Closed-loop recycling

An economic model that keeps products and materials in use for as long as possible through reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling, in contrast to the linear take, make, dispose model. In materials specification it drives requirements for recycled content, design for disassembly and credible end-of-life routes.

Recycling in which the recovered material is of lower quality or value than the original, so it can only be used in less demanding applications. Mixed glass fibre composite waste, for example, is often downcycled into filler or aggregate rather than new structural laminate.

Material recovered from waste and reprocessed into a raw material for manufacturing, such as polymer granulate produced from post-consumer or post-industrial plastic. The quality and consistency of recyclate determine whether it can substitute virgin material in demanding applications.

Recycling by physical processes such as shredding, grinding and re-melting or re-compounding, without breaking the polymer down chemically. Thermoplastics can often be re-melted into new products, whereas thermoset composites typically yield ground filler or short fibre fractions for lower-grade uses.