The concept of the Circular Economy (CE) has been largely explored by academia, businesses, and governments, driven by growing environmental and economic concerns. Despite progress that has been made, many manufacturers still produce in a non-circular manner, resulting in waste and inefficiencies. This study seeks to address the urgent need for new methods to facilitate the circular design of production processes.
The objective of this study primarily concerns the introduction of the Circularity Score (CS), a tool to assess the circularity of measures, considering processes’ environmental impact and their implementation effort, in early stages of development. Preliminary literature research shows a significant gap in existing assessment tools, which often require extensive customization and specialization, and are therefore rarely adopted in practice, especially in the early stages of process development.
From a methodological perspective, this study adopts a joint approach of basic and action research, involving key stakeholders, including researchers and employees from one of Germany’s leading automotive companies. Through site visits and unstructured interviews, material flows and primary waste types have been identified, providing information on the selection of relevant indicators.
As a result, the CS can be adapted to various sectors and industries. It is based on multiple-choice questions that evaluate current and new scenarios, providing a final score to compare and prioritize circular strategies based on their potential. This tool is based on estimates and does not require specific data, which, above all, are difficult to obtain, as they involve various sectors and companies that make up the entire product supply chain.
The CS tool represents a significant advance in the initial assessment of circular strategies, enabling stakeholders to integrate circularity principles before committing substantial resources. Its intuitive design makes it accessible to professionals without extensive experience in sustainability. Unlike existing tools, which often focus on retrospective analysis or are adapted to process-level optimization, the CS allows for the assessment of resource flows and system configuration not only during the conceptual or planning phase of production but also during its operation.
This work contributes to SDG 9 by enabling sustainable industrial practices, to SDG 12 by supporting circular resource use in production, and to SDG 17 by providing a tool that fosters collaboration and metrics for CE assessment. Further research will be focused on testing the tool in different practical projects and collecting new data to improve its effectiveness in promoting CE practices across various sectors.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, O.A. and S.N.; methodology, O.A., A.S. and S.N.; software, O.A. and S.N.; validation, O.A. and S.N.; formal analysis, O.A.; investigation, O.A. and S.N.; resources, S.N.; data curation, O.A. and S.N.; writing—original draft preparation, O.A.; writing—review and editing, O.A., A.S. and S.N.; visualization, O.A.; supervision, S.N., A.S. and J.F.; project administration, S.N.; funding acquisition, O.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because they are part of an ongoing study. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to Ottavia Aleo.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors Ottavia Aleo, Sascha Nagel and Anika Stephan were employed by the company BMW Group. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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