♻️ Circularity in Materials & Resources
How communities worldwide are restoring ecological balance and public health by designing materials, products, and systems that circulate — not waste.
The Systems Lens: Materials, Energy, Food & Health
- Circularity isn’t a sector — it’s an operating system.
- How materials, energy, water, food, mobility, and governance interlock to form regenerative, holistic systems.
Designing Out Waste: Circularity 101 for Communities
Waste is a design flaw, not an inevitability. Explore how cities and communities eliminate waste at the source through system design, materials innovation, and circular business models.
Regenerative Materials: Borrowing from Nature’s Chemistry
- Biomaterials inspired by fungi, seaweed, cellulose, and agri-waste that replace plastics, foams, leather, and petrochemicals.
Reuse, Refill & Zero-Waste Infrastructure
- How cities and neighborhoods build reuse/refill systems that eliminate packaging waste, lower emissions, and create local jobs.
Circular Manufacturing: Repair, Remanufacture & Product-as-a-Service
- Shifting from “make–take–waste” to repairable, upgradeable, long-life products and service-based business models.
Industrial Symbiosis: Turning One Industry’s Waste Into Another’s Input
- Regional ecosystems where heat, water, bio-waste, chemicals, and materials circulate across industries — like nature.
Circular Cities: Urban Systems Designed for Flow
- Cities that integrate circularity across buildings, transit, procurement, materials, and waste — reducing emissions, pollution, and cost of living.
The Circular Built Environment: Zero-Carbon & Zero-Waste Construction
- Modular design, mass timber, deconstruction, low-carbon concrete, circular construction hubs, and material passports.
Repair Is Power: Community Hubs & Local Circular Jobs
What if fixing our stuff wasn’t a hassle… but a right? What if every neighborhood had its own repair hub — a place where broken
Plastics with an Expiration Date: Bioplastics & Circular Polymers
- Biobased, biodegradable, and circular polymers that disappear safely — or can be re-cycled indefinitely without toxic degradation.
Right to Repair, Community Repair Hubs & Local Circular Economy Jobs
- Repair cafés, community tool libraries, local remanufacture hubs, and neighborhood-scale circular workforces.
Electronics & E-Waste: Closing the Loop
- Circular electronics, modular hardware, urban mining, toxic-free material cycles, and global e-waste justice.
Water Circularity & Nutrient Recovery
- Closing loops around water, greywater, nutrients, and organic waste — turning wastewater into a source of energy, fertilizer, and materials.
Cultural Circularity: Indigenous Stewardship, Ancestral Cycles & Earth-Honoring Design
- Indigenous cultures embody circularity: reciprocity, repair, rewilding, sacred materials, and regenerative land practices.
Policy, Procurement & Governance for Circular Economies
- Policies that accelerate circularity: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), circular procurement, design standards, tax incentives, and material passports.
Black & Brown-Led Circular Justice Movements
- Circularity as justice: eliminating toxic burdens, creating green jobs, and returning power to frontline communities.
