How circularity is measured: a practical guide to ISO 59020

In our previous article we looked at what the ISO 59000 family of standards is. Here we move on to the more practical question: how do we measure how circular a business, a product or a municipality really is? The answer comes from ISO 59020.

What ISO 59020 is
ISO 59020:2024 “Circular economy — Measuring and assessing circularity performance” was published in May 2024. It sets requirements and provides guidance on how an organisation measures and assesses its circularity over a specific period, using mandatory and optional indicators.

It can be applied at different levels:

Product: how circular a specific product or material is.
Organisation: a business or one of its production sites.
Network of partners: a supply chain or a group of cooperating businesses.
Region: a municipality, a region, an industrial park.
The aim is for results to be consistent, repeatable and verifiable. If two different people measure the same system with the same method, they should reach the same result.

What we measure: the five groups of indicators
The standard’s indicators are organised into five groups:

Indicator group What it shows Question it answers
Resource inflows How much of what enters the system is reused, recycled or renewable from a sustainable source What share of our raw materials is recycled?
Resource outflows What happens to products, by-products and waste: do they return to a loop or are they lost? How much of our waste is actually recovered?
Energy The share of renewable energy in consumption Where does the energy we use come from?
Water How much water is reused or returned to the environment in good quality Do we recycle water in our process?
Economic The value created relative to the resources consumed How much value do we create from each tonne of material?
The standard distinguishes core indicators from additional ones, chosen according to the sector and the purpose of the measurement. You don’t need to measure everything from day one.

Measurement step by step
Define the system and its boundaries. What exactly are we measuring: a product, a production line or the whole company? For which period? Clear boundaries ensure that future comparisons will be reliable.
Choose indicators. Start with the core ones and add those that make sense for your activity.
Collect data. Sources include purchase invoices, supplier specifications, entries in the Electronic Waste Register (HMA) and energy and water bills. Record where each figure comes from and how reliable it is.
Calculate. Apply the standard’s definitions the same way every time, so that results can be compared from year to year.
Assess and report. Compare against your targets or previous years, document your assumptions and present the results transparently.
A simple example
A plastic packaging plant uses 100 tonnes of materials in one year:

Inflow Tonnes
Virgin plastic 60
Recycled plastic 30
Reusable pallets and containers 10
Total 100
Circular inflows: (30 + 10) / 100 = 40%.

The same production generates 12 tonnes of waste. 9 tonnes go to recycling and 3 to landfill. Waste recovery rate: 9 / 12 = 75%.

The figures gain value when they are compared. If next year recycled plastic reaches 45%, the business has a documented improvement to present to customers, lenders and tenders.

The example is simplified. The full calculation follows the exact definitions and rules of the standard.

Common measurement mistakes
Measuring only recycling. Circularity also includes reuse, repair, product lifetime, energy and water.
“Recyclable” does not mean “recycled”. The fact that a material can be recycled does not prove that it actually is. We measure what happens in practice.
Blurred boundaries. If what is included in the measurement changes every year, the results cannot be compared.
Figures without evidence. A percentage without a source convinces neither the customer nor the auditor.
Circularity does not necessarily mean a smaller environmental footprint. For environmental impacts the standard refers to complementary methods, such as life cycle assessment (LCA).
Why it’s worth starting now
Under the new European rules on green claims, any statement about a “circular” product must be backed by evidence. A measurement under ISO 59020 provides that basis. In addition, you:

answer customer and supply chain questionnaires with ready data,
strengthen funding applications and bids in public tenders,
identify where materials and money are being lost,
link circularity to your existing management system, e.g. ISO 14001, so that it is tracked every year.
Want to measure your organisation’s circularity?
We start with an initial measurement of one product or site and give you a clear picture and improvement priorities.

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See also: ISO 59000: what it is · Circular Economy & ISO 59000 · Environmental Performance

This article is for information only. For the full content of the standard, refer to the official text of ISO 59020:2024.