Delivering the circular transition

Taking stock of progress, the future outlook remains stark, with sustained scale-up of investment in the “circular innovation gap” ever more urgent, writes Geraldine Brennan, Director of Circular Economy Innovation, Irish Manufacturing Research.

According to the EPA, Ireland will deliver a 23% reduction in GHGs rather than the 51% targeted by 2030. Ireland’s 2024 Circularity Gap Report baselines our circularity rate at 2.3% versus the 11.8% EU average which needs to double by 2030.

There will be ‘no net zero’ without a radical investment in the circular transition, on par with the scale of investment in our renewable energy transition over the last two decades.

Policy and regulatory drivers

Circularity is key to European competitiveness, economic security and resilience, decarbonisation, and innovation highlighted by the 2024 Letta and Draghi reports and reflected in the Competitiveness Compass and the new Clean Industrial Deal.

The EU Circular Economy Act is expected to launch while Ireland holds the EU Presidency in late 2026 with the objective to establish a single market for secondary raw materials, increasing availability of high-quality recycled materials and stimulating demand.

The Act seeks to target persistent bottlenecks and structural barriers preventing circularity by addressing regulatory fragmentation (especially in waste regulation and EPR schemes), introducing circular requirements in EU public procurement, and revising rules to enable greater recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs). Note – you can have your say on this Act until early November via the public consultation.

Greater strategic alignment between circularity and bioeconomy at EU level, to drive synergies between these new economic and production models, is anticipated and likely to be reflected in the new European Bioeconomy Strategy expected by year end.

EcoDesign for Sustainable Products Regulation implementation has commenced with the adoption of the first Working Plan in Q1, 2025. The first Digital Product Passport (DPP) acts are expected early 2026 with measures for priority products coming into effect by 2027/2028.

At a national level, Ireland’s second Circular Economy (CE) Strategy is anticipated by the end of 2025 followed by a national Bioeconomy Strategy by the end of 2026.

Consumer and industry traction

The Rediscovery Centre’s 2025 Research Synthesis Insights Report indicates citizen awareness of circularity has grown to 54% in 2024 from 25% in 2021. Almost seven in 10 would like to see the Government prioritise the circular economy particularly in plastics, clothing and general products. However, the report calls for additional insights into cultural and psychological drivers to better understand consumer motivations.

DCEE’s Climate Conversations 2024 published in June indicates that 52% of the population (not already involved in community action), cite interest in getting involved with circular economy initiatives, such as repair, upcycling, reuse, and repurposing.

A 2024 UCC survey of Manufacturing SMEs indicates circular business model adoption remains niche with 18% using leasing or renting models or selling remanufactured goods; 22% operating take back schemes, 26% providing repair/maintenance services, 28% selling second hand goods and 36% using secondary raw materials.

While circularity is becoming mainstream, building viable markets for circular products and services requires sustained public and private investment AND public engagement.

Driving cross-sectoral industry-oriented circularity

Over 2020-2024, through its leadership as the designer and secretariate of CIRCULÉIRE which is funded by DCEE, Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) have supported early adopters with a range of circular innovation and capacity building programmes. Leveraging public investment in this partnership to generate €4.5 million in membership fees and ‘in-kind’ contributions has enabled the deployment of €1.5 million grant-funding to 10 circular innovation pilots; delivery of 19 member action plans, identifying over 450 opportunities to eliminate waste and GHG emissions through circular practices; support for 26 innovative start-ups through Ireland’s first circular venture accelerator; 10 multi-sector industry-oriented thematic working groups with input from 150+ ecosystem stakeholders; 10 sector specific thought leadership guides to inspire circular innovation replication and 10 national and international policy consultations on behalf of our cross-sectoral membership.
Scaling circular impact

To grow CIRCULÉIRE’s ecosystem over 2024 and 2025, IMR expanded our All-Island co-operation and forged international collaborations with circular businesses and venture capital partners. We marked this flagship initiative’s 5th year in operation with over 115 stakeholders at our ‘The Future of Business is Circular’ conference focused on unpacking how to grow circular markets and showcasing innovative industrial solutions.

For our members, IMR have prioritised building their institutional capacity to adopt a strategic approach to Research Development and Innovation (RD&I) to derisk circular innovation as they transition towards or scale circularity. By the time we have concluded 2025, we will have deepened our strategic partnership with Zero Waste Scotland through a “CE Innovation Exchange” trip to Scotland and launched an All-Ireland Circular Economy Venture Award.

IMR’s focus is firmly set on scaling circular impact. I now lead a new Directorship reflecting circularity’s strategic priority for IMR as it embarks on its Phase 3 Business Plan. As an impact-oriented research organisation, we are uniquely positioned to support enterprise to leverage advanced technologies (from digital transformation to robotics and design for manufacturing) to scale-up deployment of circularity.

2030 is fast becoming a short-term horizon – as Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, noted: “We need to seize the transition to a circular economy as an opportunity for Europe to lead in innovation and competitiveness, and high environmental standards.”

On behalf of IMR and CIRCULÉIRE, I invite you to join our thriving ecosystem of pioneering circular organisations and innovators committed to realising circularity’s transformational potential.