The Circular Changemaker’s Guide

The Circular Changemaker’s Guide – Mechanisms for circular transition in practice helps circularity directors, sustainability managers, business developers, product designers – i.e. circular changemakers – to influence from within and take the next step in their company’s circular transition.

The guide introduces the Map of Mechanisms: 24 ‘mechanisms’ that describe how to overcome barriers to circularity by introducing integrated and systemic ways of working in a company for establishing a truly circular business, and ultimately a truly circular Nordic market.

The mechanisms were identified in discussions on practical experiences by the participants of the 2026 Nordic Circular Transition Group for Corporate Circular Transition: Atea, Danfoss, Elis, Food Folk (McDonald’s Nordics), Kanthal, Mirka, Posti and Vattenfall together with Cradlenet.

In the guide, the participants also share their own transition journeys: Vattenfall’s work to scale up component reuse, Food Folk’s pilot turning spent coffee grounds into biochar, Elis’s use of RFID data to close textile loops, and how Kanthal, Atea, Mirka, Danfoss and Posti are driving the agenda from within.

The guide includes:

• Interviews with the companies on their own circular transition process

• 5 spheres of influence: Top Management, Business Innovation and R&D, Value Network Collaboration, Internal Operations and Policy & Market.

• The Map of Mechanisms: 24 mechanisms ensuring successful circular transition

• 72 case studies: 3 per mechanism

• How the mechanisms relate to circular frameworks: ISO 59000, Global Circularity Protocol and ESRS E5.

• For each mechanism: Tools, resources and further reading