Circular South – Group purchases Designed for disassembly.
Therefore, the scope of products was broadened to circular products.
One of the goals for the Circular South project was the organisation of circular group purchases concerning products that are designed for disassembly (dfd). First a market scan was necessary. This scan learned us that dfd is not yet common practice in the labelling of circular products. Even products that are designed for disassembly do not carry this label.
Therefore, the scope of products was broadened to circular products.
For the organisation of the group purchases, the city of Antwerp collaborated with Circuit, as the circular (community) centre, they have a lot of knowledge about the market of circular products.
The first step was to determine when a product was circular. We defined 7 criteria, dfd being one of them. Products were considered suitable for the group purchases if they fit 4 or more criteria.
The criteria were:
- reuse (is the product created with re-used materials)
- dfd (is the product designed that every component can be easily disassembled and recycled or reused)
- maintenance and upgrade (does the design prove any ownership by the developer for the materials used)
- logistics (how does the company try to reduce the ecological footprint during transportation and production)
- materials (are there any labels/certificates that prove the sustainability of the product(design))
- packaging (is the packaging recyclable)
- production (was the product locally produced with respect to juridical and social standards)
A minimum of 10 products needed to be offered to the habitants of the Antwerp south district. Through negotiation with the suppliers a minimum amount of buyers was agreed upon, in return for a discount on the products. By creating an online website, we could open registration for these products for all people living in Antwerp. Circuit also invested in a recycled offline display to showcase the products. Unfortunately due to the covid-19 crisis and the closing of the Circuit location, this display cannot be visited by interested parties. The products can be viewed behind the window on the location or on the website
The main focus in order to find participants therefore remains the online social advertising to promote the website and the circular products.
Find more information here.
Circular economy
