C
Circular Economy
Economic system using a systemic approach to maintain a circular flow of resources by recovering, retaining, or adding value and contributing to sustainable development.
Circular Procurement
Procurement that embeds aspects of circularity at strategic, management and operational levels within procurement policies and processes.
D
Design for circularity
Design and development based on circular economy principles.
Designed for disassembly
Approach to the design of a product or constructed asset that facilitates disassembly at the end of its useful life, allowing components and parts to be reused, recycled, recovered for energy, or otherwise diverted from the waste stream.
E
Embodied carbon
Greenhouse gas emissions associated with getting a product or building ready for use. Also called ‘upfront carbon’, this includes emissions created during production, transportation, installation, and other processes needed before a product or building is used.
End of life (product)
When a product is taken out of use and its resources are either recovered for processing or disposed of.
L
Lightweighting
Designing and producing lighter products to reduce emissions related to transportation along with designing products or structures to use less material while maintaining performance.
Linear Economy
Economic system where resources follow the pattern of extraction, production, use, and disposal (take, make, waste).
M
Material
Physical resources—such as metals, plastics, organics, and construction inputs—that flow through the economy, subject to extraction, use, reuse, recycling, and disposal.
Modular design
Design using standardised elements that can be swapped and changed independently, enabling easier repair and re-use at end of life e.g. a building with parts that can easily be disassembled.
Modular product design
A specific application of modular design principles to product development, where individual parts (modules) are designed to be independently created, used, and replaced, e.g. a mobile phone with parts that can easily be replaced.
P
Post consumer recycled content
Recycled material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities as end-users of the product which can no longer be used for its intended purpose, including returns of material from the distribution chain. This material is often of lower quality and harder to recycle.
Pre consumer recycled content
Recycled material diverted from the waste stream during manufacturing, excluding rework, regrind or scrap reused within the same process. This material is often of higher quality and easier to recycle.
Procurement
The process of acquiring goods and services, including planning, sourcing, and managing contracts. In a circular economy, procurement means choosing products and services that minimise environmental impact across their life cycle.
Product-as-a Service
Product-as-a-Service is a model in which manufacturers or service providers retain ownership of a product and offer it to customers through leasing, subscription, or pay-per-use arrangements. This can encourage longer product lifespans, reuse, and efficient resource management.
Product
Goods or items manufactured, used and eventually disposed of or recovered. In a circular economy, products are designed for durability, reuse, repair, and recycling—minimising waste and conserving resources.
R
Recycable
Ability of a material to be diverted from the waste stream via available processes and collection systems and then reprocessed into new products, materials, or substances.
Recycled (material)
Materials that have been reprocessed from recovered waste materials, obtained through the complete dismantling or destruction of a product to its base materials, and used in the manufacture of new products.
Refurbish
Restoring an item during its expected service life to a useful condition with similar quality and performance for the same purpose.
Regenerative practice
Activity that improves or restores degraded ecosystems.
Remanufacture
Returning an item to like-new condition—quality and performance wise—using an industrial process.
Repurpose
Adapting a product or its parts for a different function than originally intended without major physical or chemical modifications.
Reuse
Using a product or its parts after their initial use for the same purpose for which they were originally designed.
S
Service model
Part of circular business models that shifts from selling products to providing services—such as leasing, sharing, maintenance, repair, or product-as-a-service models.
Standardisation of parts
Adopting consistent design, specification, and performance criteria for commonly used components, enabling interoperability, streamlined procurement, off-site manufacturing, and regulatory alignment.