Circular economy in action: ASI’s new Concept Paper on Circular Product Design

27 November 2024

ASI, in collaboration with the Circularity Working Group, is pleased to release the Concept Paper on Circular Product Design. This initiative reflects ASI’s commitment to promoting sustainability within the aluminium value chain by integrating circular economy principles at every stage of the product lifecycle. The concept paper provides stakeholders with strategies to reduce resource dependence, create shared value, and drive innovation. By focusing on the design phase — where the potential for environmental impact mitigation and resource efficiency is greatest — it helps industry players to align with global sustainability goals and advance the aluminium sector’s contribution to a circular economy.

Embracing Circular Economy Principles 

The framework of this paper is built on the principles defined in ISO 59004:2024, which advocates for a circular economy that maintains continuous resource flow while minimising waste and resource inputs through:

• Systems thinking: Designs should consider the full scope of aluminium production, usage, and disposal, recognising their place within a larger ecosystem.
• Value creation: Designs should aim to extend beyond the initial functional use of aluminium products to offer additional socio-economic and environmental benefits.
• Value sharing: Benefits from circular aluminium products should be distributed widely, supporting equitable and sustainable community development.
• Resource stewardship: Focuses on efficient material use, aiming to minimise reliance on virgin resources and enhance recovery processes, vital for extending the lifecycle of materials.
• Resource traceability: Tracks materials through their lifecycle to ensure responsible sourcing and effective recycling, key for maintaining transparency and accountability in circular economy practices.
• Ecosystem and community resilience: Considers the impact of industry practices on local ecosystems and communities, focusing on promoting biodiversity and assessing socio-economic effects.

These principles are intended to integrate circular economy considerations directly into product design and development, helping to align practices with sustainable development goals.

Four key outcomes categories of applying circular design principles

The paper focuses on four outcome categories for implementing circular design principles effectively:

1. Design strategies for circular outcomes: Products should be designed for ease of reuse, modularity, durability, safety, and disassembly, aiding their integration into new life cycles after current use ends.
2. Material dynamics for circularity: Using recycled or renewable materials increases market demand for these resources, helps close the material loop, and reduces the reliance on virgin materials.
3. Knowledge and information sharing: Fosters a thorough understanding of a product’s circular potential at all organisational levels and promotes the public sharing of information on end-of-life product handling to facilitate material recovery and recycling.
4. Chemical and material transparency: Enhances the disclosure of a product’s material and chemical composition, supports risk assessment, and develops safer chemical handling practices, along with implementing strategies to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in the supply chain.

The paper introduces a maturity level framework that could assist entities in evaluating their current circular design practices and identifying areas for improvement. By assessing where they stand within this framework, businesses can potentially gauge their progress in integrating circular economy principles. The framework aims to guide their advancement towards more sophisticated practices, illustrated through examples at each level.

Get involved

We invite industry stakeholders to engage with the new Concept Paper, available here. Integrating its outlined principles and practices into your operations can help advance the aluminium industry toward more sustainable practices.

We value your feedback and participation in shaping future standards and practices. To share your experiences, challenges, and successes in implementing circular design principles, please contact ASI Circularity Research Manager, Gabriel Carmona Aparicio.

This paper sets the stage for detailed guidelines on implementing circular design principles, as explored by ASI’s Circularity Working Group.
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