# Case studies: Close-approach in action
*Activity type: page*

##### Example of product-level closing:

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The href="https://www.monash.edu/irt" target="_blank" rel="noopener" (https://www.monash.edu/irt), in collaboration with href="https://www.integratedrecycling.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" (https://www.integratedrecycling.com.au/), is actively researching the application of recycled plastic railway sleepers as an alternative to traditional sleepers made from timber, concrete and steel. As part of the research to demonstrate the feasibility of using this Duratrack sleeper made from 85% post-consumer plastic waste, hundreds of sleepers have been installed on tracks and in stations across Victoria. These composite sleepers have a lifespan of up to 50 years, a lower carbon footprint than timber, concrete and steel sleepers, and divert an enormous amount of plastic waste from landfill. But, transport infrastructure is beholden to strict standards and requirements, making this research project an essential step in designing a new, circular product. You can href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/news/news-articles/recycled-plastic-composite-railway-sleepers-replace-timber-sleepers-for-low-speed-rail-applications/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" (https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/news/news-articles/recycled-plastic-composite-railway-sleepers-replace-timber-sleepers-for-low-speed-rail-applications/) via the Sustainability Victoria website.

This is a great example of the Close approach in action, showing how designing a product with recycled input can yield amazing results for emission and waste reduction, but also for a superior solution overall.

##### Example of business model-level closing:

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href="https://www.reground.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" (https://www.reground.com.au/)is a social enterprise helping organisations and individuals create a circular economy. They started out by working with coffee roasters and cafes in Melbourne’s CBD, collecting their ground coffee that would normally go to landfill. The coffee grounds are used as a fertiliser, available free of charge to local communities and home gardeners. Since then, Reground have expanded to offer waste minimisation services, work with local, state and federal governments, and are now able to take ground coffee, chaff and soft plastic to prevent those materials from going to landfill. You can read about how Reground was selected to be a finalist in the href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/our-work/premiers-sustainability-awards/past-winners-and-finalists/2022-winners/reground-2022-finalist-circular-economy-innovation" target="_blank" rel="noopener" (https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/our-work/premiers-sustainability-awards/past-winners-and-finalists/2022-winners/reground-2022-finalist-circular-economy-innovation)

How Reground is enabling and incentivising coffee roasters and cafes to recycle their waste products is an amazing example of the Close approach in action on a business model-level. You might be able to tell how Reground uses this approach in combination with the Regenerate approach by finding ways to use coffee grounds as a fertiliser. The way they use this material to foster circular ideas in the local community even includes bits of the Inform approach, showing how these strategies can be mixed and matched in a way that works for your business or organisation.

##### Example of ecosystem-level closing:

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The href="https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/business/circular-ballarat" target="_blank" rel="noopener" (https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/business/circular-ballarat) is embracing a transition toward a circular economy. Supported by Development Victoria, the council has started the development of a href="https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/news/circular-economy-businesses-invited-early-involvement-major-ballarat-circular-economy#:~:text=The%20precinct%20delivers%20more%20than,Development%20Victoria's%20EOI%20or%20both" target="_blank" rel="noopener" (https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/news/circular-economy-businesses-invited-early-involvement-major-ballarat-circular-economy#:~:text=The%20precinct%20delivers%20more%20than,Development%20Victoria). One objective is to provide a solution to managing local waste and recycling material streams in a circular way, but another is to locate circular businesses together. Remember how a circular economy requires collaboration across the value chain, and a way for resource to go both up and down the stream for reuse, refurbishment, or other circular ways of processing. Co-locating such businesses together will simply reverse logistics and collaboration, fostering industrial symbiosis.

The objective is to achieve a level of symbiosis as shown in href="https://www.symbiosis.dk/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" (https://www.symbiosis.dk/en/) in Denmark. Since 1972, Kalundborg Symbiosis is a partnership between multiple public and private companies to circulate resources, by-products and waste between facilities to ensure all of it is used productively.

Building partnerships across value chain and networks to enable symbiotic outcomes is a good example of the Close approach in action on an ecosystem-level. The use of precincts to deliver such circular outcomes from the planning phase is picking up steam because of the benefits that can be built in. Precincts like this can become hubs of innovation and the source of solutions that make use of all five approaches of the Circularity Deck.
