As the accelerated compute and artificial intelligence (AI) adoption wave grows, hyperscalers and AI gigafactories are deploying equipment on ever larger scales. Even as commitments to sustainability are expressed and applied, this activity highlights a key aspect of the build out—e-waste.
Currently, European countries are averaging around 20 kg of e-waste per capita, according to the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (ITU and UNITAR-SCYCLE). This is only likely to increase as the current wave of infrastructure is built out to meet growing demand.
Circularity is the set of practices that addresses issues of resource usage, reuse, and waste, but also job creation and resilience in an increasingly disrupted world.
In the spirit of World Environment Day 2026, where we are reminded every action counts, and mobilisation at scale, across industries, communities and geographies is what will make the difference. Circularity is a key pillar of those efforts.
Why organisations should plan now
According to a recent World Economic Forum (WEF) report, the vast majority (95%) of executives across 10 industries believe that circularity will be important or very important within the next three years.
Further, more than two thirds (70%) of executives anticipate higher margins from circular activities compared to linear models. This is borne out by the finding that circular revenue growth is expected to exceed average growth by 80% within three years.
However, these findings are tempered by the fact that only one in five companies have built circular supply chains.
The sheer scale of development in the tech industry in particular, the rise of hyperscale facilities, and the advent of AI gigafactories, means that full lifecycle management for infrastructure is more important than ever, as end of life equipment and e-waste arise in ever increasing volumes.
Circular cycle
Circularity is a fundamental component of sustainability, standing alongside energy efficiency and decarbonisation.
The principles behind circularity have four key elements:
- The need to design for circularity in products, equipment and services.
- To use and maintain assets better throughout their operational life.
- To extent asset lifecycles through system intelligence and best practises,
- Reuse through repurposing, refurbishment or recycling core components, such as metals and rare minerals.
As a practice for assets which have already been designed and procured, circularity focuses on prolonging the healthy lives of assets and systems with end-to-end circularity through condition-based maintenance, repair, spares, modernisation, refurbishment and take back solutions.
Operational challenges in circularity
Research from the WEF found key areas where circularity, and particularly at scale, becomes challenging.
There are challenges in operations and logistics, business opportunities and profitability, technology, data and infrastructure, organisational, and in regulation.
In terms of operational barriers, these include low product returns, unpredictable quality, reverse logistics complexities, and demand fluctuation. Profitability can be elusive due to high costs in reverse logistics, inspection, and refurbishment.
Skills gaps are also a reality with limited experience in workforces which can limit scale, affecting collection systems, with poor data tracking common. Regulations are often inconsistent too, complicating cross-border flows and compliance.
From an organisational perspective resistance to change, perceptions of complexity, and difficulty sharing costs and profits with partners can all be blockers.
Focus and choices
For businesses to develop circular supply chains and practices, they must focus on certain areas, with certain decisions to be made.
Technology and transparent data are mission critical for circularity. Supportive supply chains structures must be carefully designed. Decisions must be made between in-house or partnership models, as dictated by need, supported by the right operational skillsets. Those skillsets can help drive the cultural transformation within the organisation that will be an enabler of success.
Finally, finance and supportive regulatory structures will be essential fuel for the whole initiative.
Solutions in supply chains and partnerships
A key finding of the WEF report was that circularity at scale is particularly challenging, for many of the reasons outlined. However, with the pace and scale of development, it is clear that circularity at scale will be absolutely necessary.
A key enabler of circularity is supportive supply chains, which often entails choosing when to combine traditional and circular flows, network configuration, and ownership models. Where circularity is maturing, hybrid models are common.
Network design options include centralised hubs versus local operations, whereas ownership choices include insourcing, outsourcing, or partnerships. Partnerships and clear reward systems are essential for securing materials, expertise, and customer participation.
The WEF report argues that digital supply chains will likely define success in the 2030s in similar fashion to how digital transformation defined the 2000s.
Service orientation and attitude changes
As the industry itself pivots increasingly towards as-a-service models, companies that lease more are more incentivised to design equipment that lasts, is easier to repair and easier to repurpose.
The approach of design for circularity, combined with the practices of use better, use longer, and use again, combine to create a cycle that supports sustainability. It reduces extractive impact, increases resilience, and introduces new opportunities for skilled workforces in takeback, refurbishment and recycling functions.
All of these trends together allow organisations to turn sustainability into a circular pattern that benefits all, improving reliability, efficiency, and resilience.
System intelligence and the circularity shift
The transition to circular supply chains is essential for improving asset performance, sustainability and resilience. Success depends on reconfiguring supply chains, building partnerships, and leveraging enablers, such as supportive policies, subsidies, and incentives; digital tools, and cultural shifts in governance, skills, and rewards. Embracing this transformation will help companies extend product life, recover embedded value, and operate within sustainability boundaries.
Talk to us today about how our various services in consulting, operations and maintenance, upgrade and modernisation can propel your business’ circularity contributions to our environment. Schneider Electric’s EcoConsult, EcoCare, and EcoFitTM services can elevate your efforts from sustainability to circular achievements.
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