ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
“ This has many facets to it. And it’ s different in plastics and textiles and fashion and the critical minerals industry. If we look at critical minerals, the first strategy is always designing products that stay in use as long as possible – leveraging repair and reuse.
“ A great example is a smartphone. One of the key things about smartphones that doesn’ t work today is that it’ s hard to repair them. You might be able to repair the glass, but you can’ t take out the battery or the storage. And if you could do that, you could increase the amount of life from three to seven-plus years. That is really one of the key things. It’ s designing products for greater lifecycles.”
The structural mechanics of material loops vary across sectors:
• Data centre infrastructure features highly concentrated, tightly controlled supply chains that achieve material reuse and recycling rates exceeding 90 %
• Electric vehicle batteries operate within structured, closed-loop supply chains mandated by regional legislation, directing end-of-life batteries back to original equipment manufacturers( OEMs) or specialised workshops for re-working
8 ellenmacarthurfoundation. org