Circular business models

By addressing product life extension, reuse, and the recycling of waste, circular business models can reduce consumption and minimise waste generation. They allow products to be continuously used, reused, sold as a service, and enable the sharing of products, rather than incentivizing a one-time purchase. A commonality and driving forces are data collection, digital tools, and design.

91% of Danish chemistry and plastic producing companies have strategic targets for reducing waste and increasing recyclability

91 %

1 out of 5 Danes participate in activities related to the sharing economy

1/5

In 2021, the Danish government presented an Action Plan for Circular Economy constituting a na-tional design for the prevention and management of waste towards 2032

Related facts

Featured content

Mission 30 for 2030: How to Create a Design-Driven Circular Mission

Blog post by Julie Hjort, Programme Director of Sustainable and Circular transition at Danish Design Centre. The blog post is part of a series of perspectives leading up to LOOP Forum in Copenhagen and Circular City Week in New York.

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Designing for the circular economy — the Danish way

Blog post by Ditte Lysgaard Vind, founder of The Circular Way and Partnerships Director at Lendager. The blog post is part of a series of perspectives leading up to LOOP Forum in Copenhagen and Circular City Week in New York.

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Circular Economy – learnings from Denmark and the US

Blog post by Tone Søndergaard, Director of Danish Cleantech Hub, New York, and responsible for partnerships, sustainable business expansion programs, and climate change initiatives. The blog post is part of a series of perspectives leading up to LOOP Forum in Copenhagen and Circular City Week in New York.

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Mission 30 for 2030: How to Create a Design-Driven Circular Mission

Designing for the circular economy — the Danish way

Circular Economy – learnings from Denmark and the US

Explore circular business models

Creation date: Latest first

News

Waste management

+5

Utilising the potential of waste

Traditionally, waste has only been considered a health hazard and an environmental problem. Today, however, waste is considered a potential resource for the production of nutrients for agriculture and as a source of energy.

solutions

Circular business models

+1

Sustainable sports surfaces

While using artificial turf for sports pitches offers several benefits when compared to natural grass, disposing of it when it becomes worn out can create significant environmental issues. However, artificial turf pitches can now become fully circular products thanks to a process that separates the

News

Circular business models

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Creating innovative business models and increasing production efficiency

As the world’s resources are becoming increasingly scarce, companies must figure out how to produce more from less – not only to limit their carbon footprint, but also to leverage the competitive advantages of improved production efficiency. In energy intensive industries, the cost of energy can constitute up to 40 percent of production costs, allowing for economic gains from reducing energy consumption in manufacture. Moreover, by working in partnerships, for instance through industrial symbiosis, companies and utilities can significantly reduce water and energy consumption as well as consumption of virgin resources, while creating a competitive upside for all partners involved.

News

Bio-based circular solutions

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Moving towards a circular economy

Globally, more natural resources are consumed than what is sustainable for our finite planet. According to the United Nations, the extraction and processing of natural resources are responsible for around half of all global CO2emissions and over 90 % of global biodiversity loss. It is evident that we have a shared challenge in decoupling growth in resource use from population and income growth.

News

Air pollution

+28

Creating smart, green and liveable cities

By 2030, six out of ten people will live in urban areas. City dwellers must contend with increased congestion, waste and water management issues as well as overcrowded, polluting transportation systems. All of this poses direct negative effects on citizens’ physical health and wellbeing. This is the reason why the United Nations has chosen to focus specifically on sustainable cities and communities in their Sustainable Development Goal number 11 (SDG 11).

publications

Climate partnerships

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Climate partnerships

How to achieve one of the world’s most ambitious climate goals with recommendations from Denmark’s 14 climate partnerships

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Meet Danish circular business models professionals

Company

Buildings

+3

Nordic Waste A/S

At Nordic Waste we are specialists in biological and chemical treatment of contaminated soil and residual products from the industry etc. The purpose is to recycle the soil and residual products back

Company

Recycling of waste to material

+1

AffaldPlus

AffaldPlus is a Danish waste treatment facility that handles waste from six municipalities on Sealand; Faxe, Næstved, Ringsted, Slagelse, Sorø and Vordingborg. AffaldPlus is responsible for collecting

Company

Recycling of waste to material

+1

Faerch

Your trusted partner in sustainable food packaging Faerch is a leading supplier of sustainable, rigid food packaging and with integrated recycling capability. We serve food manufacturers and retail

Company

Air pollution

+9

Transform Danish Rootzone

Transform Danish Rootzone Technology, is a private Danish Bio engineering Company with more than 35 years of experience in Environmental Engineering. We Design, Supervise, Construct and Operate susta

Company

Air pollution

+13

Energy Machines

Energy Machines™ is a leader in the design, implementation, and operation of integrated energy systems for buildings. Buildings are a growing climate problem, accounting for over 28% of global CO₂ emi

Company

Energy efficiency in industry

+1

Smartflower ™ Scandinavia

Inspired by the sunflower, the Smartflower is an all-in-one solar energy system that is easy to install, autonomous, self-cleaning and highly efficient thanks to its 2-axis solar tracker. It opens ro

Company

Air pollution

+4

EcoTree International

EcoTree is a certified B-Corp with a simple, ground-breaking way to reward individuals and businesses supporting sustainable forestry in Europe. In short, we own the land and you own the trees! We’ve

Company

Circular business models

+2

Cirqle

At Cirqle we offer reuse packaging to companies in the food and beverage industry. With the use of technology and a strong network of partners we take care of the entire reuse process, so our customer

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Explore related focus areas

Circular business models

By addressing product life extension, reuse and the recycling of waste, circular business models can re-duce consumption and minimise waste generation. They allow products to be continuously used, reused, sold as a service, and enable the sharing of products, rather than incentivizing a one-time purchase. A commonality and driving forces are data collection, digital tools, and design.

Waste management

Successful waste management utilises the potential of waste by increasing recycling and reuse of materials while limiting the amount of waste that goes to landfill. Denmark has an efficient waste management system in place and aims to have a climate-neutral waste sector by 2030.

Circular construction

The construction sector holds one of the greatest potentials for a circular transition. The sector represents an enormous potential for reducing waste and increasing recycling and reuse. A building can be designed for circularity if it is designed to be easily decommissioned, e.g. using principles of modularity and design-for-disassembly to enable higher reuse of the building materials.