Circularity Engineering: A Scientific White Paper

Conventional modern economies are dominated by a linear resource usage model, where raw materials are extracted, transformed into products, used, and then discarded as waste. Conventional engineering practices reinforce this model. To prevent and mitigate the resulting increasingly negative and systemic impacts, particularly on the environment, concepts of circularity have been developed over the past decades. The circular model aims at designing flows of products, components, and (engineering) materials, in ways that retain, regain, and add to their value for as long as possible while minimizing adverse effects. To date, the adoption and scaling of circularity in engineering remains insufficient. Circularity engineering is proposed as the engineering of matter and its interplay with information and energy towards a circular economy. As such, it is optimized for and one of several required contributions to sustainability. It is a new modus operandi across all conventional engineering disciplines. Building on previous work, this scientific white paper introduces a framework for circularity engineering that includes six interconnected building blocks to enable circular engineered systems. The article highlights the added value of circularity engineering, i.e., higher product quality and profitability; discusses conceptual limitations; and proposes future research questions. Finally, we outline the contribution of circularity engineering to sustainability.