1. ACTIVITY: Define useful terms
DEFINE THESE TERMS
ACTIVITY
Recycling
Remanufacturing
Redistribution
Repair
Refurbish
Cascading of components and materials
Product service systems
Reverse logistics
10 mins
ACTIVITY: Define useful terms
Materials:
Butterfly diagram from the booklet (page 6)
A3 paper
Facilitation guide:
What do these frequently-used circular economy terms mean? Ask the participants to work in small groups to define these terms together. Do tell them there are no right answers!
The activity could be conducted like this:
Ask the participants to refer to the butterfly diagram in their handbook for this exercise.
Then ask them in teams to define these terms.
The teams should note down their definitions on the A3 paper.
Use the next slides to go through the definitions. Discuss the answers where needed.
You could:
Add or remove terms depending on your group of participants.
Divide the terms between the teams.
Instead of A3 paper you could use interactive digital feedback tools (e.g. Google Docs, RedPen.io etc.)
Activity purpose:
Create clarity: It’s not important that each group manages to define each term. This exercise is intended to give the participants an opportunity to explore some commonly-used terms and concepts.

2. ACTIVITY: Define useful terms - Answers
DEFINE THESE TERMS
SOME DEFINITIONS – 1 OF 4
Recycling
Functional recycling. A process of recovering materials for the original purpose or for other purposes, excluding energy recovery.
Downcycling. A process of converting materials into new materials of lesser quality and reduced functionality.
Upcycling. A process of converting materials into new materials of higher quality and increased functionality.
Remanufacturing
A process of disassembly and recovery at the subassembly or component level. Functioning, reusable parts are taken out of a used product and rebuilt into a new one. This process includes quality assurance and potential enhancements or changes to the components.
ACTIVITY: Define useful terms - Answers
Facilitation guide:
Here is how the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has defined these terms in the past. We are happy that other definitions exist!
NB: There are three definitions given for ‘recycling’
We recommend you don’t spend too long discussing these definitions.

3. ACTIVITY: Define useful terms - Answers
DEFINE THESE TERMS
SOME DEFINITIONS – 2 OF 4
Redistribution
To find a new market or user for a product already in use.
Repair
Maintaining a product in order to extend its useful life.
ACTIVITY: Define useful terms - Answers

4. ACTIVITY: Define useful terms – Answers
DEFINE THESE TERMS
SOME DEFINITIONS – 3 OF 4
Refurbish
A process of returning a product to good working condition by replacing or repairing major components that are faulty or close to failure, and making ‘cosmetic’ changes to update the appearance of a product, such as cleaning, changing fabric, painting or refinishing. Any subsequent warranty is generally less than issued for a new or a remanufactured product, but the warranty is likely to cover the whole product (unlike repair). Accordingly, the performance may be less than as-new.
Cascading of components and materials
Putting materials and components into different uses after end-of-life across different value streams and extracting, over time, stored energy and material ‘coherence’. Along the cascade, this material order declines (in other words, entropy increases).
ACTIVITY: Define useful terms – Answers

5. ACTIVITY: Define useful terms – Answers
DEFINE THESE TERMS
SOME DEFINITIONS – 4 OF 4
Product service systems
Where manufacturers or retailers retain ownership of their products (or have an effective take-back arrangement) and, where possible, act as service providers, selling the use or performance of products, not their consumption.
Reverse logistics
A collection and return system that aims to increase materials productivity by reworking end-of-life products.
ACTIVITY: Define useful terms – Answers
Facilitation guide:
Note that some people might know “product service systems” as “performance based business mode”, “product to service”, “sharing economy” or “collaborative economy”.