The Geometry of the Circular Economy

The fundamental shift in the architecture of economic activity that the circular economy brings with it is increasingly taking on the contours of a distinct geometric dimension. It's not just the mindset and habits of producers and consumers that are being transformed—the very spatial architecture of waste flows is changing: from the micro level of packaging, forms, and tools for municipal solid waste accumulation to the macro level of urban arteries, rethinking ergonomics and installing production lines along which waste moves. Geometry is ceasing to be a metaphor or discipline and becoming a working tool in shaping a culture of responsible behavior among producers and consumers, and in substantiating technical and economic proposals in interdisciplinary closed-loop economy projects in an era of rapid artificial intelligence (AI) development.

The Geometry of Packaging: Why Shape Matters

The fate of packaging on the sorting line is largely predetermined by its shape. Flat, flexible containers—film, bags, wrappers—represent the main challenge for optical scanners. They're difficult to identify and even harder to separate precisely using air jets. Rigid, three-dimensional packaging—bottles, cans, trays—sorts far more efficiently. Multi-layer packaging like carton beverage containers, composed of cardboard, aluminum, and plastic, has remained a stumbling block for recyclers for decades.

The response to this challenge has been a convergence of two strategies:

• Simplifying geometry and rethinking the composition of the material itself.
• Implementing digital marking that allows equipment to "see" through the form.

The Holy Grail 2.0 project, which brought together brands and technology companies, demonstrated that digital watermarks—invisible markers applied across the entire surface of packaging—deliver sorting accuracy of approximately 90% and higher even under challenging industrial conditions, with contamination and material overlap. During trials at the Hündgen facility in Germany, detection efficiency ranged from 86.7% to 93.6%.