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CircularJourney

Global Journey

Missions

A mission is one country, a set of cities, and a fixed sequence of eleven stages. Using the same sequence everywhere is what makes findings comparable, and it makes the gaps impossible to hide.

The eleven stages

  1. 01

    Travel

    Go, because there is a question worth investigating.

  2. 02

    Observe

    Watch the system running, on site, before judging it.

  3. 03

    Research

    Establish how it works, what it costs and who pays.

  4. 04

    Meet

    Reach the people who built it, run it and live with it.

  5. 05

    Document

    Record it on film, in photographs and in notes.

  6. 06

    Compare

    Set it against what other places do, India included.

  7. 07

    Share

    Publish it in both directions, with sources and limits.

  8. 08

    Adapt

    Work out what another context would demand of it.

  9. 09

    Pilot

    Test the adapted model at small scale.

  10. 10

    Measure

    Record the result against the baseline taken first.

  11. 11

    Scale

    Extend what held. Report what did not.

The last four stages are the ones most research stops short of. Connecting practitioners, adapting a model, testing it and reporting what happened are the point of the exercise, not an epilogue to it.

Planned missions

CJ-2027-VNResearch planned

Vietnam: formalisation and the informal trade

The first field mission. Two cities, chosen because the same national policy is being implemented under very different conditions in each.

Reached: Travel (1/10)Early 2027

CJ-2027-IDResearch planned

Indonesia: what keeps a waste bank open

Built specifically to study durability rather than launch. We want to meet waste banks that closed, not only ones that are still open.

Reached: Travel (1/10)Mid 2027

CJ-2027-MYResearch planned

Malaysia: capacity, trade and enforcement

A study of what recycling capacity is for, in a country that acquired a great deal of it very quickly and then changed the rules.

Reached: Travel (1/10)Mid 2027

CJ-2027-SGResearch planned

Singapore: a system with no disposal option

The constraint is the subject. Singapore is studied for what extreme land scarcity forces a system to become.

Reached: Travel (1/10)Late 2027

CJ-2027-THResearch planned

Thailand: organic waste under a seasonal load

Closes the first season. Chosen because seasonal variation is a problem many Indian cities share for different reasons.

Reached: Travel (1/10)Late 2027

CJ-2028-INResearch planned

India: establishing the conditions

Not a study of India from outside. This mission establishes what any adapted model would have to survive, before the first pilot is designed.

Reached: Travel (1/10)2028