**2. From take-make-dispose toward a more regenerative and circular economy**

Circular value creation is recommendations at a business model level that suggest the use of one or more strategies to close, slow, or narrow resource loops accordingly to circular economy principles [3]. Circular systems design is assumed for this research purpose, as a catalyst that promotes the transition from linear to circular business models, moving away from take-make-dispose and installing a more regenerative and circular economy.

From the business point of view (economical vector of sustainability), the circular business models are being invoked, but as yet they are not widely practiced. Therefore, it is fundamental to look at the considerations of circular economy principles, which should be integrated into an early stage of the design process and understand how it impacts the value chain and the life cycle of the product and services.

#### **2.1 Narrow, slow, and close loops in the role of design**

Nowadays, more and more designers, citizens, businesses, and governments are showing a growing concern for environmental pressures related to the scarcity of global resources due to human activities and the social and environmental impacts of a consumer society. The current economies and their systems of production and consumption are stressing and damaging the Earth's natural systems. Huge amounts of raw materials and energy are used to create billions of products in order to sustain people's quality of life and consumer habits. At the same time, large volumes of waste are sent into the atmosphere, water, land, and ecosystems, which are vital to human existence.

### *Circular Systems Design: Seeking Outgrowth Based on Disruption DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.111439*

There is a correlation between wealth and pollution and with current technological developments and the multidisciplinary approach to design, an effort must be made to provide product and service solutions that enable the user's convenience while preserving the environment. The underlying problem lies in the current linear economies that make abundant use of raw materials and natural resources, consume energy, and waste large amounts of material, which ends up as waste. This is immediately followed by new extractions of virgin material with high financial, economic, and social costs.

Circular strategies aim to keep the value of resources (**Figure 1**) and products at their highest value for as long as possible and to extend their lifetime for a prolonged period of time. These circular strategies aim to "Narrow," "Slow," and "Close" product resource flows [4].

In order to retain the value of the products and resources for as long as possible, it is necessary to create products and services that have a long-life span, but moreover, designers are expected to ensure that end users will use these products for a long time and eventually repair them.

The narrowing loops strategy reduces the amount of material per product or service, currently, in the linear economy approach. As the motivation of the companies is cost reduction, narrowing loops are already applied as resource efficiency strategies. From the point of view of design, it can be related, for example, to weight reduction or shape flexibility.

The limitation of this design strategy is that it does not necessarily contemplate the end-of-life consequences, recycling, collecting, or dismantling strategies [4]. In fact, in the current linear economy, even the products produced very efficiently and according to the narrowing strategies are thrown away after a single use.

Narrowing loops can be achieved by using fewer resources in the products, such as lean manufacturing activities, which constantly optimize the efficiency of production processes. This can also be achieved through the reduction of the weight in the automotive industry, optimizing in the production phase through the materials and processes and during the use phase by the reduction of fuel consumption. An interesting business model innovation of narrowing loops are, in fact, the combination with other strategies, for example, moving from ownership of a car to usage of a car that provides a mobility service [5].

**Figure 1.** *Effects of the circular strategies into the usage phase.*

The challenge that designers face to narrow the loops, is to make sure the product and services are developed to increase their durability. This can, however, increase the amount of materials required for production, so there needs to be a trade-off between durability and resource efficiency in production [4].

An LCA can help designers take the right decisions and predict different scenarios before considering the final design solution. For example, designing products that are easy to repair, maintain, upgrade, refurbish, and remanufacture; using modularity platforms dismantling readiness or single-layer materials may be some of the strategies where the use of more resources in production can be offset by the longer use cycle of the product [6].

The slowing loops strategy supports continuous reuse over time, and it involves innovation at the business model and value chain levels. Through the design of longlife goods, product-life extension, and service loops for repair and remanufacturing, it is possible to slow down the resources used by intensifying or expanding their use [4].

TU Delft experimented with a business model innovation aiming to slow consumption, giving customers an incentive to reduce the impact of home appliances. Consumers pay per wash rather than buy a washing machine. High-quality washing machines last longer and are built to be reused and recycled. The user is encouraged to do less and to wash at a lower temperature, by paying when they use if wash at high temperatures [4]. Another example is the Patagonia advertisement in the New York Times: "Don't buy this jacket" trying to create awareness for "slow consumption."

Considering the narrowing, the slowing and the closing of the resource's loops, the slowing strategy is the most difficult circular strategy to implement. Due to the need for several changes in the design, in the manufacturing processes and in the use phase, which represents an expressive level of uncertainty and risk for business. Nevertheless, it is also the most important strategy because it decreases the number of resources in the loop and consequently the number of waste to process and recycle. The recuperation of these resources to remanufacture or reintegrate in a new manufacturing cycle also reduces the dependence on raw materials (e.g. mining and fuel resources).

The closing loops strategy after several cycles of use is the concept introduced by Braungart and McDonough in cradle to cradle [7]. The most relevant design constraint is the use of single-layer materials since non-mixed or blended materials significantly simplify the recycling process. Design strategies of disassembly and reassembly will be instrumental in closing the loops.

In the industry, plastic, paper, and metal recycling rates are already quite significant. Recycling makes it possible to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfills (or is dumped in the sea) and reduces the extraction of exhaustible resources. However, designers play an important role in the narrowing strategy, because, if value chains and business models analysis become part of the design process from an early stage, the products and services do not become "waste" in the first place and are instead recovered or recycled [5].

It is important to note that the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy is much broader than intervening in resource flows. This evolution will have to be supported by new policies, new business models, transformations in human behavior, and the development and implementation of strategies for the circular design of products and services in order to build a circular society.

Waste-free design, accordingly to circular principles, can help ensure that we secure enough resources for our societies to develop. This need to combine environmental, social, and economic vectors of sustainability may be considered from different perspectives, but the literature shows some common grounds.

Design for circularity requires planning for the entire life cycle of a product and service and its environmental and social effects. This requires that tools such as LCA, as mentioned above, should be an integral part of the design project. The design constraints should be established to ensure that [8]:

