New Circular Rebound Tool developed!

Workshops & Tools

We have a new tool publication! The Circular Rebound Tool was developed through the design-science research method by Circular X PhD Ankita Das, and co-authors Nancy Bocken, Jan Konietzko & Marc Dijk. It is a design ideation tool that can guide business designers, entrepreneurs and consultants towards circular business models with lower environmental impact through learning more about rebound effects & how to prevent them

Rebounds in a circular economy happen when circular strategies produce unintended outcomes and lead to a net increase in environmental impacts. For example, when putting up waste separation bins leads people to produce more trash because they think it will be recycled anyways. Or think of Lego, who just discontinued using recycled plastics for their Lego blocks because they learned later that it has led to a net increase in carbon emissions. The Lego example is great as it shows that companies should take possible rebounds into account early on when designing new products and services.
 
And the tool helps do just that! It is accessible as a template for free in Miro, and can be run as a 1/1.5hr brainstorming workshop. The associated journal paper documenting the development process of the tool can be accessed here.