Circular economy: here's what's happening in this domain

On 8 May, experts and aspiring experts gathered to discuss the circular economy (CE) at the NBN's Open Door Event.

Attendees gained a deeper understanding of standards, standards development and standards committees within the domain of circular economy.

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What circular economy committees exist?

1. ISO/TC 323 is the international technical committee on circular economy. The committee consists of 5 working groups.

2. NBN/I323 is the Belgian circular economy commission. It currently consists of 27 members from different sectors: universities, private companies, consultants, federations, research centers ...

The scope of these committees is to develop standards in the field of circular economy. This means creating frameworks, guidelines, tools and requirements to maximise their contribution to sustainable development.

Each member of the Belgian committee closely follows progress at the ISO level, may participate in the drafting of draft standards, and may vote or comment on these drafts.

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What are the committees currently working on?

ISO/TC 323 is currently working on six standards around CE. The most important are:

1. ISO 59004: Terminology, principles and guidelines for implementation

Key terminology, CE principles and regulations. For any organisation, of any size, in any industry, in any location.

2. ISO 59010: Guidance on the transition of business models and value networks

The standard for organisations that want to move from a linear to a circular business model. For any organisation, of any size, in any sector, in any location.

3. ISO 59020: Measuring and assessing circularity.

The framework to measure and assess circularity (principles, purpose and scope, calculation of circularity indicators, assessment of circularity, etc.) For any organisation, of any size, in any sector, in any location.
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The three other standards are:

4. ISO/TR 59031: Performance-based approach – Analysis of case studies

5. ISO 59040: Product Circularity Data Sheet

6. ISO/TR 59032: Review of business model implementation
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Together with another technical committee, ISO/TC 323 is also developing the following standard:

• ‍ISO59014: secondary materials - principles, sustainability and traceability requirements

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What's in store for the future?

• The standard ISO/TR 59033: Efficient use and management of resources in the circular economy - Developing good practices for replicability
• Monitoring the development of the ISO standard for a management system for the UN SDGs; the NBN has established a new Belgian committee for this purpose.
• Drafting a potentially certifiable management standard for circular economy.
• Establish a European circular economy committee to develop European CE standards - this is now under discussion
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What do our experts on the standards committees do?

The individuals who sit on Belgian standards committees are called 'experts'.
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These experts:

• follow ISO and CEN standardisation projects in real time;
• submit technical comments on the content of each draft;
• vote on each draft of a standard, at every stage;
• participate in the development of standards;
• They help shape the Belgian position on ISO and CEN decisions.
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What are the benefits of participating in standards development?

Participating in standards development is always to your advantage:

• You'll be the first to know about interesting developments.
• You get access to strategic information.
• You can anticipate changes.
• You can influence the content of standards.
• You get the chance to defend your own interests.
• You expand your network.
• You increase your knowledge.

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