Starting small: driving sustainability through circular manufacturing

Since the early 2000s, circular manufacturing has made significant strides. There is a growing focus on practices such as product repair, reuse, and refurbishment, moving the industry beyond a sole focus on recycling. This evolution reflects a broader cultural shift. As society increasingly moves away from the desire to constantly buy new products, organizations are also redefining what value, performance, and success mean to them. 

However, whilst circular manufacturing as a concept is becoming more mature, it has yet to reach the scale needed to fully meet today’s sustainability challenges. Bridging the gap between theory and practice remains a key focus going forward.

One of the main challenges to implementing circularity is that change must happen both upstream and downstream. Transformation across the entire value chain is needed, and the complexity of that system remains one of the biggest barriers.

A circular economy cannot be achieved in isolation, it requires both strategic focus and collaboration. The journey begins with each organization developing a clear understanding of what circularity means in their specific context, and identifying what lies within their realm of control. From there, building strong partnerships across the value chain, both upstream and downstream, and creating win-win situations becomes vital to unlocking shared opportunities. For suppliers this includes addressing that different customers are at different levels and would need different support.

Progress often starts small: through experimentation, pilot projects, a willingness to test new ideas, and an understanding that what works may not work everywhere. Just as important is creating a culture where lessons from unsuccessful initiatives are shared. Recognizing that setbacks can offer valuable insights drives long-term progress in circular manufacturing.

Can circularity lead to increased profitability? Yes, and that’s the power of less. Using fewer resources while delivering greater value can directly improve margins. Designing for reuse and longer product lifecycles not only supports sustainability goals, but also helps build stronger customer loyalty and long-term value

However, realizing complete potential could require redefining existing business models. It’s not enough to retrofit sustainability into models that were never designed to value it. Instead, organizations must explore new approaches that treat sustainability and circularity as integral to how value is created and captured.

Adopting circular strategies starts with small steps. Experimentation, learning, and building momentum are key. Embracing failure and extracting learnings from them is equally important.

As regulations tighten, they too will push the entire industry to move faster and at greater scale, helping to align efforts across the system.

Sustainability, today, is no longer an afterthought in manufacturing. Once you begin to look for it, you'll see it everywhere. It becomes a natural part of decisions, designs, and dialogue across the entire value chain, from suppliers to customers.