Realizing the vision of a truly circular economy requires common commitments for common rules. By establishing standardized rules for infrastructure and product design, the implementation of circular solutions at scale becomes possible.
To move us toward that circular future, it’s important to have convenors who can be standard-bearers and can assist with identifying challenges, setting vision and direction, and implementing solutions.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been instrumental in doing this work. For over a decade, the Foundation has worked to unite businesses, policymakers, and global institutions, and has become a trusted voice that has helped put the circular economy on the global agenda.
Combining a consistent practical approach to uniting stakeholders, the Foundation has been active throughout its history in standardization-related initiatives to scale innovation.
We were honoured to connect with the Foundation and are excited to share these insights, provided by Danielle Holly, Executive Lead, North America at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s goal is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. What is the current state of the transition, and what do you think the next few years will bring?
Since the Foundation’s creation in 2010, the circular economy has grown from a concept to an actionable strategy to address urgent global challenges. Today, over 100 countries have the circular economy in their respective national road maps, over US$400 billion of capital has been deployed toward the circular economy, and businesses are actively working toward or expanding circular business models, redesigning products, piloting new businesses, and demonstrating how those businesses can drive profitability.
Today, the value of the circular economy for businesses is well understood—including opportunities for new revenue streams, increased supply chain resilience, tools to address emissions targets, and strategies to restore nature. The circular economy represents a relevant, core solution that can bring on the transformation we need at both a local and global scale.
Now, with businesses asking what comes next, the Foundation is shifting its focus from educating business leaders and policymakers about the fundamentals of the circular economy to more hands-on implementation. This includes scaling its three core missions: plastics and packaging, critical minerals, and fashion and textiles. Each of these areas has urgent challenges and significant momentum from both business and policymakers. The circular economy represents a relevant, core solution that can bring on the transformation we need at both a local and global scale.
Can you talk a little more about your work in each mission?
Each mission area has its own systemic barriers that stand in the way of the market becoming fully circular. We work with our network of partners and policymakers to address these barriers by helping to align visions and coordinate market and policy changes.
For instance, we work with our business network and research teams on landscaping, research, and workshops. Our recent report, “Leading the charge: Turning risk into reward with a circular economy for EV batteries and critical minerals,” is one example of this work. The report identifies five areas for immediate action to build a circular economy for EV batteries. These actions provide a baseline framework that can be adopted as standards across the industry.
Within the Foundation’s Critical Minerals Mission, we are also doing work on the circularity of electronics, and how digital infrastructure can contribute to critical mineral recovery. We explored the landscape of specific electronics markets, which led to deeper research and workshops with companies and other stakeholders to understand their needs. We will share many of these insights in upcoming publications.
Joint projects are another way of tackling barriers. For example, the Foundation’s ongoing demonstration project, The Fashion ReModel, works with participating fashion companies to increase the percentage of revenue from circular business models, such as resale, rental, and repair. Shaped in consultation with over 150 fashion industry organizations, the project will scale circular business models and generate insights and evidence needed to create a guiding roadmap for the fashion industry.
On top of our work in these mission areas, we engage with policymakers to encourage the viability—and often the economic proposition—for circular solutions.
Critical minerals have become such a big topic of discussion—can you tell me a bit more about that mission area?
It certainly does feel like a constant news story! And that makes sense because of the importance of critical minerals to so many of the technical innovations that are driving our world—from the electrification of our energy use to electronics and the AI boom.
By 2035, demand for many of these critical minerals is projected to exceed supply. At the same time, e-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams, growing five times faster than we recycle it. To address both of these challenges, we can adopt circular economy strategies to better use existing materials and meet the growing demand.
These strategies present an enormous financial opportunity. A recent report estimated that there are more than a billion unused devices in US homes worth more than $65 billion. Pound for pound, these devices actually contain more concentrated amounts of critical minerals than can be extracted from the same weight of mined ore.
By designing products for longevity and repair to extend the life of the materials, and then efficiently recovering critical minerals, the circular economy can add enormous value for companies at every stage of the value chain.
How does that work in practice?
Well, it starts with focused work with our network partners. For example, we hosted a workshop last summer to explore how to better collect and recover more e-waste to feed back into production. There is a range of solutions that we focused on, including circular business models that deliver electronic products as services. This model encourages less resource-intensive production, more durability, and can often be more profitable. We also discussed how important parts standards are for electronics, as they enable repair and resale business models.
And, at a Climate Week New York City event that we hosted, we talked with a number of companies that are using technology and business models to have a significant impact. For instance, we heard from HP about their Renew Solutions group, which helps companies to recover, repurpose, and recycle their hardware. We also spoke with Google and SAP about how to integrate circularity data into core financial and operational systems, which creates more coherent standards to measure success.
| To hear the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s session from Climate Week NYC, check out episodes 202 and 203 of The Circular Economy Show Podcast at youtube.com/@EllenMacArthurFoundation. |
Does AI play into that?
Definitely! AI can play a part in system solutions just because it’s so good at parsing large data and finding patterns. This can help with tracking material flows through suppliers and value chains, but it can also help to improve tasks like material sorting that can be resource-intensive.
The AI infrastructure itself, while materially intensive, can also—with intentional design—be a source of resources for the next generation of devices.
An example of AI being used to push circularity forward is CircularNet, an open-source machine learning model for waste management, which addresses non-standard single streams of recycling by improving the accurate detection of different material types, including metal and plastics.
You’ve talked a little about policy—how can policy help support the transition to the circular economy? What policy levers can help us achieve a circular economy?
It’s crucial that policy supports the transition to the circular economy. The linear economy—or the take-make-waste economy—which is currently dominant, extracts resources, uses them, and sends them to landfill. This system has been optimized for more than 100 years. While it’s clear that the circular economy offers more efficiency over the long term and a huge upside for value creation, systems change is challenging and requires support from multiple stakeholders.
Policy gives businesses and investors confidence that investments will be supported, and that the environment will be stable to realize long-term returns. In addition, policy can establish standards and ensure that entire markets move together so that leaders are not penalized for taking on early risk.
For instance, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations place responsibility on producers with regard to the collection, sorting, and recirculation of products they put on the market. These policies can benefit the entire industry by building more resilient supply chains, creating jobs, enhancing brand reputation, and avoiding waste and pollution.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has published a policy brief on its website that lists actionable policy instruments to unlock circular economy outcomes. Can you discuss these policy instruments?
Yes, the policy brief “Keep it in use: Retain resource value and unlock economic opportunities” is the first of a series of three policy briefs on policy instruments for a resilient and competitive circular economy. This first policy brief features three key policy instruments that can help keep products, parts, and materials in use: waste regulations and resource classifications, EPR, and support for secondary materials markets.
These instruments establish clear legal baselines, incentivize material loops, and secure demand for secondary materials, delivering economic and social gains, such as cost savings and job creation. When used together, they form a strategic package that creates supply and demand signals, ensuring that valuable resources are collected, processed, and reintegrated into the economy.
The policy brief includes six case studies illustrating the implementation of these policy instruments and concludes with policy recommendations for national policymakers. For instance, creating precise definitions is important so that all stakeholders are aligned. Setting specific reuse and recycling targets that are adaptable as progress is made is also key. And making sure that laws are enforceable is required for follow-through.
Two more policy briefs will complete the series. The first one focuses on stimulating design for the circular economy, so that all products—from everyday consumer goods to durable products and infrastructure—are conceived from the outset with circularity in mind. The second will look at policies that help circular business models to become more competitive, such as public procurement and subsidies.
| Read the “Keep it in use” policy brief here: ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/keep-it-in-use-retain-resource-value-and-unlock-economic-opportunities |
Can you share with us the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s vision for the circular economy over the next decade?
We’re at a truly exciting moment for the circular economy. Over the past two decades, the circular economy has moved from concept to a pilot phase. We now need to move from pilot to truly embedded practice and implementation.
Finally, how can everyone do their part to help achieve this vision?
I love this question on what each of us can do. It’s so central to actually making the transformational change that we want to see—something that can often feel so distant and conceptual. The place to start is to talk about the circular economy in a way that’s tangible for both your context and the reality of those you’re trying to bring along. You don’t need to use the term “circular economy” to talk about the circular economy. You can talk about the joy you get when you find a fabulous thrift store find, and share the brands and circular business models that made that find possible. You can talk about companies like Back Market and iFixit that are making it possible for you to turn your old electronics into something other than e-waste.
An exciting aspect of transitioning to a circular economy is that one of the biggest levers we have to unlock it is our collective will. We now have the vision for what a circular economy looks like, and we have many working business models, pilots, and bright spots that are waiting to scale.
There are few transformations that have been made in human history that are as attainable and would make as much of an impact as the circular economy—improving prosperity, resilience, and the environment for the long term.
We are grateful to Danielle Holly and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for sharing these insights with us.
This story was featured in Circular Economy Magazine:
