Nordic cases of circular economy

Danish Stjernholm offers a sand washing system that allows for more than 90% reuse of sandy manure mixtures.

The Swedish clothing company Filippa K creates long lasting garments, made using a large amount of recycled materials.

REXCON System has designed the modular and foldable building block, ReBLOCK, which enables more circular construction of outer walls.

The Swedish sharing platform, Hygglo, makes it easy to rent tools and equipment when you need it on a daily basis.

SKF RecondOil’s patented Double Separation Technology (DST) enables completely circular recovery and reuse of industrial lubrication oil.

The Danish company Re-Match is the first and only company to develop a technology that is able to recycle 95 % of worn out synthetic turf pitches.

The Norwegian company delivers furniture products by incorporating recycled materials and creates awareness about circular economy.

Tarpaper Recycling utilises the value of bitumen from used roof felts in the production of asphalt.

Stena Recycling started the Circular Initiative inviting leading industrial companies for collaboration towards more resource-efficiency and circular economy.

Komproment develops roof and facade systems that are easily separable and can be reused or recycled.

ECRIS remanufactures automotive components on industrial level with low environmental footprint

Ovako produces steel from scrap and utilises the by-products from production in asphalt.

66°North was founded in Iceland in 1926 and design and produce outdoor wear with the philosophy that they should last for as long as possible.

Brightr Group substitutes existing lighting with their holistic LED solutions reducing environmental and financial impact.

Icelandic Atmonia is developing a carbon-free technology to produce ammonia and N-fertilizers, vital for sustainable food production.

Shark Solutions recycle broken windshields and architectural/building glass, which gives both the glass and the PVB polymer interlayer a second life in new sustainable products and keep the broken glass out of landfills.

The Swedish company Blade Solutions has developed new solutions for repairing damages on wind turbine blades which prolongs the blades’ lifetime.

The Danish company KALK has obtained a Cradle to Cradle gold certificate and produces environmentally friendly lime products.

Framery ensures flexible open-plan offices with its pods, made largely of renewable, locally sourced or recycled materials.

Ege Carpets uses a range of different recycled materials for its carpets and considers resource efficiency in production.

Off2Off facilitates structured reuse of corporate interiors through their cloud-based platform.

Danish CPH Village transforms wasted containers from the shipping industry into flexible, livable container villages in areas with housing shortage.

Bioretur AS offers technical equipment, daily operation, monitoring of treatment plants, and handling of the fish sludge, for land-based aquaculture.

Touchpoint produces functional workwear using more than 80% recycled materials, like plastic from plastic bottles.

Bang & Olufsen offers luxury headphones, speakers and televisions in high quality materials, precision-crafted components and timeless design.

The‌ ‌Magic‌ ‌Factory‌ ‌handles‌ ‌135‌ ‌000‌ ‌tonnes‌ ‌of‌ ‌food‌ ‌waste‌ ‌and‌ ‌manure‌ ‌each‌ ‌year‌ ‌which‌ ‌are‌ ‌recycled‌ ‌into‌ ‌new‌ ‌food‌ ‌and‌ ‌9‌ ‌million‌ ‌Nm3‌ ‌of‌ ‌biomethane.‌

Saltverk uses a centuries old technique to produce Icelandic ­flake sea salt with geothermal energy.

Danish PLASTIX recycles used fishing nets and ropes into new plastic material, therein preventively combatting ocean plastic waste and reducing CO2 emissions.

Sustainability and functionality go hand-in-hand for Houdini, through renting, repair and recycling of high quality outdoor clothing.

The Danish food waste preventer, Too Good To Go, enables restaurants and food shops to sell surplus food at a discount, via an app that has already saved 36 million meals!

WasteIQ is a platform to monitor and track events, transactions, and movements in smart waste management. The system is integrated with smart containers and enables pay-as-you-throw business models.

The Swedish grocery chain, ICA Group, is taking several steps to minimise its use of plastics and is just about to initiate its fossil-free adventure.

To offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic packaging, Carlsberg and Paboco are developing a bottle made from wood fibre - The Green Fibre Bottle.

Responsible sourcing, efficiency, recycling and various forms of repair and reuse are at the heart of Nudie’s approach to circular economy.

Danish Fischer Lighting makes value from waste by buying, refurbishing, and reselling old lighting fixtures, reducing CO2 emissions by 42 %.

Flokk designs high-quality workplace furniture with body and the environment in mind. In 2019, Flokk used 645 tonnes of recycled plastics in its products.

GIAB facilitates recirculation of damaged products from the insurance industry through their initiative "Circular Insurance". 

Glomma Industrier offers office/general use furniture refurbishment to extend the lifetime of old furniture and keep it in the loop for as long as possible.

With the Alsense Cloud, supermarkets can reduce food loss by up to 40% and optimise their operational efficiency through refrigeration management, using IoT.

Norilia is minimising waste from livestock farming by utilising and refining side-streams from meat and egg production.

AGITO Medical sells pre-owned medical imaging equipment and spare parts to European hospitals, clinics and distributors, thus providing medical equipment to less privileged customers worldwide.

Etac offers high quality mobility aids that are designed for superior ergonomics, durability and reuse, all reflecting the corporate intention to positively contribute to sustainability and circular economy.

UniCarriers Denmark – Flexible solutions and longer life of industrial trucksOpe - Dynamic workplaces with reduced waste

Ope offers furniture as a service for optimisation of rapidly changing office environments, while reducing both waste and cost.

Refurb buys used IT equipment and repairs, refurbishes and sells it. The purpose is to make an alternative to new IT.

Pure Waste Textiles produces garments from 100% recycled materials – cotton waste from textile factories and recycled polyester.

A partnership that turns used stone wool into new, high-quality stone wool insulation.

Durability, robustness and repairability are essential when offering electronics for outdoor environments.

Outdoor brand Bergans employs a number of circular strategies, such as rental, repair, return, reuse and recycling, across its product range.

Seaweed, wasted clothes and newspapers can be turned into non-woven sheets, suitable for a range of applications, among which is the construction sector.

Tetra Rex Biobased - a great step towards circularity with a beverage carton entirely made from renewable materials.

Combining furniture-as-a service with long-lasting products and sustainable manufacturing for customer value and improved resource intensity.

Sharing and using products more intensively are important aspects of the circular economy. Bycyklen offers a transport solution that is based on these principles.

In the Danish town of Kalundborg, one can find the world’s first large-scale industrial symbiosis scheme, where various manufacturing facilities exchange by-products.

To reduce construction and demolition waste, Gypsum Recycling has implemented a collection and recycling system that uses mobile recycling units.

Globe Hope designs and produces a range of products from recycled and discarded materials, through cascaded-use, otherwise known as ‘upcycling.’

GHform is experimenting with a new leasing offering that aims to extend the life of its already long-lived products and materials.

North Trampoline - Durable and repairable trampolines of 100% recyclable materials

From rental to lease, from repair to refurbishment, and from collection to recycling: Martela does it all.

Lillelam combines conscious choices of materials with expertise in designing for long-life, to deliver high quality, durable and premium clothes to mothers and their babies.

Löfbergs offers high-quality sustainable coffee by assuming extended responsibility along the entire coffee value chain, from farms to consumers and beyond.

Inrego brings reinvented IT from Sweden to the world, creating a smarter circular solution for the technology that powers our lives.

Children’s clothing with long-lasting garments, encouraging customers to reuse, transform and use again.

Konecranes combines product life extension with the Internet of Things to replace components when necessary, and not when the calendar dictates.

This example of Icelandic industrial symbiosis shows how co- and by-products from one business can benefit multiple other businesses.

IKEA has reduced its use of EPS packaging filler by 8,000 tonnes per year, by replacing it with a fibre-based recyclable that uses a honeycomb design.

Renting the otherwise short-lived items of maternity and baby clothing makes sense from a resource perspective and offers cost-savings for the customer.

Being the world’s second largest user of recycled polyester is not H&M’s only circular economy achievement.

Home textile brand Finlayson has revived an old practice where used textiles - bed sheets and duvet covers in this case - are turned into rugs.

RePack reduces the amount of packaging materials used in e-commerce by providing a reusable packaging system.

Gabriel's focus on the complete life cycles of products and services resulted in solutions that benefit both users and the environment.

Recognising the growing reuse market as an opportunity, Norsk Ombruk repairs, remanufactures and resells large house-hold appliances.

The coffee machines from 3Temp is operated through an app to ensure proper maintenance and extension of product life.

Increased reliability of navigation equipment, through reduced complexity, and increased reparability and modularity.

Discarded fishing nets can be problematic when they end up in the environment. However, when recycled, they become a welcome resource

This reusable transit packaging system offers an alternative compared to conventional single or limited use transit packaging.

OptiConcept M is a paper machine with high-utilisation potential now and in the future. It also saves up to 30% energy and 30% water during the use.

BIR has reduced residual waste by 4000 tons per year by offering flexible fee models for households with the use Internet of Things

Gamle Mursten takes a different approach to providing bricks for construction: instead of baking new ones, they collect, clean and resell used bricks