The circular advantage: a new chapter for global business
Imagine a world in which your supply chains are not vulnerabilities, but assets. A world in which waste isn’t a cost burden but a material reserve. A future where geopolitical shocks, commodity squeezes, and raw-material embargoes no longer hold your business hostage. That is the promise of sovereign circularity — a future built not on regulation, but on design, resilience, and competitive advantage.
In a business-as-usual scenario, we would need two planets by 2030 to sustain our current production and consumption. This stark warning highlights the impossibility of the old “take-make-waste” linear economy to support continued growth, even as enthusiasm for ESG wanes. Forward-looking businesses and leaders now realize that breaking out of this linear trap isn’t just an environmental nicety; it’s a strategic imperative for long-term survival and success.
As global pressures intensify — from resource nationalism to climate tipping points — the companies that rewire their value chains to reuse, regenerate, and recirculate materials will not merely survive: they will lead.
From linear lock-in to circular take-off
The linear economy once thrived in a world that seemed inexhaustible. Resources were cheap, externalities invisible, and waste simply “out of sight, out of mind.” But those days are over.
Today, the scale of extraction and disposal has become impossible to ignore. Global material use has tripled in the last 50 years and could double again by 2050 without a new approach. Cities now generate more than 2 billion tons of solid waste every year, and the figure keeps climbing. By 2030, humanity’s demands would require the resources of two Earths to sustain business-as-usual growth.
The consequences are visible everywhere. The climate crisis and the ocean plastic epidemic are not separate events — they are symptoms of the same flawed model. Extracting virgin materials, using them once, and discarding the rest now accounts for 62% of global greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from resource extraction and processing.
For companies, this is not just an environmental reckoning but a business reality. Raw materials are scarcer and more expensive, regulatory pressure is mounting, and supply chain shocks are multiplying. Clinging to the linear playbook doesn’t just put the planet at risk — it exposes balance sheets and investors to rising costs and cascading risks. Linear growth is no longer viable. It is both environmentally and economically unsustainable.
Yet within this crisis lies the opening for transformation. What looks like lock-in is, in fact, take-off. The companies that rethink old assumptions and redesign around circular principles are already discovering that resilience and profitability go hand in hand.
Key strategies are emerging:
- Design out waste from the start — using recyclable or biodegradable materials, and planning for product end-of-life recovery.
- Keep products and materials in play longer — through repair services, re-manufacturing, leasing models, or second-hand marketplaces.
- Regenerate natural systems — by shifting to renewable energy and embedding regenerative practices in supply chains.
Those who move early find that circularity drives innovation, forcing creativity in design and efficiency that often leads to better products and services. It opens new revenue streams — from subscription models to resource recovery — and strengthens relationships with customers and partners who value sustainability.
Most importantly, circularity reframes sustainability from a cost center into a competitive differentiator. It’s no coincidence that many circular pioneers are also industry leaders, setting the agenda while linear laggards risk falling behind. As the World Economic Forum has emphasized, circular adoption is not just environmental responsibility — it is fast becoming the foundation of business resilience and leadership in the 21st century.
The $4.5 trillion circular opportunity
If the end of linear growth is a warning, the rise of circularity is an invitation. What looks like constraint on the surface is, in fact, one of the greatest economic openings of our time. By redesigning products, rethinking processes, and recirculating materials, businesses can turn sustainability from a compliance cost into a competitive advantage.
Research shows that a global shift to a circular economy could unlock $4.5 trillion in new economic output by 2030 and create more than 7 million jobs this decade. Far from being a drag on growth, circularity is proving to be a powerful engine for profitability and employment.
The mechanics are simple but transformative. Companies that design for durability, reuse, and recyclability cut costs on raw materials, strengthen customer loyalty, and buffer themselves against the volatility of global supply chains. Studies consistently find that firms with strong sustainability performance not only outperform financially but also weather crises with less volatility. In other words, resilience is becoming a market signal.
Investors, too, are voting with their capital. ESG-focused assets under management are projected to exceed $40 trillion by 2030, a solid indication that money is moving toward companies that can align profits with purpose. For businesses, this means that the market no longer rewards short-term extraction but long-term innovation.
Governments are amplifying the trend. The European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan aims to halve virgin raw material use by 2040. China, the U.S., and other major economies are rolling out incentives for recycling, renewable energy, and sustainable design. The message is unmistakable: circular practices are moving from optional experiments to expected norms.
The bottom line is clear. Circularity is about doing more with what we already have. It is about seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to decouple growth from waste and build a future where business success and planetary resilience are inseparable.
Supply chains as innovators leading the shift
Supply chains are one of the most important aspects of climate mitigation and sustainable business. Studies from Accenture, EY, and the World Bank converge on the same conclusion — supply chains generate roughly 60% of global carbon emissions. Direct operations (Scope 1 and 2) are only the tip of the iceberg. A World Bank analysis of 157 major multinationals found that while direct emissions account for about 10% of industrial output, the value chain adds another 50%. In other words, the majority of a company’s climate footprint lies upstream in suppliers and downstream in customers, not in its own four walls.
To put it bluntly: the next great breakthroughs in climate performance will not come from swapping lightbulbs in headquarters. They will come from rethinking how materials are sourced, how long they stay in circulation, and where they go at end-of-life. Redesigning products to eliminate waste, extend lifecycles, and regenerate natural systems turns sustainability into a driver of efficiency, resilience, and growth.
Already, innovators are showing what this future looks like. Some focus on scaling recovery systems, others on reinventing materials themselves. One striking example comes from Japan, where researchers at RIKEN and the University of Tokyo have designed a plastic that dissolves completely in seawater within hours, leaving behind no microplastics. Unlike earlier biodegradable plastics that failed under real-world conditions, this material retains conventional strength during use but then “unzips” into benign monomers when exposed to saltwater, degrading further in marine ecosystems. This breakthrough matters because even the most advanced reverse logistics systems cannot catch everything. In marine-exposed industries, where fishing, shipping, and coastal packaging losses are inevitable, designing for benign dissolution ensures those losses no longer cascade into centuries of pollution. For supply chains, this means building resilience not just through recovery but also through transient materials that prevent future liabilities.
The same principle is beginning to reshape energy systems. Batteries, long viewed as the bedrock of the net-zero transition, are being reimagined through bio-derived and biodegradable materials. Finnish leader Stora Enso has commercialized “Lignode,” a hard carbon made from lignin, the polymer in trees that provides rigidity. This innovation directly substitutes fossil-derived graphite in battery anodes, reducing dependence on imports from China, which currently supplies around 70% of the world’s graphite. By tapping into lignin, which is a byproduct of the paper and pulp industry, Stora Enso is not only creating a renewable alternative but also embedding traceability and sovereignty into one of the most geopolitically sensitive supply chains on the planet.
Meanwhile, academic labs are pushing even further. The FlowER battery, inspired by plants’ transpiration systems, uses paper-like channels for fluidic energy transport and can be composted at the end of its life. Researchers at Binghamton University are experimenting with “papertronics” batteries powered by probiotic bacteria on cellulose substrates, designed to self-destruct in acidic environments. While not yet scalable for EVs or grid storage, these prototypes signal a future where energy systems themselves become circular, built either for reuse or benign degradation. The trendline here is unmistakable, as lignin-based carbons, compostable architectures, and bio-electronics are pushing storage toward a circular sovereignty in which energy materials are no longer traded dependencies but regenerative resources.
The scale of change is staggering: according to the World Economic Forum, just eight major supply chains — food, construction, fashion, electronics, automotive, fast-moving consumer goods, professional services, and freight — account for more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The implication becomes unmistakable. Decarbonizing supply chains is not optional; it is core business strategy. Whether through smart recovery systems, marine-dissolving plastics, or bio-based batteries, the companies willing to rethink their value chains are building resilience, profitability, and sovereignty into their models — tangible pathways already in motion that show how circular innovation can rewrite the very DNA of global commerce.
Circularity in motion: turning waste into strategy
One great example of this transformation is Saint-Gobain Sekurit, where discarded windshields are becoming the raw material of tomorrow.
Through its Glassdrive network, spanning over 1,600 service centers in ten European countries, Saint-Gobain collects end-of-life automotive glass from insurers and repair partners across Europe. Instead of sending trucks back empty, they’re used for reverse logistics, carrying broken glass back to specialized recyclers.
These recyclers delaminate the laminated glass, separating it from the polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer. The clean glass is crushed into cullet, which is fed back into Isover insulation and glass wool factories, while the PVB is repurposed into carpet backing and industrial coatings.
Each ton of cullet saves over 30% of furnace energy, avoids 700 kilograms of CO₂, and replaces 1.2 tons of virgin raw materials. Because raw materials make up a double-digit share of glass production costs, these savings go straight to the bottom line.
And the loop is expanding. In Estonia, a pilot collected 551 tons of waste windscreens in one year for insulation production in Finland. In the UK, Saint-Gobain invested £15 million with VEKA Recycling to expand post-consumer glazing recovery.
This isn’t just waste management — it’s a business strategy. By securing its own supply of secondary materials, Saint-Gobain reduces exposure to carbon pricing, hedges against resource scarcity, and creates new service lines for insurers and fleets. It’s an industrial system designed not just to survive disruption but to turn it into advantage.
Circular sovereignty in action
The case of Saint-Gobain shows how a product once considered unrecoverable can become the foundation of a closed-loop system. Yet they are not alone. Across industries, companies are discovering that circularity is more than sustainability—it is sovereignty, resilience, and strategic advantage.
Take Renault. At its Flins “Refactory” near Paris, the company turned what had been a traditional assembly plant into a showcase of circular design. Instead of focusing only on producing new cars, Renault refurbishes 50,000 vehicles each year and recycles 30,000 EV batteries, cutting raw material demand by 20%. The shift has created new revenue streams from certified “second-life” vehicles, while buffering the company from price swings in critical metals. What once was end-of-life inventory now functions as a material reserve, strengthening Renault’s independence from volatile global markets.
Michelin has taken a similar path in one of the most difficult waste challenges: tires. Over 1 billion tires are discarded annually, a mountain of material once destined for incineration or landfill. In partnership with Swedish firm Enviro, Michelin has pioneered pyrolysis recycling to break down old tires into carbon black and oil. Their first facility in Sweden already processes 34,500 tons a year, and the roadmap scales toward 1 million tons annually by 2030. By 2050, Michelin aims for 100% renewable or recycled content in its tires. The economics are as compelling as the environmental gains: recycled carbon black is cheaper and less volatile than fossil-derived alternatives, securing Michelin’s supply lines while reducing exposure to raw material shocks.
Across the Atlantic, Redwood Materials, founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, has emerged as a linchpin of North America’s battery sovereignty. Redwood now processes over 70% of the region’s used EV battery packs, transforming what could have been hazardous waste into new energy infrastructure. In 2024, it reported generating $200 million in revenue that is being reinvested to help build capacity for the future of the business and industry. Its ambitions include processing 250,000 battery packs annually and repurposing them into microgrids, such as a 12 MW system powering data centers. Redwood’s closed-loop ecosystem reduces reliance on cobalt, nickel, and lithium imports, turning the battery supply chain from a geopolitical risk into a domestic strength.
In consumer electronics, Apple demonstrates how high-tech products can also be circular. Its Daisy robots disassemble over 1.2 million iPhones annually, recovering gold, aluminum, cobalt, and rare earths. Apple has pledged to use 100% recycled rare earth elements in its magnet assemblies by 2025, a particularly strategic move given that rare earths are concentrated in politically sensitive supply chains. Through trade-in programs and refurbishment, Apple not only extends product lifespans but also deepens customer loyalty, proving that reverse logistics can be both profitable and sovereign.
The logic extends to retail and apparel. IKEA’s modular design philosophy allows customers to replace parts instead of discarding entire products, reducing raw material costs by 12% annually. Its buy-back and resale programs further embed customers in a circular relationship, aligning environmental stewardship with business growth. Patagonia has gone even further in apparel: its Worn Wear program cut virgin material use by 35% while reinforcing a brand identity built on durability and repair. What began as an environmental ethos has become a competitive differentiator, attracting loyal customers who view repair and reuse as a badge of trust.
Meanwhile, Belgium-based Umicore has become a global leader in “urban mining.” Its facilities recover cobalt, nickel, and precious metals from e-waste at purities above 95%, generating hundreds of millions of euros annually. In effect, Umicore is showing that the materials powering the digital economy already exist above ground in discarded electronics, circuit boards, and batteries. By closing this loop, the company transforms waste into a sovereign supply of critical inputs.
Technology also accelerates circularity. In Colorado, Amp Robotics deploys AI-powered sorting systems that have identified over 150 billion individual items and directed the recovery of more than 2.5 million tons of recyclables, dramatically improving the quality and economics of recycled materials. By embedding intelligence into waste streams, AMP is proving that circularity can be scaled through data and automation. This enhances recovery rates, lowers processing costs, and reduces dependence on virgin resources.
Taken together, these pioneers show that circular sovereignty is no longer an abstract concept. It is a lived reality across mobility, energy, consumer goods, and technology. Each case illustrates the same pattern: what was once waste becomes a resource; what was once a liability becomes an asset; what was once an external risk becomes a sovereign strength.
From pilots to systemic change
If these examples prove that circularity works in practice, the challenge is how to make them the rule rather than the exception. The next decade must be about systemic scale-up. That means embedding design for disassembly at the very start of the product lifecycle, ensuring that end-of-life recovery is not an afterthought but a default. It means treating logistics networks as two-way arteries, where trucks and containers return not empty but carrying back materials for reuse. It means integrating transient materials like dissolvable plastics where recovery is impossible, ensuring no residue becomes tomorrow’s pollution.
Financial and insurance systems also have a role. By rewarding repair over replacement, or structuring leasing models that link profitability to durability, insurers and financiers can accelerate the economics of circularity. Regional hubs must be built to bring recycling and remanufacturing closer to where consumption happens, cutting both costs and carbon. And digital tools, from AI to blockchain, will enable predictive material flows, authenticating recycled inputs and optimizing reverse logistics.
Yet perhaps the most important shift is narrative. Circularity must be understood not merely as ESG branding or regulatory compliance, but as strategic sovereignty. In a world of trade wars, raw-material embargoes, and carbon border tariffs, the loops you close are the borders you control. Companies that adopt circular models are not only reducing emissions, they are hedging against geopolitical risk.
Closing the loop: resilience as advantage
The story, then, comes full circle. The linear economy — extract, use, discard — has left businesses vulnerable to rising costs, supply shocks, and environmental limits. But the cases we have explored demonstrate another path. From Renault’s refurbished vehicles to Michelin’s tire-to-feedstock revolution, from Saint-Gobain Sekurit’s closed-loop glass recovery to Redwood’s battery ecosystems, from Apple’s robotic disassembly to IKEA’s modular design and Patagonia’s repair-first model, from Umicore’s urban mining to AMP’s AI-powered recycling, the evidence is overwhelming: circular supply chains deliver resilience, profitability, and sovereignty.
The message for business leaders is urgent but hopeful. Circular strategies unlock trillions in value, cut the majority of emissions hidden in supply chains, and transform waste from a liability into a strategic asset. As resource nationalism rises and climate tipping points accelerate, the companies that re-architect their supply chains today will not only survive but they will lead. Sovereignty in the coming decade will not be secured through tariffs or stockpiles, but through loops of recovery, regeneration, and reuse. The businesses that embrace this truth now will prosper in a world where doing good and doing well are no longer in conflict, but one and the same.
Marga Hoek Founder-CEO Business for Good, Global Thought Leader Sustainable Business, Capital and Technology, Award-Winning Author
Theresa McCarty Lead Research and Strategic Analysis Business for Good, New York
