New Circular Economy Business Model for More Sustainable Urban Construction

CinderOss

CinderOSS, or CINDERELA One-Stop-Shop service is a complete digital business environment which makes the use of SRM-based construction products resulting from CinderCEBM more transparent, traceable and attractive to users: i.e. investors, companies, local administrations and decision makers at local and regional levels. It provides a variety of services that accelerate construction related waste-to-product business models. These services are based on the accumulated information of all research and demonstrations actions that are performed within the CINDERELA project, such as SRM-product information, demonstrations and the associated business models. Furthermore, as the tool has more potential than just showing CINDERELA information, the tool will be complemented with existing knowledge and experience of best-practices throughout Europe.

CinderOSS database

The CinderOSS database includes information on all things relevant for exploiting a circular economy business model (CEBM). The idea of the database is that information on a CEBM is simply not enough. An entrepreneur will also need information on other relevant aspects, such as (local) legislation, market developments and product characteristics. As such, the CinderOSS database bundles all this information into one place, becoming a true One-Stop-Shop for construction related circular economy business models.

Given these different aspects, the CinderOSS database is split into 5 modules, each corresponding to a different business exploitation aspect: CEBM, Legal, Market, Production and Construction, Research and Development. These modules are as simple and cohesive interfaces that you see in online webshops such as amazon. 'Shop items' are labeled within a certain module and also include other tags, such as waste type and country. This allows for easy browsing through different items, and also provides the option to present relevant items when one item is already shown.

CEBM

The starting point of the database is the collection of CEBMs, which are collected in the CEBM module. Here we display CINDERELA and other CEBMs that turn waste into circular construction products. Each CEBM item includes basic information of the business model, following the business model canvas framework. We also added a visual indicating the waste-to-product value chain

Legal

The legal module includes items on legislation, subsidies and other policy instruments. A circular business model needs to act according to its legal situation, but can also benefit from certain subsidies or exemptions that can exist for circular businesses. CinderOSS acknowledges this important part of circular exploitation, by offering a legal database.

Market

Even though the technique and product of a certain circular business model might be universal, the products need to be sold in a regional market, which will differ throughout Europe. As such, the CinderOSS market module offers a basis for comparison of different market situations, including information on the potential market size and the costs and potential profits of business models.

Product & Construction

The CinderOSS product & construction module collects information on the characteristics of different circular construction products and how they can be applied. This makes the CinderOSS database also interesting from the product user perspective.

Research & Development

Finally, the CinderOSS database will also follow progress in the research on new waste-to-product routes. The module will display the latest and relevant document on R&D, not only from the academic perspective, but also from companies and industry organizations.

Business Finder

CinderOSS also offers interactive services, one of which is the Business Finder. The Business Finder is the tool for searching partners in the circular economy, ranging from business holders to research institutions and policy makers. It displays a map where users can find registered actors. Users can also search with different criteria, such as company sector, main activity, waste type and products of interest and geographical area of interest.

Marketplace

Finally, CinderOSS also includes a marketplace function where users can buy or sell waste, secondary raw materials (SRM) or SRM-based products. The marketplace is presented in a way that allows for simple and effective publications and announcements.

In order to buy waste, SRM or SRM-products, users can search by type of waste and by location. Every offer has details on the characteristics, availability, price, photos, certifications (e.g. performance, origin and environmental properties) location and contact information. Furthermore, a transport calculator is present, which estimates the transport costs from the seller to the user. We are planning for a CO2 calculator as well.

Selling is also simple. In the marketplace publication page, you can enter all relevant information for a sale. This information is then combined as a sale offer, which can be browsed by potential buyers on the marketplace. Marketplace users can only contact the seller if they are registered, so if the user is not registered yet the system shows a button that redirects to the registration page.

CinderOSS development

CinderOSS is currently in open beta version and is under continuous improvement by internal and external testing. If you wish to participate, please register at https://cindeross.cinderela.eu/oss/register to the CinderOSS and we will soon contact you for participation on the CinderOSS community platform. This current version of the CinderOSS holds three main features: the CinderOSS database, the Business Finder and the Marketplace.