What is what
Anaerobic digestion: Microbial breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. In a circular economy, anaerobic digestion can be used to convert food by-products, sewage sludge, and other biodegradable materials into digestates (or ‘biosolids’) that can be used as soil enhancers and biogas.
Abiotic: Not associated with or derived from living organisms. For example, abiotic factors in an environment include sunlight, temperature, wind patterns, and precipitation. Opposite of “biotic.”
Adaptation: A feature of an organism that results from natural selection and by which the organism becomes better fitted to survive and reproduce in its environment.
Analogous: Similar in function and/or appearance but not in origin or development.
Bill of Materials: An extensive list of raw materials, components, and instructions required to construct, manufacture, or repair a product or service. A bill of materials usually appears in a hierarchical format, with the highest level displaying the finished product and the bottom level showing individual components and materials.
Biodiversity: The variety of life and its processes; includes the variety of living organisms, the genetic differences among them, and the communities and ecosystems in which they occur.
Biological cycle: The processes – such as composting and anaerobic digestion – that together help to regenerate natural capital. The only materials suitable for these processes are those that can be safely returned to the biosphere.
Biologize [a question]: To take a human need or function and rephrase it so that an answer may be found in biology, e.g., “How can I make the fabric red?” becomes, “How does nature create colour?”
Biomimicry: The conscious emulation of life’s genius. Learning from and then emulating biological forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more sustainable designs.
Biotic: Associated with or derived from living organisms. The biotic factors in an environment include the organisms themselves as well as factors such as predation, competition for food resources, and symbiotic relationships.
Chimaera: In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a creature composed of body parts from many other creatures. In biomimicry, we talk of a Chimera approach as a combination of different biomimetic designs into one application.
Circular economy: A systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature.
It is underpinned by a transition to renewable energy and materials. Transitioning to a circular economy entails decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. This represents a systemic shift that builds long-term resilience, generates business and economic opportunities, and provides environmental and societal benefits.
Circularity assessment: The evaluation of circular economy from the perspective of maximising the longevity of products and their materials across product lifecycle(s), as well as minimizing and valorising the waste generated.
Circular digital thread: The communication framework that allows a connected data flow and integrated view of a product and its materials data across multiple lifecycles.
Critical raw materials: Raw materials that are economically and strategically important for the European economy but have a high-risk associated with their supply.
Co-evolution: Evolution involving successive changes in two or more ecologically interdependent species (e.g., an orchid and its hummingbird pollinator) that affect their interactions.
Composting: Microbial breakdown of organic matter in the presence of oxygen.
In a circular economy, composting can be used to convert food by-products and other biodegradable materials into compost, which can be used as a soil enhancer.
Convergent evolution: The independent evolution of structural or functional similarity in two or more organisms of widely different, unrelated ancestry.
Data contact: A formal agreement between a data consumer or user and a data provider or owner that defines the conditions under which the data is exchanged between both parties.
Data consumer: An individual, group, or application that receives data from a data provider or data owner.
Data federation: A meta-database management system that maps individual databases, by which multiple datasets are made accessible to data consumers via one data source by using on-demand data integration.
Data marketplaces: Collaborative and trading platforms that facilitate innovation by easing access to otherwise disparate sources and deployments of information, expertise, software applications and data.
Data owner: An individual or organization that holds legal rights and complete control over data elements.
Dataspaces: A type of data relationship between trusted partners, each of whom applies the same high standards and rules to the storage and sharing of their data. In a data space, data is not stored centrally but is stored by the original source and only shared when necessary.
Data sovereignty: The concept that the data an organization collects, stores, and processes are subject to the nation’s laws and general best practices where it is physically located.
Design (noun): The way something has been made; the way the parts of something are formed and arranged for a particular use, effect, etc. verb: To plan and make decisions about (something that is being built or created); to create the plans, drawings, etc., that show how (something) will be made. Note: The word “design” implies intent and forethought in both its noun and verb use. For this reason, the Institute refrains from using “design” to refer to nature and biological strategies, except in poetic usage. Biological strategies are not “designed,” rather they are a result of evolutionary processes.
Durability: The ability of a product, component or material to remain functional and relevant when used as intended.
Durability often applies to the physical attributes of a product (its ability to resist damage and wear), though with some products durability can be technological (for example the ability of software to be upgraded many times), and it can be emotional (for example the ability of certain clothes to stay desirable over time).
Ecosystem: A dynamic complex of plant, animal, fungal, and microorganismal communities and their associated non-living physical environment, interacting as an ecological unit.
Feedback loop: The flow of information within a system in which outputs influence new inputs according to a set of rules or conditions. All complex dynamic behaviour is produced by two loops: reinforcing and balancing. Behind every growth or decay is at least one reinforcing loop. For every goal-seeking behaviour, there is a balancing loop.
A period of growth followed by a slowdown in growth is usually caused by a shift in dominance from reinforcing to a balancing loop.
Finite materials: Materials that are non-renewable on timescales relevant to the economy, i.e. not geological timescales.
Examples include metals and minerals; fossil forms of carbon such as oil, coal, and natural gas; and sand, rocks, and stones.
Function: The outcome or role of a characteristic, mechanism, or process; what an adaptation does for an organism or what a design does for its users. (e.g., acquiring water, accommodating growth, managing disturbance).
Green chemistry: The utilization of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture, and application of chemical processes.
Industry 5.0: A vision of an industry that aims beyond efficiency and productivity as the sole goals, and reinforces the role and the contribution of industry to society. It places the well-being of the worker at the centre of the production process and uses new technologies to provide prosperity beyond jobs and growth while respecting the production limits of the planet. It complements the existing “Industry 4.0” approach by specifically putting research and innovation at the service of the transition to a sustainable, human-centric and resilient European industry.
Lifespan/Lifetime: The period of time from when a product is released for use after manufacture to the moment it becomes obsolete beyond recovery at the product level.
Life’s Principles: A list of persistent patterns exhibited by organisms and living systems that contribute to life’s ability to survive and thrive. The prototype for these principles was first drafted by Janine Benyus in her book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. The current version is published by Biomimicry 3.8 (formerly the Biomimicry Guild). See also “Nature’s Unifying Patterns.”
Linear economy: An economy in which finite resources are extracted to make products that are used – generally not to their full potential – and then thrown away (‘take-make-waste).
It is a wasteful and polluting system that degrades natural systems.
Leverage point: Places in a complex system where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything. For more information, see Donella Meadows’ essay “Leverage Points: Places To Intervene in a System.”
Maintain: Keep a product in its existing state of quality, functionally and/or cosmetically, to guard against failure or decline. It is a practice that retains the highest value of a product by extending its use period.
Modular: Construction or design with standardized parts or units that allow for flexibility, variety in use, and/or expansion.
Natural selection: The process by which only the organisms best adapted to their environment succeed; a key mechanism of evolution.
Non-virgin materials: Materials that have been previously used. This includes materials in products that have been reused, refurbished or repaired; components that have been remanufactured; materials that have been recycled. Also referred to as secondary materials.
Operating parameters/conditions: Non-negotiable factors that influence the success of a design (e.g. climate, resource availability, etc). Also used in biomimicry to describe the common contextual factors that have defined the ways that life persists on Earth (e.g. sunlight, water, gravity, etc).
Pattern: A reoccurring form, strategy, or principle. Often an indicator of especially effective solutions.
Principle: A fundamental quality or attribute determining the nature of something; a primary element, force, or law which produces or determines particular results.
Rebound effects: Driven by initiating,
Recyclability: The ease with which a material can be recycled in practice and at scale.
Recycle: Treat or process a product, a component or used/waste materials into its basic substances and reprocessing them into new materials.
Embedded energy and value are lost in the process. In a circular economy, recycling is the last resort action.
Redistribute: Divert a product from its intended market to another customer so it is used at high value instead of becoming waste.
For example, a supermarket can redistribute surplus edible food to a food-bank.
Refurbish: Return a product to good working order. This can include repairing or replacing components, updating specifications, and improving cosmetic appearance.
Regenerate: Restore to a better, higher, or more worthy state than the existing one.
Regenerative production: Regenerative production provides food and materials in ways that support positive outcomes for nature, which include but are not limited to: healthy and stable soils, improved local biodiversity, improved air and water quality.
In agriculture, regenerative production schools of thought include agroecology, agroforestry, and conservation agriculture.
Remanufacture: Re-engineer products and components to as-new condition with the same, or improved, level of performance as a newly manufactured one.
Remanufactured products or components are typically provided with a warranty that is equivalent to or better than that of the newly manufactured product.
Renewable energy: Energy derived from resources that are not depleted on timescales relevant to the economy, i.e. not geological timescales.
Examples include: wind, solar, hydropower, hydrothermal, ocean (wave and tidal), geothermal, and biogas from anaerobic digestion.
Renewable materials: Materials that are continually replenished at a rate equal to or greater than the rate of depletion.
Examples include: cotton, hemp, maize, wood, wool, leather, agricultural by-products, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and sea salt. To fit in a circular economy such materials (where relevant) must be produced using regenerative production practices.
Repair: Operation by which a faulty or broken product or component is returned back to a usable state to fulfil its intended use.
Repairability: The ease with which a product or component can be repaired.
Reuse: The repeated use of a product or component for its intended purpose without significant modification.
Small adjustments and cleaning of the component or product may be necessary to prepare for the next use.
Reverse logistics: Supply chains dedicated to the reverse flow of products and materials for the purpose of maintenance, repair, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, or regenerating natural systems.
Sharing: The use of a product by multiple users. It is a practice that retains the highest value of a product by extending its use period.
Sustainability: Creating and maintaining the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulflling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations. Sustainability is based on the principle that everything we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on the natural environment.
Symbiosis: An intimate relationship between two or more organisms of different species. Symbiotic relationship take three forms: mutualistic (in which each organism benefits from the relationship), commensal (in which one organism benefits from the relationship but the other organism neither benefits nor is harmed), or parasitic (in which one organism benefits at the expense of the other).
System: An interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something (a function).
Technical cycle: The processes that products and materials flow through in order to maintain their highest possible value at all times. Materials suitable for these processes are those that are not consumed during use – such as metals, plastics and wood.
In the technical cycle the opportunities to maintain and generate value come through retaining the greatest proportion of the energy and labour embedded in the product. This is achieved, in order of value, by: maintaining, prolonging, sharing; reusing and redistributing; refurbishing and remanufacturing; and recycling.
Virgin materials: Materials that have not yet been used in the economy.
These include both finite materials (e.g. iron ore mined from the ground) and renewable resources (e.g. newly produced cotton).
