Through the CALC project, we learned you can find and study circular processes wherever you are. We also learned that solid waste authorities and their consultants do not necessarily know about private circular processes and so they often don’t include them in planning, monitoring, or other waste prevention or circular economy initiatives.

This too has inspired us to systematise methods that support you — waste management and recycling experts, private and public waste management organisations, consultants, and NGOs — to recognise the potential of these non-governmental processes to contribute to circularity and extension of useful life.

One hypotheses we formed during this research, is that many waste prevention processes in cities are in the private sector, and therefore outside of the formal solid waste and recycling system.

Instead, circular processes extending useful life are the daily business of charity second-hand shops, garages, cell (mobile) phone dealers, repair cafés, tailors, bike rental systems, shoemakers, frying oil recyclers, and a variety of other small and/or semi-formal businesses. Most of them operate under the radar of the public service waste sector. But they are involved in the daily process of lengthening useful life and delaying or preventing or minimising waste.

Cascades include all circular processes in a service area – Refuse, Maintenance, Reuse, Repair, Refurbish, Recycle.