Moving away from the ‘take, make, use, discard’ approach of linear economies is essential if the world is going to transform to sustainability. Circular economies design the re-use and recycling of materials into products and services to maximise the value from them and minimise waste.

The Circular Economy Network at IEMA is led by a steering group of members from different sectors of the economy. The role of the steering group is to oversee the delivery of an annual work programme of activities, including webinars, workshops, reports and much more.

Join the circular economy network

Opting to become a member of the network means you'll receive updates about developments in this sphere and the work of the steering group, invitations to apply to join the steering group or get involved in other ways, requests to participate in consultations, and notification of relevant webinars and other IEMA or external events. Use the button below to navigate to the portal and select 'circular economy network' in your subscription preferences.

Circular economy practical guidance

Circular economy policy engagement

Useful definitions

Circular economy

A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life. This presents an obvious solution to the problem of resource scarcity.

A ‘circular’ approach seeks to:

design out waste and pollution – products are designed so that they can be readily disassembled and re-used at end of life
maintain value (of products and materials) by designing for repair or remanufacture to extend lifecycle(s). Products last longer and are designed to do so
regenerate natural systems, i.e. through composting and anaerobic digestion
develop new/alternative organisation models, e.g. organisations move away from selling products to selling the service of that product.

Circular thinking

Circular thinking can be applied to organisations’ processes and products to identify new market opportunities and reduce waste costs such as swapping disposable packaging for reusable, returnable packaging. Another example could be enabling and facilitating reuse by modifying the service offering from ‘sale’ to ‘hire’.