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CIRC4Life: A circular economy approach for lifecycles of products and services

Interaction between consumers and companies contributes to a circular economy. How can consumers become more involved in recycling and reuse processes? And how do companies become more interested in taking care of leftover food and electronics that we no longer use?

A circular economy is a concept aimed at reducing the consumption of raw materials and the amount of landfilled waste by primarily recycling or otherwise recycling products after their use. CIRC4Life is a three-year EU research project funded by HORIZON 2020. The project aims to develop and implement circular economy by creating new sustainable products and services throughout the value and supply chain.

The CIRC4Life project will develop models and systems to make it profitable for companies to take care of electrical products and equipment that are no longer used. Usually it is most profitable to handle large quantities at the same time, such as joint lighting from industries that replace everything at the same time. The project wants to develop methods that also make consumers' tablets profitable for a company to repair or recycle. At a school in Spain, "smart bins" (smart trash bins) will be tried, which makes it easy and fun to submit their tablets when they are no longer needed. At the same time, they will be easy for companies to collect.

The focus is on four different areas:
•Led lamps
•Tablets
•Vegetables
•Meat

Three different approaches to circular economics will be developed for these four areas:

1. Co-creating products and services together with end customers
2. Collaborative recycling / reuse 
3. Sustainable consumption

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 776503

Summary

Project name

CIRC4Life

Status

Active

RISE role in project

Projektledare för WP6 Demonstratorer

Project start

Duration

3 år

Total budget

70 miljoner

Partner

Nottingham Trent University, Alia, GS1 Germany, Recyclia, Kosnic Lighting, Enviro Data, Centre for European Policy Studies, Scilly Organics, CIRCE, ONA Product, European EPC Competence Center, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Make Mothers Matter, Indumetal Recycling, Laurea University

Funders

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 776503

Project website

Coordinators

Project members

Supports the UN sustainability goals

9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure
12. Responsible consumption and production
17. Partnerships for the goals