By: Michael Leering, Director of Environment & Business Excellence Standards at CSA Group
The transition to a circular economy is often described in aspirational terms: redesigning systems, eliminating waste, and keeping materials in use for as long as possible. While those ambitions are broadly shared, the practical challenge remains the same across sectors: how do we move from intent to implementation in a way that is credible, consistent, and scalable?
In my role as Director of Environment & Business Excellence Standards at CSA Group, I sit at the intersection of two complementary streams of work. On one hand, we are developing sector-specific standards that support circularity in areas such as plastics, reuse systems, food loss, and waste. On the other, we are mobilizing and supporting Canada’s experts in the development and adoption of international standards that provide a common foundation for circular economy practices across all industries.
Together, these two lenses highlight both the opportunity and the challenge of advancing the circular economy. Before we can scale circular solutions, we need to first agree on the language, the expectations, and the ways we measure progress.
Standards as a Consensus-Driven Foundation
National Standards of Canada are developed through a rigorous, consensus-based process that brings together diverse expert perspectives from across impacted parties.
As an accredited national standards development organization, CSA Group convenes technical committees composed of subject matter experts representing a balance of interests. These typically include industry, government and regulators, academia, non-governmental organizations, and general interest parties. The intent is not to privilege one perspective but to help ensure that the resulting requirements are balanced, practical, credible, and broadly supported.
The consensus-based standards development process is supported by formal stages of review to ensure openness, transparency, and broader public input. Draft national standards undergo a public review period, where anyone can submit comments. Comments are then reviewed and dispositioned by the technical committee and undergo technical approval before publication. In the Canadian context, this process also includes bilingual publication in English and French.
Over the past few years, this consensus-based model has become increasingly important for mobilizing the circular economy. Circularity cuts across sectors, and without a shared process for bringing different perspectives together, it can be easy for solutions to become fragmented. By convening government, industry, and other experts around the same table, standards help ensure that circular economy requirements are grounded in real-world systems and can be applied consistently across sectors.
Speaking the Same Language
One of the most consistent challenges I see in advancing circular economy initiatives is the lack of common definitions and terminology. Across sectors, whether agriculture, construction, plastics, or food systems, organizations are often pursuing similar objectives but using different language to describe them and report on their efforts.
In many cases, the lowest-hanging fruit is simply agreeing on what we mean by “circular.” What constitutes recycling versus reuse? How is recycled content measured? What qualifies as a circular system rather than a linear one with incremental improvements?
Without standardized language, it becomes difficult to compare approaches, align policies, or measure progress. This is why common definitions are such a critical starting point. They establish a shared narrative and provide the foundation upon which more detailed, sector-specific requirements can be built.
Closely linked to definitions is the question of measurement. Once we agree on what circularity means, we need a common structure for understanding how circularity is measured. Without that, claims of circular performance risk becoming inconsistent, incomparable, or misleading.
International Alignment Through ISO Circular Economy Standards
To address these foundational challenges, CSA Group supports Canada’s participation in the development of international circular economy standards through ISO Technical Committee 323 (ISO/TC 323).
ISO/TC 323 has developed a series of standards that provide a high-level framework for the circular economy across sectors. CSA Group has adopted three of these as Canadian National Standards:
- CSA ISO 59004, which establishes principles, terminology, and guidance for implementing circular economy strategies
- CSA ISO 59010, which focuses on business models and value networks that enable circularity
- CSA ISO 59020, which provides guidance on measuring and assessing circularity
These standards are internationally recognized and sector-agnostic. They are designed to transcend individual industries and apply broadly across the economy. In that sense, they act as an umbrella document, providing common definitions, principles, and measurement approaches that can be adapted and operationalized within specific sector verticals.
From Common Definitions to Sector-Specific Solutions
Building on this international foundation, CSA Group is working with interested parties to develop national circular economy standards tailored to specific sectors. In many of these areas, the initial focus remains on establishing common definitions and terminology that reflect sector realities while aligning with the broader ISO framework, but the way standards support circularity goes much deeper.
In the plastics space, for example, CSA Group published CSA R117:24, “Plastics recycling — Definitions, reporting, and measuring”—a standard that clarifies how recycled content is defined and measured across different recycling processes. These definitions are essential for ensuring that recycled content claims are credible and comparable, and that downstream users understand exactly what is being measured and reported.
CSA Group is also doing work in areas such as food loss and waste within agriculture and municipal systems, and circular construction within the built environment. While these sectors differ significantly in their materials and processes, they face similar challenges in aligning terminology and expectations for circular performance. CSA Group has launched additional standards projects in these areas to set a foundation for circular performance.
At this stage, much of this work is about building the foundation. In many sectors, we are at first or second base, establishing shared language and concepts that enable more advanced requirements to follow.
Measuring Circularity Across Industries
Measurement is a critical enabler of circularity. Without a consistent way to measure and assess circularity performance, it is difficult for organizations and jurisdictions to understand where they are making progress, where gaps remain, and how their efforts compare across sectors or jurisdictions.
CSA ISO 59020 provides an internationally aligned framework for circularity performance evaluation across multiple system levels and distinguishes between circularity measurement and circularity assessment. Building on this foundational standard, CSA Group has invested in cross-industry research to understand how circularity measurement and assessment can be applied in practice—at the level of organizations, products, and public systems—and what is needed to support credible implementation in Canada.
Across this work, a consistent finding has emerged: measuring circularity requires more than tracking material flows alone. Effective evaluation also depends on assessing the environmental, social, and economic impacts of circular actions, as well as the financial and strategic viability of circular business models. The research also highlights the importance of sector-specific indicators, harmonized definitions, and phased implementation approaches that build on existing data while strengthening measurement capacity over time.
Together, these insights are helping translate the principles of CSA ISO 59020 into actionable, decision-relevant guidance that supports credible, comparable, and scalable measurement of circularity across industries and jurisdictions.
Going Deeper on Reuse: From Standards to Pilot Projects With Impact
Reuse is also an area where CSA Group has done significant work.
CSA Group and PR3, a US-based standards development organization, are developing a suite of binational standards that support reusable container systems, including standards for washing and sanitation, container design, labelling and recognition, and logistics and distribution. Together, these standards move beyond high-level principles to establish detailed requirements for how reuse systems should operate in practice.
Two of these standards—the washing standard and the container design standard—have already been published, with additional standards in development. Importantly, these standards are not theoretical. They are being applied in real-world systems and demonstrating tangible impact.
One example is the growing adoption of reusable containers across institutional settings, including universities. As reuse programs expand into new campuses and jurisdictions, standards provide a common reference point for safety, sanitation, and system design. They help to enable operators to demonstrate that reusable containers meet established requirements and build confidence among users and administrators alike.
This depth of work—and the resulting circularity impacts already being recognized—illustrates how standards are supporting circularity not only in principle, but in practice. It is in areas like reuse, where requirements are clear, systems are operational, and impacts are measurable, that the value of standards becomes most tangible.
Laying the Groundwork for What Comes Next
The circular economy will not be built overnight. In many sectors, the immediate priority remains establishing shared language, aligned expectations, and credible measurement approaches. That foundational work is essential—not as an end in itself, but as a prerequisite for meaningful action.
At the same time, examples like reuse demonstrate what becomes possible once standards move beyond definitions to support real-world implementation. As governments embed circularity into policy and procurement, businesses seek credible ways to demonstrate progress, and consumers demand greater transparency, the need for common frameworks will continue to grow.
By aligning international guidance with sector-specific application, standards are helping translate circular economy ambition into action, reducing uncertainty and helping to enable solutions to scale. This is what drives my passion for standards. As we move forward, I am excited to continue my role supporting circularity through standards, to reduce impacts on our environment, and to catalyze the drive toward a cleaner, more sustainable future.
This story was featured in Circular Economy Magazine:
