Circular Economy & Durability

Circular economy — Vocabulary, principles and guidance for implementation

ISO 59004 provides an international definition of the circular economy and identifies six complementary and interconnected principles. Namely, systems thinking, value creation, value sharing, resource management, resource tracking, and ecosystem resilience. 

The priorities to achieve better circularity performance are established as: refuse, rethink, reduce, repair, reuse, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose, cascade, recycle, recover energy, and re-mine.
The standard also provides guidance for its implementation and defines key terminology. 
By implementing ISO 59004, public and private companies can develop sustainable and ambitious solutions while improving stakeholder relations and complying with environmental regulations.

Plastics — Guidelines for the recovery and recycling of plastics waste

ISO 15270:2008 provides guidance for the development of standards and specifications covering plastics waste recovery, including recycling. The standard establishes the different options for the recovery of plastics waste arising from pre-consumer and post-consumer sources. It also establishes the quality requirements that should be considered in all steps of the recovery process, and provides general recommendations for inclusion in material standards, test standards and product specifications. Consequently, the process stages, requirements, recommendations and terminology presented in the standard are intended to be of general applicability.

Circular economy — Guidance on the transition of business models and value networks

ISO 59010 focuses on examining existing business models and value networks through the lens of circular economy principles. This standard is designed to help organisations set goals, develop a circular economy strategy and evolve their business models and value networks to embrace circularity. It enables them to take control of the assessment and monitoring of their current practices.
Transitioning from the traditional linear business model to a circular one: all companies committed to this direction can find guidance in ISO 59010, enabling them to contribute to sustainable business practices and a resilient global economy. In fact, this second standard will help any organisation interested in improving resource efficiency and reducing waste, increasing their adaptability to regulatory and market changes, and aligning their business practices with global sustainability goals.

Circular economy — Measuring and assessing circularity performance

ISO 59020 is designed as a framework that can be applied at different levels of an economic system, from the regional, inter-organisational and organisational level to the product level. ISO 59020 is structured to monitor targets and actions (reduce, repair, reuse, recycle), measure resource flows (including inflows, outflows and losses), assess sustainability impacts (social, environmental and economic), and always consider key indicators of circularity, such as the use of resources such as energy and water.
Using the framework outlined in ISO 59020 to measure and evaluate circularity performance aims to help organisations minimise resource use, increase transparency and accountability in environmental reporting, and facilitate strategic decision making for sustainable resource management.

Environmental labels and declarations — Self-declared environmental claims (Type II environmental labelling)

This International Standard specifies requirements for self-declared environmental claims, including statements, symbols and graphics, regarding products. It further describes selected terms commonly used in environmental claims and gives qualifications for their use. This International Standard also describes a general evaluation and verification methodology for self-declared environmental claims and specific evaluation and verification methods for the selected claims in this International Standard.

Secondary materials — Principles, sustainability and traceability requirements

Under development - ISO 59014 addresses sustainability criteria in secondary resources management in developing and emerging economies.