The R-ladder: what is it and what can you do with it?

Do you want your organisation to contribute to the circular economy? Then the R-ladder is a valuable tool. Circularity strategies higher up the ladder save more raw materials. As a result, you alleviate pressure on the environment through excessive use of raw materials.

Some R-ladders have 6 or 10 steps, but in this blog we will discuss the R-ladder with 8 steps. Here, R0 is the highest step and R8 the lowest. Below you can read the R-ladder strategies and how you can use the ladder to procure in a more circular way.

Refuse – R0

In this step, you refrain from purchasing a product or raw material. By not purchasing something, you save the most materials and do not gain any new raw materials.

Example: Deciding to do longer with what you already have, or deciding that you don’t need the product in question at all anyway.

Rethink – R1

In Rethink, you use products more intensively by sharing them or making them multifunctional. As with Refuse, innovation, knowledge and awareness are important in this strategy. By looking differently at your production chain and the application of your product, you find innovative solutions that allow the product to be used more intensively.

Example: Sharing platforms for means of transport such as cars are a good example. This allows multiple people to use one product. Utensils such as tools are also increasingly shared on platforms and there are clothing brands where you can lease clothes instead of buying them.

Reduce – R2

Reduce is the strategy of using fewer materials and taking fewer raw materials from the earth. This allows you to manufacture products more efficiently or make them more efficient in use.

Example: ‘Light as a service’ is an example of reduce. Here, the client only pays the manufacturer for the light, while the manufacturer retains ownership of the lamp (and sometimes also the electricity bill). Thus, the manufacturer is rewarded if a lamp lasts longer or is more economical.

Reuse – R3

Reuse is about reusing products – either by yourself or by someone else. You could also include here the R of ‘redistribute’. This stands for sharing and redistributing old products. Reuse extends the lifespan of existing products.

Example: Second-hand clothing is an example of reuse. Or consider delivery restaurants that take back meal trays after client use, instead of throwing them away.

Repair – R4

Repair a defective product or broken part so that you can continue to use the product for its original purpose. Like reuse, this will make a product last longer.

Example: Many electronics shops have a department where appliances or parts are repaired so that the owner can continue to use the product. Some municipalities also have a Repair Café where people can repair things together.

Refurbish and remanufacture – R5

In remanufacture, you use parts from a discarded product in a new product with the same function. You check parts and replace or clean them where necessary so you can use them again. Refurbish is the strategy where you refurbish or modernise an old product. With the strategy of refurbish and remanufacture, you turn something old back into something new: you refurbish a product or material and remanufacture it when it no longer meets its old needs.

Example: Refurbishing is common with phones and tablets. A device is then returned because of a defect, after which a part is replaced. The device is then sold to another consumer. In this way, both the producer and the consumer save a lot of CO2 and raw materials. There are also various specialist companies for refurbishing and remanufacturing.

Repurpose – R6

In repurposing, you use a product or material for a product with a different function. The purpose of your product thus changes. Here, after processing, a product is given the same or an even better quality than before. For example, an unusable product can be processed so that it becomes a product with more value than it had before.

Example: An example of repurposing is furniture makers using wood from construction sites to make tables.

Recycle – R7

Recycling involves processing materials into resources of the same (high value) or lower (low value) quality than the original material had. Recycling is a low strategy on the ladder because it often still requires a lot of energy, separating materials can go wrong and the quality of materials sometimes deteriorates.

Example: The City of Amsterdam makes extensive use of worm hotels. Worms turn fruit, vegetables & garden waste into compost. Local residents can use this for plants in their homes, gardens or balconies. Also consider plastic waste, which is melted down into flower pots or roadside posts.

Recover – R8

The strategy of recover is about recovering energy from materials. Ideally, the burning of materials is required for as few products as possible, but energy recovery still gives this strategy some value.

Example: The waste-to-energy plant in Dordrecht burns residual streams. This releases heat that is used to heat houses and generates electricity.

Why is the R-ladder important?

In a linear economy, new raw materials are needed all the time and waste accumulates. In a circular economy, we ensure that products and materials retain their value and when something does become ‘waste’, we use it as a resource for new products. In this way, products and materials continue to circulate in the loop.

In the linear economy, organisations usually focus on strategies at the bottom of the R-ladder. Often this is ‘recover’ or ‘recycle’. These strategies are certainly useful, but depending on the product group in question, a more impactful strategy may be possible. In any case, the higher up the ladder your organisation gets, the smaller your environmental impact will be.

So as a buyer, look at how you can move up the R-ladder step by step, preferably together with your suppliers. That way, you become (more) circular together.

Case study: the furniture sector

Many sectors are making the transition to the circular economy. Consider the furniture sector, for example. When the chair is written off, you can take it to the landfill. Then it will be incinerated and that way the chair will still provide some energy.

But it is of course more circular to reuse the wood of the chair (R7 on the ladder). Or to replace only the fabric (R4 and R5), so that other parts of the chair can last for years to come. And perhaps the best option is to buy a chair designed to last much longer. (R1).

How to become circular

Find out which steps you can take to become circular.