Let's Revolve
REVOLVE Circular is a non-profit organization based in Vienna, Austria. We advocate for a systemic transformation from a linear culture obsessed with economic growth towards a just and inclusive circular society. REVOLVE Circular showcases and empowers the transformation’s contours, ripples and clusters – and we aim to counterbalance the predominant reuse – reduce – recycle narrative by putting forward three other circular action imperatives:
Refuse. Reduce. Rethink.
REVOLVE Circular welcomes you as an individual or as an organization.
Support our work, become a member today and co-create a more circular and sustainable future with us.

REVOLVE Circular aims to help companies and organizations avoid false or generic circular economy claims in their external communications. Find out more about our research to develop a white paper on greenwashing in the circular economy incl. a first concept of #circularwashing
Support our fundraising for this research by sharing its logo
Constructive Journalism
We call this the contours – we investigate and provide independent and constructive journalism on circularity.
Science Communication
These are the ripples: our research and our science communication projects generate them, only to grow bigger and bigger…
If you are interested in the science around the circular economy, get in touch.
Knowledge Brokerage
We conduct research and identify clusters as a knowledge and information broker. We dissect relevant from irrelevant circularity
information.
Our Members
Constructive Journalism
We investigate the insides and the contours of a circular economy and society.
Check out our reporting including features, interviews and more on circularity.
Waste Has No Nation – Will the Circular Economy Change That?
Limitations of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) require a more global approach to…
Circularity For All?
Fragmented approaches to circular economy could exacerbate global inequities. In a policy…
From EPR to UPR: Why producer responsibility might need to be extended further
Scientists in the Netherlands have conducted research on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)…
The urban circular bioeconomy
Cities and regions are at the vanguard of circular bioeconomy systems. Largely…
Who is responsible for Latin America’s waste?
Packaging. Chemicals. Tires. These are just three kinds of waste that countries…
Urban mining and the circular water economy
Wastewater treatment is essential to our well-being and to the health of…
Una moda circular para América Latina
Desechamos sin considerar el impacto ambiental. En América Latina y el Caribe…
¿Quién es el responsable de los residuos de América Latina?
Envases. Productos químicos. Neumáticos. Estos son sólo tres tipos de residuos con…
Is a circular economy not enough?
In its thematic focus on a ‘Circular Society’, the German Hans Sauer…
Technology, economy, society: what do we need to achieve circularity?
Transitioning to a more circular economy increasingly seems a necessity, but what…
The Circular Economy: Societal Transformation or Economic Fairytale?
In recent years, the concept of the ‘Circular Economy’ has moved to…
In am Land wo so viele Berge stehn ischs hart über seine Grenzen raus zu gehn
Singt die wunderbare österreichisch-nigerianische Sängerin Nenda Neururer in ihrem Hit Mixed Feelings.…
Políticas para (más) circularidad
Debido al creciente protagonismo de la economía circular en el sector público…
Cómo una moneda digital impulsa el reciclaje en América Latina
Ecoins es una empresa con sede en Costa Rica dedicada al reciclaje…
Circular perspectives for linear mindsets
How did linear thinking succeed in dominating our mental infrastructure? What can…
Circular perspectives for linear mindsets: four innovative thinkers around the globe
How did linear thinking succeed in dominating our mental infrastructure? What can…
Moving toward a zero waste lifestyle
It can seem like not a day passes by without more bad…
Circular economy: what’s in it for the media?
On 14 April 2021 REVOLVE Circular organized an online press briefing to…
Circular perspectives for linear mindsets
How did linear thinking succeed in dominating our mental infrastructure? What can…
Circular perspectives for linear mindsets: Interview with Doryn Negesa
How did linear thinking succeed in dominating our mental infrastructure? What can…
Circular perspectives for linear mindsets: Interview with Ashish Kothari
How did linear thinking succeed in dominating our mental infrastructure? What can…
Spotlight on circularity in Africa
Much of the Circular Economy debate focuses on highly industrialized countries, due…
Is circularity the solution to Africa's rapid urbanization?
2020 estimates project Africa to be the continent with the fastest urban…
Circularity and social inclusiveness for a different Africa
REVOLVE Circular got together with the eight current members of the ACEN…
How public finance supports Africa's circular transformation
REVOLVE Circular met up with Dr Anthony Nyong, Director of Climate Change…
Re-imagining the future of waste
Waste – when it comes to climate change and environmental degradation it…
Let’s REIMAGINE the global FASHION industry
An interview with Andrea Kennedy, Founder and Sustainability Lead of Fashiondex.com and…
Our food, our planet, our future
The imbalanced relationship between these three interlinked concepts – food, planet, and…
COVID-19 pandemic: an opportunity to rethink food systems
The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting how humanity is both victim and cause…
A brief history of Slow Food
Despite the hiccups of decision-making, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will take…
How to go Zero Waste
Do the following mental exercise: You are in a supermarket, walking through…
Organic, biodegradable, reusable: Transformative products from olive stones
Toys that can become bowls, chairs that can grow plants, and exhibition…
Green Growth Community spurs sustainable cooperation
The Green Growth Community consists of 14 projects promoting sustainable development in…
Recovering non-conventional water resources
Creating circular economy business models by reusing water resources for agriculture, tourism…
Building from bauxite residues
The world’s main source of aluminum – the mining of bauxite rock…
Turning livestock waste into fertilizer
Jordi Domingo Calabuig and his partners at RE-LIVE WASTE saw an opportunity in livestock waste and turned…
Treating wastewater with ceramic filters
Introducing ceramic filters is more sustainable and more durable in the long-run…
Sustainability: know your limits
“No thanks, I’ve had enough” is what we say when asked if…
Aluminum: plastic’s attractive alternative
Ariel Booker decided to leave his job as a headhunter to focus…
There’s much to gain by reducing food losses
Few issues have generated as much public interest in recent years as…
Building the circular economy in Brussels
The traditional linear economic model is under pressure. The rapid use of…
Bringing sustainability to the oil and gas industry?
The INTEGROIL project seeks to develop and demonstrate an integrated solution for…
The POWERSTEP solution
The power of wastewater is underestimated; household wastewater contains a lot of…
Perfectly good: Austrian start-up gives second life to waste
Consumer waste is a global issue. In Germany alone, nearly €7 billion…
Sustainable bio-waste management in Lebanon
The Lebanese company Compost Baladi is leading the way in replicating small-scale composting…
Recycled sail design
From my experience, all the cloths that are used for making sails…
How CIRCUSOL powers a circular economy
The CIRCUSOL project (Circular Business Models for the Solar Power Industry) is…
An introduction to climate finance
Defining climate finance “Climate finance” is an elusive term. At its narrowest,…
Repurposing helping light up the world’s poorest communities
Since being launched in the Philippines in 2011, Liter of Light has…
Time for sustainability
The Analog Watch Company produce a series of minimal and eco-friendly wooden…
DEUX MAINS: discover Haiti’s ethical fashion brand
Ethical and eco-friendly fashion brand, DEUX MAINS is helping give old tires…
Advertising banners recycled
Kees es-Souk Your must have daily bag for carrying anything from groceries…
Sustainable eyewear
Karün is an eyewear company creating high quality sunglasses made with recycled…
Pillows made from sari silks
Innovative start-ups from around the world are recycling and reusing waste to…
From coffee grounds to biofuels
Innovative start-ups from around the world are recycling and reusing waste to…
Turning jeans into seats and matts
Innovative start-ups from around the world are recycling and reusing waste to…
Plastic road: from asphalt to plastic
In the Netherlands, a multi-modular plastic road offers a cleaner and environmentally…
INDOSOLE: making durable soles from old tires
Due to their robust structure, tires take thousands of years to decompose,…
Aluminium tabs can make cool bags
‘Escama’ means ‘fish scales’ in Portuguese and that’s the look this San…
Vinyls become clocks, mirrors, coasters…
Jeff Davis started Vinylux with the simple notion of turning old vinyl music disks into clocks…
Katcha BIlek: from fire engine to upcycling
Katcha Bilek travelled around Europe in the late 1990s in an old…
BUREO: giving fishing nets a new life
After the success of making skateboards from discarded fishing nets in Chile,…
Spreading the ‘digital cobbler’ concept 0
Innovative start-ups from around the world are recycling and reusing waste to make…
On sustainable consumption and production
Economic and social development over the last century was achieved through intensive,…
Sustainable financing, financing sustainability
The global environmental, social and economic challenges faced by societies currently will…
PUMA: upcycling flop of the century
A revolution of economically and environmentally efficient products has started with PUMA’s…

Where readers select the circularity investigation
Circular Journalism on Demand is a REVOLVE Circular initiative with three pillars:
In pillar I we take stakeholder engagement seriously – and let our readers decide which circularity topics they want us to cover in 2022 and beyond. We propose 12 topics, and anyone interested can cast their vote by selecting up to four preferences. Following our readers’ choices, we will investigate the topic with the highest number at the end of each quarter while also replacing the topic with the least votes by one of our readers’ suggestions. We use SurveyHero.com to create our online surveys.
Pillar II will be launched at the end of February 2022 – it will offer companies and organizations around the world the opportunity to hire our reporters for their ‘circular journalism on demand’ topic; such reporting will be labelled as “sponsored” and not make any compromises on high quality constructive journalism. Are you ready?
Pillar III will be launched at the end of March 2022 – it will be for journalists only and create the first-ever network of circular economy, and circular society, journalists around the globe. Watch this space!
Science Communication
We encourage you to play around and explore the CRESTING timeline of circularity concepts
The Circular Economy is often referred to as – and increasingly recognized for – having a variety of concepts and so-called Schools of Thought (SoT) at its origin. One often finds reference to bio-mimicry, cradle-to-cradle, industrial ecology and in between six to twelve other SoTs in the literature.
Now guess what?!
There is far more to it: the EU-funded CRESTING project has already identified “over 70 circularity concepts from the Global South and North alike” and presents them in an interactive timeline. Its content is based on CRESTING’s extensive research, published as A typology of circular economy discourses: navigating the diverse visions of a contested paradigm.
REVOLVE Circular supports the CRESTING project’s fantastic exploration of the genesis of a circular economy – and society – and encourages you to play around with the timeline.
Keep learning about the circular economy and its origins!

Against the odds of a linear economy
The linear economy has revealed itself a dead end for humanity and the planet, and it is time for Circularity to take over, slowly but surely. Circularity will be the first-ever dramatic comedy against the odds of a linear economy, made in Nigeria. Circularity is also the name of the film’s main protagonist, a young Nigerian woman who thrives due to her circular mindset as she is fighting various battles against the numerous barriers established by the linear economy.
As a commercial social impact movie, Circularity will reach millions of people around the globe; it will entertain, and educate, its audiences about a different way of consuming, producing and living together. To produce Circularity, we collaborate with Lagos-based Verdant Zeal and Underdog Productions , and wish to express our gratitude for precious legal advice by Vavrovsky Heine Marth Rechtsanwälte.
The world is ready for the first-ever dramatic comedy against the odds of a linear economy – will you join us on this journey, support its production and help make it happen?
Knowledge Brokerage
Imagine Circularity – this is how we branded our first knowledge brokering and multistakeholder project. We are hoping to involve and collaborate with many partners around the world in this first-ever initiative on how people perceive the circular economy. Its main question is “How do you imagine a circular economy?” and we are pleased to collaborate with the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development as scientific advisor and main partner.
The aim is to engage one million participants to produce a representative sample of their views and understandings. The survey will officially launch on 19 April 2021 and end on 19 April 2022. A global report and a series of customized reports on a large number and broad variety of audiences will be published in June 2022. We use SurveyHero.com to create our online surveys. They granted us a preferential non-profit rate enabling a truly global survey in potentially over sixty languages; in addition, the survey can be customized and extended to our partners’ specific needs.
Visit Imagine Circularity to get involved.
EU-Funded Projects
In addition to co-creating and implementing projects with REVOLVE Circular’s members, REVOLVE leads the branding, communication and reporting for numerous EU-funded research and innovation projects on the circular economy.
Large Industrial Solutions
A Circular Economy Solution for Industrial Wastewater. Recuperating industrial wastewater (brine) to extract the minerals and chemicals in order to reinsert them into respective industries that can use them in their markets, thus closing the loop of the circular economy in the water treatment sector.
Cities & Regions Solutions
The HOOP project supports 8 lighthouse cities and regions in developing large-scale urban circular bioeconomy initiatives that will focus on sustainably obtaining bio-based products from urban biowaste and wastewater. The HOOP Urban Circular Bioeconomy Hub will create an online platform to foster knowledge exchange and replication in cities.
Walking the Talk: Go Circular!
As part of our circular economy actions REVOLVE has a zero waste sustainability policy and contributes to the circular economy with its repurposing program and with its special repurposing series.
Repurposing
Discover how REVOLVE participates
in the circular economy
Small is beautiful
Discover other companies that are reusing
old materials to make new products.