“ The Circularity Calculator is very intuitive and easy to use.
It immediately gives insights, in a straightforward and visually appealing way”

-  Bugaboo design team

How circular is your product?

If your products are already circular to some extent, you may want to know how circular they are, and how circular they can be. The circularity calculator helps you to measure, communicate and improve the circularity of your products.





Which way is circular?


Most products require a redesign to be viable in a circular economy. For instance design for disassembly, recyclability, long-lived components.

Which circular strategies pay off?

Going circular - is it worth it?

In a circular economy, manufacturers recover used products, components and materials, to reuse them for new products. This recovery and reuse decreases the need for raw materials. When done right, circularity represents a significant business opportunity, capturing the value embedded in used products. Use the circularity calculator to assess the potential value captured by circular business models.


Measure progress with every new product

Key performance indicators for improving circularity across product generations

Made for the design process

The circularity calculator was developed by, with and for designers working on circular products. They needed an intuitive and visual way to grasp circularity, showing the flows of reuse, remanufacture and recycling.

With a point-and-click dashboard, there is virtually no learning curve for making a quick calculation. Advanced users may want to detail multiple components and define a suitable post-use scenario for each. To speed up the work on large assemblies, import a bill of materials to start from.



step 1

define the product

Describe components, materials, masses and costs, or import an existing Bill of Materials

step 2

adjust the cycles

Try different reuse options, collection rates or materials, and see the effects immediately

step 3

compare strategies

Choose design options and business models by comparing circularity and value capture

create / collaborate / compete





/  quickly test ideas for the product and business model

/  use CC indices as KPI‘s (e.g. reuse rates, recycling)

/  show the potential financial benefits of circular products

/  facilitate discussions between design, marketing and production

/  challenge teams to come up with the best proposal

choose your licence



Free sign up


Sign up with your email address and we will send the link and password for the free version immediately. We will not share your information or subscribe you to regular emails.

Enjoy making circular calculations! Get in touch if you have questions, comments or interesting cases!

Request a demo


Please fill out this form, and we will get in touch!

Remarks about your request are appreciated; about your interest in circular economy, about yourself or your company, preferred dates, etcetera.

Educational class licence


Please fill out this form, and we will get in touch!

Remarks about your request are appreciated; about the course, faculty, students, etcetera.

CC Pro


Please fill out this form, and we will get in touch!

Remarks about your request are appreciated, and helps us meet your needs.
Free Demo Edu Pro
€ 0 € 145 /2 months € 1200 /3 months Request quotation
Core functionality is free to use Pro version trial plus
online demo
Class licence with course material Company access plus training
Model circular designs and scenarios Model circular designs and scenarios Model circular designs and scenarios Model circular designs and scenarios
Visualize material and value flows Visualize material and value flows Visualize material and value flows Visualize material and value flows
Measure circularity and value capture Measure circularity and value capture Measure circularity and value capture Measure circularity and value capture
Work with high level product data Work with high level product data Work with high level product data Work with high level product data
Up to five detailed components Work with detailed component data Work with detailed component data
Open and save files to your computer Open and save files to your computer Open and save files to your computer
Circular design consultation
Online support

Our launching customers

“The circularity calculator is perfect for exploration of different business models and even allows you to use it straight into stakeholder presentations.” - Aernout Dijkstra-Hellinga, senior lead designer, Bugaboo
“Very informative and inspiring workshops for Roetz to help us steer our approach for the circular bicycle” - Tiemen ter Hoeven - CEO Roetz
“Our company learned a lot from the ResCoM project and the provided tools, and are now piloting our multi-lifecycle leasing scheme. ” - Aleš Mihelič - Lead R&D engineer, Gorenje
“The Circularity Calculator is very intuitive, easy and fun to use. It immediately gives insights, in a straight forward and visually appealing way.” - Bugaboo design team
“These new tools and methodologies allow organisations to move beyond ideation to implementation of circular economy , encouraging new product design and the development of alternative business models.” - Andrew Morlet, CEO - Ellen MacArthur Foundation

About us



The Circularity Calculator is created by IDEAL&CO Explore. We are a design consultancy specialised in state of the art sustainable design strategies, including Cradle to Cradle, Biomimicry and Circular Product Design.

The tool has been co-created with manufacturers leading the circular economy, validated with in-market cases and endorsed by the EllenMacArthur foundation.

This tool is part of a suite of advanced tools to support manufacturers in designing products for the circular economy developed in a four year international project, co-funded by the European Commission: ResCoM - Resource Conservative Manufacturing.

Contact us



IDEAL&CO Explore BV

Buitenhavenweg 114
3113 BE Schiedam
The Netherlands

www.IDEAL-CO.nl


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Request access



To request access to the circularity calculator, select a licence option


For other questions:

circularity@ideal-co.nl