Each product group has its own reuse system: a plea for systematic reuse

As the end point of many international production chains, the Netherlands sits on a huge mountain of hidden value: millions of products that are discarded here still contain plenty of usable materials and components. Yet we are currently allowing that value to leak away on a massive scale, with around 93% of all material value disappearing from the economy. What if we stopped treating waste streams as waste and instead used them as a strategic opportunity?

By keeping products and materials in the chain longer through a dedicated reuse system for each product, we are strengthening our strategic autonomy: we are building our own raw material stock, reducing dependence on imports and price volatility, and increasing the earning capacity of the Dutch economy.

However, setting up reuse systems requires cooperation between the various links in a product chain. Only when companies, designers, manufacturers, installers, collectors, and processors are able to find each other will there be an impact.

After decades of fast everything, we advocate making structural space for reuse, in which each product has its own reuse system, designed with the same professionalism as the product itself.

In the paper “From Waste Stream to Backbone” by Circonnect, Oost NL, and MaakLos, you can read more about this vision and how we are working toward it through the CIRCO Reuse System Program: a structured approach in which supply chains jointly design, test, and scale up product-specific reuse systems.

Would you like to collaborate with us on a reuse system for a product group or sector—as a participant or co-initiator?

Please contact @Bas Hillerström at bas@circonl.nl.

About CIRCO and Circonnect

The CIRCO Tracks, Chain Tracks, and follow-up programs are methodologies developed by Circonnect and organized in collaboration with our partners: Impact Hub, OostNL, Bluecity, Maaklos, Stichting Zonnext, Shift Cycling, Binnenklimaat NL, Maritime Sisters, Holland Solar, Battery Competence Cluster, and Effizienz-Agentur NRW.

Our activities are made possible in part by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Province of North Holland, the Province of South Holland, the Province of Overijssel, and the Province of Gelderland.

The Oost NL Community Circular Climate Systems initiative is made possible in part by the Overijssel and Gelderland Boost Circular program.

Photo: Ari Gardinier via Unsplash