Closing the Loop for High-Added-Value Materials (CloseLoop)

Public description of the goals at the beginning of the project

CloseLoop is an ambitious Circular Economy initiative that focuses on closing the loop of the high-added-value materials in the secondary circle of materials flow, in order to decrease the demand of primary raw materials and to support generation of carbon neutral societies. We focus on high-added-value materials that are often very complex hybrid materials and are essential in all the fields of modern society: ICT, energy, mobility, construction, health and welfare. We have leading expertise in technical innovations for closing the loop, discovering economic business models, and understanding societal behavior. By means of a very strong interaction plan involving all key Finnish stakeholders, we will increase understanding of the economical and societal sustainability and closing-the-loop of the high-added-value materials; facilitate efforts to overcome the potential political, economic, environmental and technological barriers; and help to exploit our new technical solutions.

Public description of the results at the end of the project

Using the principles of circular economy is one way to exploit limited resources more efficiently. The CloseLoop project looked at the potential of the circular economy in Finland, both at a systemic level and in terms of technology development, focusing on high-value-added metals. The transition to a circular economy is a systemic change, with changes in production structures, business models, products and consumption practices. Cooperation, knowledge, and education play a key role. Cooperation of key actors is needed for the achievement of circular economy objectives. Circular economy development requires new tools and policies for the communication between businesses and the public sector. The CloseLoop project has developed a new version of the Lifecycle Analysis (LCA), which allows multi-operator concurrent LCA assessment. There are plenty of different technologies behind the realisation of the circular economy vision. The project explored and developed new recycling processes, utilization of industrial residues, substitution of critical materials and further use of the recovered raw materials.