Circular Transformation of Industries 2025

Lifespan extensionArchetype 2 When products are durable, of high value and can be disassembled, the potential to unlock value from lifespan extension is particularly high. According to the European Commission,23 disposing of goods before they have reached the end of their useful life produces 261 million tons of CO2-equivalent (CO2eq) emissions, uses 30 million tons of resources, and creates 35 million tons of waste in the European Union (EU) each year. Consumers also lose about €12 billion yearly by replacing goods rather than repairing them.24 Given the regulatory changes in some regions and industries (for example, the emerging “right to repair” in the EU25 and Canada)26 and growing concern over the increasing volumes of waste, more businesses are expected to embrace lifespan extension strategies in the medium to longer term. While not as established as circular feedstock, the 2024 survey finds that lifespan extension solutions exist in almost every industry at varying scale.Businesses can extend the lifespan of their products in many ways. They can design for circularity, offer repair, refurbishment or upgrade services, and/ or promote marketplaces for used goods. Of all the lifespan extension solutions, businesses state that repair solutions generate the highest positive impact across GHG emissions, revenues and costs, possibly because repair services extend a product’s lifespan with only minimal new materials or parts. Designing for circularity includes designing products that enable, for example, repair, refurbishment or recycling. In the survey, this approach had the highest adoption rate (on average across industries), as it provides synergies and is considered an enabler for other solutions. Cisco, a global technology company, has adopted 25 circular design principles that range from circular feedstock (“use recycled instead of virgin materials”) to lifespan extension (“ensure product structure allows for identification and accessibility of valuable components”). For example, the modular design of Cisco’s Catalyst IR1101 rugged router provides customers with the flexibility to add or upgrade components as their customer needs and technologies evolve. The updated design also reduces idle power by 45% compared to a previous generation. Additionally, in 2019, Cisco removed oil-based wet paint from its Catalyst 9000 product; this resulted in eliminating approximately 40 million tons (MT) per year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and about 1,900 MT CO2eq, while saving over $5 million from 2019 until the end of fiscal 2023. For some materials, such as plastics, removing oil-based wet paint can facilitate recyclability and the ability to remanufacture. Lifespan extension solutions are especially advanced for industries that produce high-value, durable products that can be disassembled and often show a high degree of customization and configuration – such as in the machinery, automotives and consumer technology industries.The scale of these solutions today is below potential, but anticipated to grow where value creation is likely. As sharing models become more prevalent, the momentum for lifespan extension is expected to increase as businesses often retain ownership and are trying to extend the useful life of their deployed assets. Circular Transformation of Industries: Unlocking Economic Value 14