Measure and increase the circularity, nationally, in sectors and in companies

Important results from the project

The objective was to, together with companies and industry, create measures to measure and increase resource efficiency and circularity nationally as well as in industries. The goal has been met by working together and concluding that it is not possible to measure circularity with existing statistics, but that the commitment is great that there are good prospects for expanding statistics and developing measures together. The external analysis shows that nobody really measures resource efficiency and circularity yet, but that the issue is very topical and is developing rapidly.

Expected long term effects

The strategic analysis show that it is very unusual to measure circularity but that several initiatives have been taken. Many indicators of resource use and waste are used internationally and nationally, but it is mainly the outer circles (recycling, energy recovery) that are measured. There are no statistics to measure the inner circles (slowing, closing or narrowing loops) neither at national or corporate levels. All project partners are engaged in developing the missing statisitcs, indicators and metrics, and at least a few new stakeholders have joined this development in phase 2.

Approach and implementation

Initially, a strategic analysis was conducted to see what different indicators are used at national level and how organizations measure resource efficiency and circularity. Furthermore, national data were produced for the three most appropriate international indicators. Then, the main indicator Domestic material consumption (DMC) was distributed over industry. In parallel, companies and industry investigated what statistics are available today to measure circularity and what statistics are needed to be able to measure. A proposal for a developed measure was developed.