STANDARDIZATION FOR CLOSED MATERIAL CYCLES

Norms and standards organize general life. They enjoy great acceptance among the population and, as a result, have great potential to promote sustainability. Circular Economy is a conceptual approach to a future economic system that aims to transform the current state of the linear throwaway society into a circular system. Circular economy means to keep the materials used in the system and thus to extract less fossil resources. To what extent can standards help to promote a circular economy? In my work, I first discuss standardization in general terms. Then, I look at possible motivations for companies to keep materials in the circular economy. These I then structure and arrange and later on, I compare which ones are encouraged with corresponding already existing standards and which ones are not. As a result, two recommendations for designers are described.