even cars simply because the cost and hassle of repairing them was too great.

This frustration has been one of the drivers of the Right to Repair movement leading to legislation in many countries that gives consumers the ability to repair their own consumer electronic devices. Under this legislation consumers have the right to access repair information, spare parts, software updates and tools necessary to perform repairs, either directly or through third-party service companies.

The problem is however that too many products in the linear economy simply are not designed to be repaired.

My personal favourite example of a product that certainly is designed to be repaired is my Dualit Ltd toaster, which has served me well for over 20 years. I have repaired it myself on the very rare occasions that it has failed me.

It’s a great example of a circular product in that it is long lasting, maintains its value, repairable and - when its life eventually ends - can be easily dismantled and the materials reused or recycled. Another thing that strikes me about it is that when it was designed in the 1950s nobody at Dualit was thinking about whether it was circular or sustainable, they were simply focused on how to make it robust and functional.

R5 - Refurbish

Refurbishment offers many benefits within a circular economy, to both the manufacturer and the product's user.

It involves restoring used products to a good, even 'as new' condition, which can include replacing worn parts, updating aesthetics and new software when applicable. If the reverse logistics operations are efficient, this can be achieved at a much lower cost than building a new product, but its refurbished condition gives it a value that is often equal to new. So, refurbishment can be a highly profitable opportunity for the manufacturer and represent excellent value for the customer.

20% of Philips revenues now come from circular products, including their range of 'Circular Edition' refurbished medical systems.

R6 - Remanufacture

When a product's worn components are replaced during refurbishment it does not always mean that they have reached the end of their life. Remanufacturing is the process in which those parts are restored to a condition in which they can be used in their original function as part of a new product or be used as spare parts in repairing (R4) or refurbishing (R5).

From a customer’s point of view, the remanufactured part can be considered the same as a new one, with all of the same performance and warranty cover. For a manufacturer, the costs of remanufacturing can be 20%-40% lower than those of making the same products with virgin materials.

The European Remanufacturing Network is project led by Oakdene Hollins to understand the shape of remanufacturing in the EU. The ERN website’s Case Study Tool has many examples of successful remanufacturing, including many from the automotive sector, where companies like BORG Automotive Reman and ZF Group have proven the commercial and environmental benefits.

R7 - Repurpose

Despite reuse, repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing, products do reach the end of their intended use. This doesn't mean that their residual value cannot still be realised without the economic and environmental costs associated with significant reprocessing.

Repurposing strategies aim to extend the life of materials and reduce waste by finding new, often innovative uses for items that would otherwise be discarded. Obvious examples include the use of shipping containers being converted into homes. Tyres being used as playground equipment, planters, or building materials or denim jeans being repurposed into insulation material, but reuse can take more subtle forms where products are repurposed in similar functions to those originally intended and with minimal loss of residual value.

EV batteries are a case in point. BEVs have now been in mass production for nearly 20 years and their batteries are proving to have longer lives than anyone anticipated, however when an EV battery module ages to about 70% of its original capacity it is no longer fit for use in a car. That doesn't mean that it is not still perfectly suited to second life applications that do not need high power or rapid cycling in the way a BEV does.

JLR have partnered with Wykes Engineering Ltd to use end of life batteries from their I-PACE EVs to store renewable electricity generated by wind and solar farms.

Autocraft Battery have also proven that even when EV batteries deteriorate further there are still applications in which they are perfectly adequate, and so those modules can have third, fourth and fifth lives before they should be considered for R8 - recycling.

Long Loops (Maximise Material Use)

R strategies 8 and 9 are about extracting the maximum residual value out of what is left of a product after - we hope - a long life.

R8 - Recycle

Collecting, processing, and converting waste materials into new materials is in itself highly resource intensive, that's why recycling has to be done in such a way to preserve as much of the value of the material as possible.

I often think that R8 should be subdivided in to 'R8 a) - Closed Loop' and 'R8 b) - Open Loop'.

Closed loop recycling refers to the process where a product is recycled back into the same or very similar product without significant loss in quality.

As the name suggests, closed loop recycling often depends upon a manufacturer being able to manage a reverse logistics process in which their own product returns to them for reprocessing into new material. that can take a lot of effort but the major advantage is that the quality of that material is already assured.

The value of this can be seen at DS Smith who partnered with their customer Laithwaites Wine to achieve closed loop recycling of their cardboard packaging

By contrast open-loop recycling refers to the process where a product is recycled into a different application, often resulting in a material lower in quality than in its first life and not be recyclable again. Good examples would be plastic bottles recycled into bin bags or tyres recycled into rubberised asphalt. 

Finally.

R9 - Recover

Finally, when every last penny of value has been extracted from material, it can generate energy or nutrients through composting or incineration.

 This is critical to the success of circularity in agriculture and food production. Using feedstocks such as agricultural waste, food waste, manure and sewage sludge anaerobic digestion is a biological process where microorganisms break down organic matter in the absence of oxygen, resulting in the production of biogas and digestate, a nutrient-rich substance that can be used as a fertiliser.

Ixora Energy Limited (soon to be ENGIE UK) have a portfolio of AD facilities across the South West of England the biogas and electricity that they generate powers nearly 10,000 homes across the region.