Sustainability method guide
Circular Strategy Ladder
Circular Strategy Ladder compares prevention, reduction, reuse, repair, refurbishment, remanufacture, repurposing, recycling and recovery.
Beginner-friendly guide · 4 min read
What Circular Strategy Ladder does
Circular Strategy Ladder compares prevention, reduction, reuse, repair, refurbishment, remanufacture, repurposing, recycling and recovery.
The circular strategy ladder compares ways to retain value and reduce resource use across a product or service lifecycle. Higher-order strategies prevent or reduce material demand, while later strategies recover less of the original product value.
The ordering is a heuristic, not an automatic answer. Feasibility, safety, customer behaviour, system boundaries and rebound effects determine which combination is appropriate.
Circular-economy research and policy use an ordered set of R-strategies to distinguish higher-order prevention and reuse from lower-value recycling and recovery.[1][2]
Move from prevention and longer use towards material and energy recovery only as needed.
- 1Refuse and rethink
- 2Reduce
- 3Reuse and repair
- 4Refurbish and remanufacture
- 5Repurpose
- 6Recycle and recover
InnovationFlow explanatory schematic, synthesised from the method sources[1][2].
Understand the method
The parts in plain language
When to use it
- When redesigning products, services, operations or value chains for circularity.
- When teams default to recycling without examining higher-order options.
A practical workflow
- 1
Define the product, service or activity and its lifecycle boundary.
- 2
Assess relevant R-strategies in priority order.
- 3
Record feasibility, value, dependencies and rebound risks.
- 4
Translate selected strategies into sourcing, design and roadmap actions.
Fictional worked example
Example: industrial control equipment
This example is illustrative rather than a reported case. A manufacturer reviews circular options for returned controllers.
Observation:Software updates can extend useful life without replacement.
Implication:Design long-term support and secure update capability.
Observation:Most returned units need only testing and selected component replacement.
Implication:Build inspection, traceability and warranty processes.
Observation:Some safety-critical units cannot return to service.
Implication:Recover materials through verified channels.
From analysis to decision
How to interpret the result
- 1Define the lifecycle and system boundary.
- 2Test commercial, technical and behavioural feasibility.
- 3Connect selected strategies to design, sourcing, business-model and roadmap changes.
The interpretation guidance is an InnovationFlow synthesis of[1][2].
What a useful output looks like
Common pitfalls
- The highest listed strategy is not always feasible in context.
- Consider system effects rather than shifting impacts elsewhere.
References and method basis
- [1]Potting, J., Hekkert, M., Worrell, E. and Hanemaaijer, A. (2017). Circular economy: measuring innovation in product chains. PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Source ↗Original method source
- [2]Bocken, N., Rana, P. and Short, S. (2015). Value mapping for sustainable business thinking. Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, 32(1), 67-81. Source ↗Peer-reviewed research
This guide synthesises the named sources into practical questions for strategy and innovation work. It does not claim that using a tool by itself produces a successful decision.