Circle of life
The circular economy opens up powerful opportunities to drive efficiency, build resilience, and unlock new avenues for growth. As catalysts, connectors, and curators, service designers are uniquely positioned to help organisations translate circular ambitions into lasting impact.
In recent years, sustainability commitments have been quietly scaled back – often justified by economic headwinds, weakening regulations, capital constraints, or underwhelming returns. Yet, external pressures continue to intensify. Resource scarcity, supply chain disruptions, tightening requirements in the EU, the rapid growth of energy-hungry data centers, and the rise of conscious consumerism are all converging. Whether organisations feel ready or not, sustainability is moving back to the top of the agenda.
Breaking away from the traditional linear ‘take–make–dispose’ model requires a shift toward three mutually reinforcing strategies:
Decarbonisation – reducing greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy, low-carbon alternatives, and accelerated electrification
Circularity – keeping products, materials, and value in continuous flow through reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and recovery
Regeneration – restoring biodiversity, replenishing natural systems, and supporting local economies
While distinct, these strategies are deeply interdependent. They offer significant synergies, but also involve trade-offs that must be actively managed. For example, remanufacturing and material recovery can extend product lifecycles and reduce waste, yet may be energy-intensive and increase emissions in the short term.
Decarbonisation has already entered the mainstream, with many organisations committing to net-zero targets. Regeneration demands profound systemic change and challenges established economic models. Circularity sits somewhere in between – representing a largely untapped business and innovation opportunity that can be pursued within existing market and governance structures.
Circularity is a lever for operational excellence, a strategy for building resilience in overstretched supply chains, and an innovation engine for unlocking new growth. This blog post introduces a six-stack approach to circular innovation – a practical framework for transforming businesses by embedding circular principles across strategy, culture, operations, and product & service design.
While the six stacks are interconnected, each delivers distinct and measurable outcomes. Recognising differences in ambition and maturity, organisations can enter at any point, shaping a tailored journey that evolves over time and progressively unlocks the full potential of circularity.
For a deeper dive – including the role service designers can play – see the peer-reviewed article in Touchpoint by Jing Qian and myself (Bau & Jing, 2025b).
(Based on Bau & Jing, 2025a; Bau & Jing, 2025b; Ellen MacArthur Foundation, n.d.; Bronstein, Moriarty & Rees, 2025.)
The six-stack approach to circular innovation
Stack 1: Embedding circularity into the core of the business
Circularity can be designed into how the business thinks, acts and collaborates. Stack 1 begins with identifying high-impact opportunities for circular innovation and growth, defining a clear circular North Star and building a compelling case for change. From here, businesses can redesign business models for circularity; realign investment priorities, governance and incentives; equip leaders and teams for circularity; and foster a culture of ethical circularity and continuous improvement.
Stack 2: Building the operating model for circularity
Many organisations pursue circularity in isolated projects, disconnected from their innovation portfolio or new product development process. Stack 2 reshapes structures, processes, workflows, and governance through a circular lens – spanning innovation portfolio management (from opportunity identification to project prioritisation), product lifecycle management (from planning and conception through to reuse and recovery), and supply chain management (from sourcing and production to distribution, reverse logistics, and material recirculation).
Stack 3: Designing products with circular properties
Circular products are intentionally designed to minimise waste, maximise resource efficiency, and extend lifecycles in support of a circular economy. Stack 3 focuses on embedding properties that ensure products and packaging are not only fit for purpose today, but can also be repaired, remanufactured, or repurposed tomorrow. Circular design properties fall into four categories: durability, resource optimisation, adaptability, and transparency.
Stack 4: Designing circular loops
Closing the loop is key to reducing waste, extending product lifecycles, promoting reuse, and retaining the value of materials. These loops often span multiple functions, partners and geographies, making them complex and fragile – especially if not designed with people in mind. Stack 4 is about developing the systems, services, processes and experiences that enable circular flows across the product lifecycle and value network. Organisations can adopt four recirculation strategies: preserve and enhance; adapt and reimagine; recirculate and renew; and recover and return.
Stack 5: Designing platforms for access and sharing
Platforms for access and sharing extend product lifecycles and maximise resource utilisation, taking circularity to the next level. They empower customers to experience, use, and benefit from products without the burden and cost of ownership. Stack 5 focuses on designing the right business models and platforms for access and sharing, such as product-as-a-service, performance-as-a-service, and peer-to-peer sharing. See my blog post Let’s not get physical, physical • 1.
Stack 6: Cultivating circular mindsets and behaviors
Ultimately, circularity stands or falls on the choices people make. Inspiring people to embrace circular principles and habits in everyday life is essential. Stack 6 focuses on creating human-centred platforms, services, and experiences that make circular living easy, rewarding, and irresistible. Key strategies and interventions include: building circular literacy; equipping people with circular tools for action; incentivising circular choices; mobilising participation in circular initiatives; and supporting community-based circular services.
(Based on Bau & Jing, 2025a; Bau & Jing, 2025b; Takacs, Stechow & Frankenberger, 2020; Jégou & Manzini, 2008.)
Driving circularity in service-dominant organizations
In product-centric businesses, which are organised around making and selling tangible goods, circularity often feels more intuitive. In service-dominant organizations, the stacked approach remains valuable, but its success hinges on three major mindset shifts – most critically in Stack 3:
From physical products to the tangible and intangible resources that enable value facilitation and co-creation across the end-to-end customer experience. The resource mix typically spans systems, assets, people, and touchpoints.
From product-centric lifecycles to customer-centric journeys and lifecycles – finding smart ways to empower customers in their value creation process while adhering to circular principles.
From the individual service provider to the wider service ecosystem – recognising that many systems, assets, and touchpoints depend on shared access and coordinated action with partners across the value network.
(Based on Bau & Jing, 2025a; Bau & Jing, 2025b; Grönroos, 2011.)
Essential resources for circular innovation
Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Definitions, principles, key concepts, and case studies on the circular economy.
Skills for Planet Blueprint (Design Council UK, 2025). A framework of 18 skills for embedding green design into everyday practice.
40 Circular Economy Patterns (BMI Lab, 2020). An interactive tool for designing circular business models and ecosystems.
Swivel to Sustainability (Acaroglu, 2022). A guidebook to full systems business transformation.
The Circular Economy Handbook (Lacy et al., 2020). Practical approaches for building a holistic circular organisation.
Products That Flow (Haffmans et al., 2018). Circular business models and design strategies for fast-moving consumer goods.
References
Bau, R. & Qian, J. (2025a). Circularity by design. Driving circular innovation and transformation in three types of organisations. Unpublished internal playbook, PA Consulting.
Bau, R. & Qian, J. (2025b). Stacking the future. A six-stack approach to circular innovation and transformation. Touchpoint, 16(3), 56–62.
Bronstein, R., Moriarty, R. & Rees, B. (2025). Skills for planet blueprint. The critical green skills that all designers need. Design Council UK.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (n.d.). Circular economy foundation.
Grönroos, C. (2011). Value co-creation in service logic: A critical analysis. Marketing Theory, 11(3), 279–301.
Jégou, F. & Manzini, E. (2008). Collaborative services: Social innovation and design for sustainability. Edizioni POLI.design.
Takacs, F., Stechow, R. & Frankenberger, K. (2020). 40 circular economy pattern cards. BMI Lab.
