Återvinning av olika varor i dagens samhälle är viktigt för att uppnå minskad miljöpåverkan. Genom att minska uttaget av jungfruligt material och istället använda återvunnet material kan en positiv klimatpåverkan erhållas. Att eliminera linjära materialflöden till fördel för cirkulära flöden kan ekonomisk vinning uppfyllas via affärsmodeller inom cirkulär ekonomi. Byggsektorn står för en betydande del av miljöpåverkan och resursanvändningen, samt genererat avfall i samhället. Därmed finns stora möjligheter att öka cirkularitet genom bättre system för återvinning och därmed främja en mer hållbar framtid. Från NCC gavs ett uppdrag med syfte att undersöka hur stor andel återvunnet material som byggdes in i deras bostadsprojekt. Genom intervjuer med deras leverantörer undersökte denna studie hur stor andel återvunnet material som deras mest använda byggvaror bestod av. Dessa byggvaror var betong, armering, mineralull, cellplast, gips och kök. Vidare undersöktes vilka möjligheter till återvinning som fanns för respektive vara. Syftet var också att, utöver detta, finna mer miljövänliga alternativ för byggbranschen i allmänhet och i synnerhet för de produkter som i dagsläget har störst förbättringspotential. Resultatet visar att andelen återvunnet material för respektive byggvara var varierande, från 0 % till 96 %. Tillsammans bidrar dessa värden till en total andel för NCC’s bostadsprojekt på 8,5 %. Kunskapen och möjligheten till att öka andelen återvunna material som byggvarorna innehåller finns hos leverantörerna. En faktor till detta var att andrahandsvärdet varierade stort samt att det saknas ekonomiska incitament för att sortera byggavfallet. Slutsatsen är därför att det krävs en ökad kostnad för att ta ut jungfruligt material i kombination med att det måste kosta mer att deponera. Med andra ord, förbrukat material ska inte ses som avfall utan som en resurs för att cirkulär ekonomi ska kunna förverkligas i samhället och därmed bidra till positiv miljöpåverkan och förbättrad resurshushållning. Utbildning, samarbete och personligt engagemang är faktorer som krävs för att denna samhällsomställning ska kunna ske. / Recycling of waste is important for the environment in today ́s society. Through less use of new raw material and increased use of recycled material, the climate change can be battled. To eliminate linear flow of material in favour of circular is a part of circular economy. The construction industry contributes to a significant part of both the energy consumption and the amount of waste, and therefore has great opportunities to recycle NCC wants to know how much recycled material they used in their housing projects. Through interviews with their suppliers, this study investigates how much recycled material some of their most used building goods (for example concrete, reinforcement and isolation) contained. Further, the opportunities for recycling of the different types of building goods were analysed. The purpose was also to find more eco-friendly alternatives to the construction industry in general and in particular to the goods which had the largest potential of improvement. The result showed that the proportion of recycled material varied and the total proportion for NCC’s housing projects was low. The knowledge and the opportunities to increase the proportion is known by the suppliers but the majority of the building goods consists a general low proportion. One factor was that the second hand value was varied. Another was that there were no incentive for recycling, which leads to a lack of motivation at the worksite. The conclusion is therefore that waste should be seen as a resource in order to implement circular economy to a greater extent and to contribute to the climate in a positive way. Education, collaboration and personal engagement is factors which is needed to fulfil this adaptation of the society.

Increasing resource efficiency by utilising secondary raw material is one of the key characteristics of a circular economy. Textile dust fibre, a waste generated from textile mechanical recycling has the prospect to be utilised as secondary raw material for producing novel material: textile paper suitable for packaging and other applications. A comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of carrier bags made from one ton of virgin paper, recycled paper and novel textile paper (~22584paper bags with grammage of 100 g/m2 and same dimensions for all 3 types of bags) showed that textile paper bag is more environmentally friendly in terms of carbon footprint. The largest environmental contributors were energy consumed in the pulping and paper making processes, followed by the use of adhesives and printing ink in the conversion process of paper to papercarrier bags. A comparative Techno-economic Assessment (TEA) was carried out for the operating cost of producing the three selected carrier bag types. The analysis conveyed that textile paper bags are more economically attractive, mainly due to the partial substitution of paper fibre with low-cost textile dust fibre. Furthermore, a simple tool was developed with an attempt to assess and compare materials suitability for the circular economy considering life cycle thinking and business perspectives. Assessment of textile paper using the Circular material assessment tool indicated that there is still scope for improvement on the following circularity characteristics of circular material: scarcity of raw material, local supply of resources, clean and non-toxic resources. Textile paper material scored high in the following circularity characteristics: secondary raw material, industrial symbiosis, recycling, resource efficiency in manufacturing and use. In the final step, the textile paper bag was eco-designed through the combined and iterative LCA and TEA approach with the aim to achieve improved scores as a circular material. In order to understand the overall sustainability advantages and trade-offs, further research is recommended on different textile dust fibre grades as well as textile paper performance based on mechanical properties. It is also recommended to investigate textile paper in other applications like one time fashion clothes, reusable paper bags as textile hangers etc.

More-than-human design represents a paradigm shift that decentralises the human in relation to the rest of the living world. As part of this movement, scholars call for a new worldview that recognizes the interconnectedness between human and non-human beings. Prior studies have focused on the experience of human-human connections, leaving the more- than-human largely unexplored. Addressing this gap, this study explores design strategies for fostering feelings and reflections of interconnectedness towards the more-than-human world and associated emotions. With a research-through-design methodology, two workshops were conducted, resulting in six key design strategies and an "interconnectedness experience framework". The strategies were evaluated through a prototype in partnership with AquaPrint, a Swedish company that up-cycles fishing nets into designer furniture. Future research should evaluate the strategies individually and in combinations as well as in a field setting. The presented framework and strategies are intended for practitioners as inspiration in design projects to promote noticing the more-than-human world, and encouraging a posthuman perspective.