Part of the Circular Material Valuer Curriculum project.
Sample Course Programme
This page describes the Circular Material Valuer, a 15-week project-based course programme designed to equip individuals and organizations with the skills and mindset needed to divert valuable goods from the waste stream. It combines theoretical learning with hands-on, reflective activities to foster a holistic understanding of material reuse from a critical, ground-level perspective.
The programme has four modules, each designed to build upon the former, culminating in a comprehensive understanding of the Circular Material Valuer's role.
The programme has four modules:
- Systemic View and Social Value
- Eyes and Hands of a Circular Valuer
- Information Systems and Economic Value
- Stories and Personal Value
The Course Programme is an Open Educational Resource published with a CC-BY licence. It can be freely adapted for self-study, workshops, or training programmes.
¶ Module 1: Systemic View and Social Value
This module provides the foundational knowledge for trainees, enabling them to critically understand the circular economy and its social-ecological implications. It challenges traditional notions of waste and linear production, promoting a more equitable and sustainable interaction with materials, and framing local actions as vital systemic interventions.
Module Length: 4 weeks (2-3 hours per week).
- Critical Thinking: Analysing mainstream discourse on product design, manufacturing, waste management and circular economy, identifying potentialities and shortcomings on these topics in relation to local systems for material reuse.
- Systems Mapping: Visualising local and regional material flows, stakeholder networks, and communication channels.
- Community Engagement: Understanding, engaging with, and leveraging existing social groups and initiatives.
- Ethical Framing: Shifting from a passive "abundance" mindset to an intentional "generosity" mindset.
- Theoretical Sessions: Introduce key concepts like the waste hierarchy, bioregions, and the critiques of top-down circularity. Use readings and videos to spark discussion. The agent valoriste role in the French context will be introduced as a professional model in the social and solidarity economy.
- Participatory Workshops: Use generative questions to facilitate group discussions on local challenges and opportunities for waste prevention. Map stakeholders, resources, and material flows in a chosen locality.
- Case Studies: Examine successful and unsuccessful initiatives in local and global contexts, such as community repair cafés, scrap shops like The Remakery, or historical models like the SERO System in East Germany.
- Local System Mapping: Participants create a map of their city or neighbourhood, identifying relevant actors involved in retail and distribution, repair, reuse, and waste (e.g., formal waste facilities, informal donation points, repair shops, charities).
- Stakeholder Interview: Conduct a brief interview with a repairer, charity shop worker, or waste picker - either from local context or experiences elsewhere - to gain insight into their work and perspective.
Main Module Outcome
- Local Reuse Plan: Start developing a community-oriented project to promote or increase material reuse with a focus on supporting urban generosity, generating exchange among local stakeholders, promoting community education, and producing social-environmental value.
See References - Module 1
¶ Module 2: Eyes and Hands of a Circular Valuer
This module is dedicated to developing the practical and embodied skills necessary for a material valuer, from initial assessment to hands-on intervention.
Module Length: 4 weeks (3-4 hours per week).
- Material Assessment: Performing inspections of objects in visual, manual, functional, and socio-environmental terms.
- Repair & Upcycling: Executing simple hands-on repairs and creative transformations.
- Resourcefulness: Using basic tools and available materials to solve problems.
- Design Literacy: Analysing product design for durability, repairability, and obsolescence.
- Hands-on Labs: Conduct workshops focused on disassembling and assessing different products (e.g., a broken electronic device, a worn-out piece of furniture) - inspired by embodied approaches to learning through practical work.
- Skill-Sharing Sessions: Invite a craftsperson, a professional repairer, or a seasoned upcycler to lead a practical session, embodying models of learning inspired by “master and apprentice” modes, “peer learning”, and “tactile education”.
- Materiality Experiments: Work with a single type of waste material (e.g., discarded wood, plastic bottles) exploring its properties and potential for transformation through minimal intervention.
- Repair Diary: Participants choose a broken or unwanted object and document their repair or upcycling journey, including attempts, failures, and discoveries, using photos or sketches. This reflects a core methodology of the initial research phase.
- The "Reshape" Project: Apply the "Reshape strategy" to an item of industrial waste, transforming its function, form, or composition into a new product.
- Tool Kit Development: Create a small "tool kit" of simple, multi-purpose tools and document their use for various repair and upcycling tasks.
Main Module Outcome
- Material Guide: create a guidebook with recommendations on how to assess the value of goods available locally for reuse. Document relevant characteristics - material properties, typical operations needed, seasonal demand and others.
See References - Module 2
This module focuses on the economic and data-driven aspects of material reuse, training participants to use available resources and develop sustainable business models.
Module Length: 3 weeks (2-3 hours per week).
- Data Literacy: Collecting, analysing, and contributing to open data about reuse.
- Economic Valuation: Assessing market value and social value, identifying market gaps, and creating viable solidarity-oriented business models.
- Logistics & Storage: Managing material flows, inventories, and storage solutions.
- Policy Advocacy: Understanding incentive systems and advocating for supportive policies.
- Online Research Labs: Use online marketplaces and databases to research the market characteristics of different materials and products. Explore tools online second-hand marketplaces for information on pricing and potential social demand.
- Business Models: Apply business model frameworks to develop and critique a business plan for a reuse-focused initiative.
- Data Analysis Session: Work with open data sets (e.g., from the Open Repair Alliance) to analyse repair trends, common failure points, and the impact of reuse.
- Material Flow Report: Document the journey of a specific material (e.g., textiles, wood) in your city and propose a digital inventory system for it, referencing tools like The Restart Project's Fixometer.
- Policy Proposal: Research the existence of local, regional and national policies and write reflections on how they can be used to encourage reuse.
- Market Analysis: Conduct a market survey for a chosen second-hand item or material and present a pricing strategy for a social enterprise or reuse shop.
- Contextual Considerations: research how value is perceived and assigned in different regions.
Main Module Outcome
- Data Strategy: Develop a strategy for data collection and analysis to support local and regional material reuse - choose between available digital tools for inventory, evaluation and communications.
See References - Module 3
¶ Module 4: Stories and Personal Value
This module focuses on the human and cultural dimensions of reuse, emphasising the role of storytelling, creativity, and emotional connection in building a resilient, caring reuse community.
Module Length: 3 weeks (2-3 hours per week).
- Storytelling: Crafting narratives about objects and their journeys.
- Visual Documentation: Using photography, audio, and video to tell stories of reuse.
- Ethical Reflection: Reflecting on personal relationships with objects and the social-emotional impact of waste.
- Campaigns and Stakeholder Engagement: how to build on local culture and behaviour to leverage the reintroduction in use of goods and materials.
- Community Facilitation: Organising events that foster a sense of belonging and collective action around reuse.
- Creative Workshops: Engage in creative writing, photography, or video production to tell the story of the reuse of a specific good or object.
- Storytelling Circles: Organise and participate in group sessions where trainees share personal stories about repairs, family heirlooms, or found objects.
- Community Events: Plan and run a small-scale event, such as a "swap meet," "repair café," or "maker faire," to put theory into practice and observe community dynamics.
- Narrative Project: Create a video, photo essay, or written piece documenting the emotional journey of an object that was repaired or upcycled.
- "What's in Your Drawer?" Inventory: A personal reflection assignment where participants explore the items they own but don't use, reflecting on their stories and emotional value to cultivate an anti-disposable mindset.
- Concrete Memories: Reflect on personal attachment to objects and their symbolic meaning in terms of personal history, relationship with distant or deceased relatives, and aspects of memory, care, and subjective value. Document the reflection in video, text, graphics, or audio.
- Public Presentation: Present a visual narrative to the cohort or a public audience, highlighting the value of a discarded material and inspiring others to engage with reuse.
Main Module Output
- Communication and Education Plan: Create a strategy to reach out to the local context through diverse means of communication and engagement.
See References - Module 4
Material Commons Strategy: The outputs of the four modules (Local Reuse Plan, Material Guide, Data Strategy, and Communication and Education Plan) provide the building blocks for a final assignment.
The trainees can use the 15th week to finalise and present their Material Commons Strategy.
See Additional References