Our current way of making things is broken.

In our current economy, we take materials from the Earth, make products from them, and eventually throw them away as waste –the process is linear.

In a circular economy, by contrast, we stop waste being produced in the first place.

The circular economy is a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated.

Products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, recycling, and composting. The circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.

The circular economy distinguishes between biological and technical cycles: 

  • The biological cycle

    In the biological cycle, materials of biological or organic origin are recycled or composted, and flow back into nature as nutrients.

  • The technical cycle

    In the technical cycle, materials that are not consumed during use - such as metals, plastics and wood - are kept in use for the longest time possible. This is achieved, in order of value, by: maintaining, prolonging, sharing; reusing, and recycling.

Material cycles at Open Funk

  • reuse (coming soon)

    We’re planning programs that enable the reuse of our products, such as a peer-to-peer marketplace, and product-as-a-service.

  • maintain & repair

    We support user maintenance and repair through Maintenance and Repair Guides, and Open Source Documentation. All components are available on demand, and we offer affordable, out-of-warranty repairs in our workshop.

  • refurbish

    We refurbish every single product that returns to us and give it a new life, as part of our Refurbish program.

  • recycle

    Leftover materials from production and refurbishing are sorted and recycled — for example,  our recycled plastic panel offcuts and damaged 3D printed parts are returned to their original manufacturers for recycling.

Additional resources

Learn

Get involved