Frequently Asked Questions

Circular economy is an economic system that aims to minimise waste and maximise the use of resources by keeping materials in use for as long as possible, through strategies such as recycling, reuse, and repair. The circular economy aims to shift from a linear “take-make-dispose” model to a closed-loop system that promotes sustainability and environmental responsibility.

The world faces increasing raw material scarcity. This refers to a situation where there is a limited supply of natural resources or materials that are necessary for producing goods and providing services. This scarcity is caused by various factors, such as overconsumption, depletion of resources, geopolitical conflicts, or disruptions in the supply chain. It can lead to higher prices, reduced availability of products, and in some cases, can result in the need to find alternative materials or technologies to replace the scarce resources.

In Europe especially, the need for alternative materials, technologies and systems is undoubtedly present. Europe lacks abundant resources of raw materials and fossil fuels. To ensure a future with European production of goods and services, a different view on producing, consuming and end of uses is needed. The circular economy presents a solution by focusing on material recuperation, recycling and refurbishing products and materials instead of incinerating.

Cirmar applications empower a wide range of standards. These are amongst others, ISO 14000 family for Environmental Management and EN 15804/ISO 21930 for Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). The ISO 14000 family covers a wide range of Environmental Management standards. These standards include ISO/TC 207/SC 1 Environmental Management Systems [1], ISO/TC 207/SC 3 Environmental Labelling [2], ISO/TC 207/SC 4 Environmental Performance Evaluation [3], ISO/TC 207/SC 5 Life Cycle Assessment [4] and ISO/TC 207/SC 6 Greenhouse Gas Management [5]. The ISO 14000 family standards are (general) guidelines to ensure well-implemented Environmental Management Systems within an organisation. Cirmar applications, and databases, empower and support ISO 14000 family standardisation by not only tracking, sharing and exposing environmental impact, from component to end-product (C_passport^©), but also adhering to standardisation to ensure synchronisation and coordination between circularity, standardisation and management systems.

1. https://www.iso.org/committee/54818/x/catalogue/
2. https://www.iso.org/committee/54836/x/catalogue/
3. https://www.iso.org/committee/54846/x/catalogue/
4. https://www.iso.org/committee/54854/x/catalogue/
5. https://www.iso.org/committee/546318/x/catalogue/

The SDGs, or Sustainable Development Goals, are a set of 17 global goals established by the United Nations in 2015. They provide a framework for addressing various social, economic, and environmental challenges to achieve a more sustainable and equitable world by the year 2030. The SDGs build upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to address their unfinished agenda, while also incorporating new challenges such as climate change, inequality, and sustainable consumption.

For more information on the SDG’s, visit https://sdgs.un.org/goals.

There are hundreds of sustainability certificates, trademarks and score-systems. As useful as they might be, Cirmar believes speaking a common language is essential to create large scale circular solutions. That is why our tools allow you to indicate what SDG’s you support with your products and services. The SDG’s were first drawn-up and published by the United Nations, and apply to everyone and everything on our planet. By supporting the application of the SDG’s, Cirmar helps you take meaningful steps towards realizing these worldwide goals.

With C_passport®, you can create a detailed step-by-step understanding of structure of your product(s), assembly, and next use. You can add instructions on reverse logistics, dismantling and recycling. Derived from the input material and end-of-use treatment, the system automatically calculates emissions. Within C_passport® you can lay the groundworks for further circular improvement and safeguard the end-of-use treatment of your product. This way you maintain quality and value in one easy-to-use system.

Making a digital product passport using Cirmar couldn’t be easier. You can sign up for free and try out C_passport® here. After creating an account you can login following the directions in the e-mail. Our free trial allows you to make two passports and test out how it works, looks and feels. On the cockpit in the application our Cirmar assistant will take you through the steps of creating your first passport with a video tutorial!

Like it? You can upgrade easily by filling in some extra information using the button top right. Need some more time? Feel free to use your free trial passports as long as you like.

LCA⁺ (Life Cycle Assessment Plus) is a measurement method for sustainability that calculates emissions. It represents an extended scope compared to regular Life Cycle Assessments (LCA). Where LCA’s often look at the impact of products cradle-to-grave, or cradle-to-customer, LCA⁺ extends this scope to include the first step of a next use cycle. In other words: what does it take to create the exact same product or service a second time?  The more materials you recycle or refurbish, the bigger the positive impact compared to a product that is incinerated at the end of every use cycle. This extensive scope is therefore a more accurate representation of circularity and allows for internal and external communication of the emissions of products and services.

Scope 3 of the GHG Protocol focuses on greenhouse gas emissions, in many cases just CO₂. Additionally, Scope 3 looks primarily at impacts of in-house operations, distribution and post-use processing. Here, the impact of the materials used is limited and included within the mentioned system boundary. Essentially, the Scope 3 system boundary is still quite close to company’s own operations. Often, but not always, only one step upstream is included in the scope.
In contrast, LCA⁺ by Cirmar starts at raw material extraction and ends at the start of a new cycle, with the same amount of material.

The KPI’s displayed in Cirmar represent (with two exceptions) the improvement/savings compared to products made of exclusively virgin materials that are incinerated at the end of their use period. The KPI’s are:
– CO₂ (in kg’s)
– Water use (in liters)
– Energy (in kWh)
– Raw materials saved (in kg’s)
– CO₂ price (connected to CO₂-emissions)
– Social Return On Investment (to be filled in manually, in minutes/hours)

With C_dashboard®, you can create an overview of your progress and outcomes. You can do so for one or more products. Quantify costs, revenues, and positive impact. Present and communicate the results of your circular transition process and impress your customers with impact data at a glance.

• Impact figures are calculated based on the indicated weights in C_passport®.
• The numbers we calculate with come from a worldwide database of averages, acknowledged and validated by knowledge institutes.
• If a company uses a specific material with an impact that is substantially different (lower) than the averages, this material is included in the Cirmar database separately (with specific name, brand, and deviating impact figures).
• If input material is recycled, it is given a recognisable name and the associated impacts of using that material are lower.
• If the end-of-use treatment of a product or material is incineration, it will generate some energy yield which lowers the overall energy impact. But consequentially, CO2 impact rises and materials are lost.
• If the end-of-use treatment of a product or material is recycling or refurbishment, the associated impact figures for these processes is added to the total impact of a product. However, since (depending on the effectiveness of these processes) only a small portion of new material is needed for the next use cycle (let’s say 10 per cent), much less new material is needed for the next use cycle, which in turn causes overall impact figures to decrease.

The costs of using Cirmar depend on the amount of passports you are actively using, as well as the number of users. Simply put: the more passports you make, the cheaper each passport becomes. For detailed information on prices and billing, check out our pricing-page.