Stakeholders can frequently face difficulties procuring reliable data regarding a product’s circular characteristics. Industries can be secretive, and lack transparency in their reporting and information sharing; in addition, reporting isn’t standardised across sectors; this requires manufacturers customise datasets for various customers and product platforms.

 Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Economy has launched a ‘Circularity Dataset Initiative’, with the aim of creating a regulated framework—a new industry standard—for circular data about products, that will eventually be implemented at the European level. The data will apply to products throughout the value chains, including both raw materials and finished goods, and will track items from manufacturing, to use, to re-use or recycling. 

Such regulation and standardisation brings significant cost-savings and increased value, and will facilitate further uptake of circular strategies across business and governments. It also ensures that the data provided is reliable, by verifying it through an external audit. Since its creation, more than 50 companies (including IKEA, Saint-Gobin, Tarkett and Astron Buildings) have joined the initiative.