Circular Construction: Environmental, Economic and Social Aspects

Not every product can be recovered, reused or recycled. So where can companies find opportunities for circularity? Catherine Weetman, author of A Circular Economy Handbook and host of the Circular Economy Podcast, discusses how businesses can create and retain more value from their resources, even in challenging markets. What you'll hear in this episode: • Endurance, intensity and recovery: Three strategies for getting more value from products and materials, including Return on Manufactured Assets (ROMA). • What customers really value: The overlooked costs of constant product innovation, from inventory and product write-offs to customer churn. • Circular opportunities across the value network: From adhesives that could enable remanufacturing to electrical equipment designed for reliability and repair. This is the first episode of our four-part series Circular Business Model Books.

If remanufactured IT can offer the same warranties and support as new equipment at a lower price, why businesses still prefer to buy new? Anthony Levy, founder of Circularity First and CEO of Cistor, built a business selling remanufactured IT equipment through Cisco Refresh. He shares how he developed customer demand and why adoption remains limited despite the commercial benefits. What you'll hear in this episode: • The business case for remanufactured IT: Beyond lower purchase prices, companies can extend the life of existing platforms and improve supply chain resilience. • Overcoming customer resistance: Why perceived risks and established purchasing habits matter, and how discounts, product testing and low-risk deployments help build trust. • Getting the sales system to support remanufacturing: How sales incentives that favor new products and unpredictable stock availability can limit adoption, even when customer demand exists. This is the fifth and final episode of our B2B Take Back series.

Which products are worth refurbishing, and how can manufacturers get them back in usable condition? Julie Fournier, responsible for circular economy at Legrand, and Kevin Chen, Director of Consulting at Circul'R, discuss how to select the right circular strategies for different products and organize take-back systems across a portfolio of more than 300,000 product references. What you'll hear in this episode: • How to identify products suitable for refurbishment, considering customer demand, product value and design for disassembly • How to balance collection volumes and product quality by combining EPR systems with direct take-back • How product mix, shared infrastructure and aligned incentives affect the economic viability of take-back systems at scale The conversation also covers product-as-a-service as a potential alternative for retaining access to products, and the challenge of sharing data across companies while protecting commercially sensitive information. This is the fourth episode of our B2B Take-Back series.

Wilo's take-back system works without contracts, deposits or payments. Instead, the company focuses on making returns as simple as possible for installers. And that works. Thomas Fetting, explains how the company collects used pumps and brings recovered components and materials back into production. What you'll hear in this episode: • How to motivate participation in take-back systems without financial incentives • How manufacturers can recover and reintegrate components and materials into production • What determines the economic viability and scalability of reverse logistics This is the third episode of the B2B Take-Back series. You can find its original recording in German on YouTube. The audio-only version has been translated to English with the use of AI.

Remanufacturing depends on getting used products back. Can a deposit system give customers an incentive to return them? Thomas Meyer, responsible for remanufacturing, repair and reuse activities within Knorr-Bremse TruckServices, explains how Knorr-Bremse uses a core deposit in the independent aftermarket to bring parts back for remanufacturing. What you'll hear in this episode: • Why the deposit value is linked to the market value of the core, and how returning an equivalent product keeps parts flowing back • What happens to returned cores, from assessing and disassembling them to deciding which components can be reused, reconditioned or replaced • Which data and systems are needed to manage remanufacturing, including core return rates, regeneration rates and ERP processes for products coming back The conversation also covers the economics of remanufactured parts for older vehicles, design for remanufacturing and the challenge of reducing manual work in disassembly. This is the second episode of our B2B Take-Back series.

For DERIX, the take-back obligation is both a commitment to circularity and an economic advantage. Antonia Görg, Project and Sustainability Manager at DERIX, and Markus Steppler, Managing Director at DERIX, explain how the timber construction company has built a take-back obligation into its contracts. What you'll hear in this episode: • How DERIX's take-back obligation works, from the contract to the return of timber elements • How returned timber is assessed, priced and either reused or remanufactured • Why DERIX sees take-back as a future source of timber and plans to use material from other manufacturers as well The conversation also covers the product data needed to reuse timber in the future, how take-back is connected to carbon credits, and the challenge of building a return system before large volumes of material start coming back. This is the first episode of our B2B Take-Back series.

How can digitalization help scale circular construction? In this episode of circularity.fm, Kilian Eckle, founder of RoofUz, and Timo Walraven, researcher at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, discuss how digital twins, building data, standardization, and modular construction can make circular construction more economically feasible. What you’ll hear: • How digital twins can be used to identify and compare buildings with potential for rooftop extensions • Why standardization, modular construction, and bundling similar buildings can improve the financial feasibility of projects • How building data can connect projects across a city and help planners and owners l Using rooftop extensions as a case, the conversation looks at how digitalization can support more standardized processes, better project economics, and the transfer of knowledge between construction projects.

How can rooftop extensions create housing that is ecologically regenerative, socially valuable, and profitable? In this episode of circularity.fm, Dirk Hengst, founder of Denk.mal.Bau., and Lewin Fricke from TRIQBRIQ talk about their rooftop extension project in Dresden. The conversation covers: • The project's economic, social, and environmental dimensions. • Material choices designed for a healthy, low-carbon home. • How construction can support rooftop extensions, renovation, adaptive reuse, and dismantling for reuse. You’ll gain insight into the additional benefits of this approach to construction, as well as the challenges involved. This is the second episode of our Rooftop Extension series.

What is the business case for rooftop extensions? Thijs Müller, Co-founder of Creative City Solutions, and Didier Mignery, Founder of UpFactor, explain how adding housing on top of existing buildings can address several challenges at once: housing shortages, energy renovation and urban land use. This episode covers: • When rooftop extensions make economic sense, and the technical, regulatory and financial complexities involved • How revenue from additional homes can help finance energy renovations and upgrades to existing buildings • The advantages of modular timber construction and designing for deconstruction The episode also looks at the potential scale of rooftop extensions, and the role of regulation, data and stakeholder engagement in making them more viable and scalable. This is the first episode of the “Rooftop Extension” series.

What are the system-wide recommendations for Germany’s Textile EPR scheme to influence companies' design and portfolio decisions? Carina Hofmann-Wellenhof talks about CIRCULAR REPUBLIC’s System Design Report for Germany’s textile EPR, developed with 20 organisations and more than 50 stakeholders across the textile value chain. She explains the main recommendations for designing the system, from the structure of PROs to eco-modulation and recycling incentives. What you'll hear in this episode: -Why Germany should combine competing PROs with centralised functions -Recycling quotas and content targets for textile-to-textile recycling -How eco-modulation, collection and R&D funding could influence the development of a more circular textile system This conversation also looks at the role of EU-level harmonisation, the economics of virgin materials and the next steps in Germany’s legislative process. This is the final episode of the Textile EPR series.