IntheloopLesson one: Made to be made again

Learning objectives•To understand the learning objectives of the Intheloop project•To understand the terms biosphere and technosphere •To understand the principles of made to be made again

Starter activity: Mind map

Remember what you have learned about the circular economy. Now, produce a mind map explaining the key concepts you have learned.Try and arrange your thoughts into an order that would help explain it to someone unfamiliar with the concepts.Keep your mind map to hand and fill in any additional details you find during the lesson.

About intheloop: Made to be made again

To move to a circular economy we must ensure that we are using the correct materials for the job and considering what will happen to the materials when the products we make are no longer useful. Some materials can be safely composted, with their materials giving back their nutrients to nature. Others cannot, but can be used again as new, useful products. In both cases nothing is lost and nutrients, both biological and technological go round and round.

About intheloop

After developing an expertise in circular economy thinking you are going to design and manufacture a piece of jewellery or interior decoration for a specific occasion. Two things make this project different:•The materials you will use to make the product have already been used and will be used again.•The materials you use to make the mould doesn’t exist yet, you are going to make it, use it and then composite it, giving it’s nutrients back to nature.

About pewter casting

Pewter is an alloy consisting mainly of tin, sometimes up to 99 percent, with copper and lead added to increase the hardness. Pewter has a low melting point, around 200°C, which makes it ideal for casting items that will not have to endure high temperatures in their working lives. There are numerous ways to mould pewter. The choice of method will, largely, depend on the equipment you have available in school.

Our role in the circular economy

If we are to build a circular economy we need to remodel our manufacturing systems to follow the successful model that nature provides for us:• Natural systems have no waste • Natural systems are restorative; the system will improve its environment over time

There are two key aspects of the circular economy: • The technological cycle • The biological cycle We will look at each in depth over the next few slides.

About the biological cycle

The biological cycle refers to materials that can be safely composted (give their nutrients back to nature). This is how the whole of nature works: things grow, die and either pass their nutrients on, such as when a squirrel eats nuts, a carnivore eats another animal or a leaf falls to the ground and decomposes. All too often biosphere nutrients have been mixed with or attached to non-compostable materials or simply burned, meaning their nutrients are lost.

About the technological cycle

The technological cycle refers to materials that cannot be safely composted. They are generally materials that have been mined and converted from their natural forms. For example, metals and plastics.Circular economy thinking sees these materials as essential, but considers that they must be carefully selected, manufactured, used and reused.The key is to design products that will easily give back their materials at the end of their life to be used again.

About the technological cycle, continued

All materials from the technological cycle are finite: when they are gone they are gone. Curiously we have tended to mine the materials, use them and then throw them away.It is strange to be mining finite materials in one place and putting them back in the ground as landfill somewhere else.

About monstrous hybrids

William McDonough and Michael Braungart, coined the term “monstrous hybrids”.Monstrous hybrids are materials that have been mixed, laminated, glued or combined, that cannot now be separated and therefore cannot be reused. All we can do is burn them or put them in landfill. In either case the nutrients are lost and the disposal causes pollution.It is essential to ensure that biospehere and technosphere materials can be separated at the end of a product’s useful life.

Circular economy products: Desso carpets case study

What is it?

A carpet tile designed for easy disassembly and recovery of materials, either for making more carpet tiles or for other industrial processes. It is Cradle to Cradle © certified at Silver Level.

What materials is it made of?

The yarn is made of a patented, 100 percent recycled synthetic polyamide fibre called Econyl. Worn tiles can be upcycled into new yarn for new tiles. The base layer, called Ecobase, is made of post-consumer recycled fibres. Its stabiliser is made of chalk, which is reused in cement production. The tile contains only chemicals classified as ‘optimal’ or ‘tolerable’ by EPEA.

Circular economy products: Desso carpets case study

Circular economy products: Desso carpets case study

Price? RRP £4-£8 per tile (similar to other manufacturers) What makes it interesting to designers of a circular economy?As well as the circular product design, the business model allows the tiles to either be purchased and returned to Desso for upcycling after use, or leased (rented). If leased, Desso replaces worn tiles with new, while any less trodden tiles can be left in place.

What needs to change to transition to a circular economy?There is a great legacy of carpets containing toxic substances (e.g. PVC) or being difficult to upcycle (e.g. bitumen, felt) which must be dealt with in any transition to a circular economy.

Circular economy products

HomeworkWe would like you to show us what you have learned about the circular economy by producing an information sheet about a circular economy product of your choice. Try and focus on how the circular economy principles have effected the materials choice and manufacture of the product.

Here is a great place to start: http://c2ccertified.org/index.php/products/registry

Plenary

• What is the biosphere?• What is the technosphere?• What are the problems of a linear economy?• What are monsterous hybrids?• How might you explain the circular economy to someone who

had not come across the term before?