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The climate crisis and the impoverishment of nature are complex problems, and we need to strive for neutrality across all types of emissions.
We also need to minimize waste production. With the world's population growing at an unprecedented rate, the need for new built environments is growing rapidly as well. The only way for these trends to co-exist sustainably is to transition to a circular economy.
A circular economy is a form of society that aims to use all materials for as long as possible, preventing the environmental damage caused by producing new materials and disposing of old ones. The circular economy is an inevitable development trend, and reporting on the proportion of recycled materials used in construction and renovation projects is quickly becoming standard practice.
To maximize the use of post-use products, we need to incorporate the principles of the circular economy into the design process from the start. Products and structures should be designed to be modular, easy to dismantle, and replaceable. It should also be possible to track different aspects of circular economy regarding projects that are being designed out of multiple sets of different materials and products.
The First Platform to Make Circularity Tracking Comprehensive
The Materialisting Platform is the first one to harness all circularity related data from EPDs, and bringing it to you in an easy-to-understand and trackable way! Product’s suitability for Circular Economy consists of several factors. On the Platform these factors can be seen in the Circularity Score chart, which measures how well the product is adapted to the principles of Circular Economy.
Products are scored on each of the following subcategories based on how much environmental damage they cause in that area, with 10 points being the ideal score for each category, and 50 points being the maximum overall score.
These are the scored categories
Composition = share of renewable material
Origin = share of recycled material
Energy = share of renewable energy
Longevity = material’s service life and ease of replacement
End of life = share of material for recycling, incineration or landfill
Sort the search by any category
Since it is still quite impossible for products to get full points in every category, and different materials and products have different strengths and weaknesses across different categories, it is important to be able to view individual attributes in addition to the total score.
Because of this, any of the Circularity Score subcategories can be used to sort the search results on the Platform. Foe example, should you like to detect which products from your search results have the highest content of recycled material in them, you can sort the search by Origin.
Track these attributes to keep your Project on track
In our Project Folders, you can create reports for different combinations of products or entire projects. These reports will show you a combined Circularity Score for all the products in the selection or the project folder as a whole. This will allow you to track how well your entire combination of materials meets the criteria of the circular economy, and even compare different scenarios. Use this tool to make it easy to communicate with both your customer as well as the authorities.
To read more about the Circular Economy and its role in design, download our Guide!