From linear to circular: how rethinking usage and waste saves Earth’s resources
While the discussion around the circular economy has reached megatrend status, the reality is that consumption continues to accelerate.
Web Story
13min
2024-07-30
01
<p>Humanity is currently using nature 1.7 times faster than our planet’s ecosystems can regenerate.<sup>1</sup></p>02
<p>We are moving to circular business models that eliminate waste and keep products and materials in use, reducing overshoot.</p>03
<p>ABB’s circularity approach focuses on preserving resources in every stage of the product lifecycle.</p>Circularity gap
Rising material extraction has shrunk global circularity from 9.1 percent in 2018, to 8.6 percent in 2020, 7.2 percent in 2023 and 6.9 percent in 2024.2 Without radical transformation of the materials used to satisfy humanity’s needs, we cannot meaningfully cut emissions. How can this be done? Circular economy solutions can address roughly half of the climate and three quarters of biodiversity loss.
ABB Circularity Framework
ABB’s strategy focuses on preserving resources at every stage of a product’s lifecycle, from design and sourcing, through production and use, all the way to responsible end-of-life services. It is a key element of ABB’s sustainability agenda and business models based on circularity can play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Our circularity model aims to minimize waste and maximize resource efficiency by recycling, reusing, and regenerating resources. It moves beyond the wasteful linear model of "take-make-dispose", to embrace the circular model: "reduce-reuse-recycle". By valuing waste as a resource, we can reduce dependence on virgin materials, lower emissions, and restore ecosystems.
"Collaboration with suppliers and partners is essential for circularity-driven innovation. Each of us has a distinct role to play in transitioning to a fully circular economy. By preventing resource waste and reusing materials, we protect the environment and ensure resources for future generations. Let’s move away from linear systems and work together to build sustainable models."
Anke Hampel, ABB Head of Sustainability
Life-Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) go hand-in-hand
ABB has more than 20 product families represented in the EcoSolutions program. ABB EcoSolutions products meet our circularity criteria in each stage of the product life cycle, as defined in ABB’s circularity framework, and have Type III Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) which are third party verified. This is part of our commitment to making our products more circular and supporting our customers' sustainability journeys by offering more sustainable product choices.
The LCA is a methodology for calculating/assessing the environmental impact of products. An EPD is a document which transparently communicates the environmental performance of a product over its lifetime. EPDs allow companies to substantiate claims with third-party verified data.
These are all important tools to make our products more sustainable and reduce ABB’s impact on the environment. LCA and EPD declarations can help us all make informed decisions about our solutions.
Our circularity approach - stage by stage
ABB's Circular Business Model is split into two halves – what we do (covering our own design, manufacturing and logistics processes) and what we enable (covering a product's lifetime, use by the customer, and eventual recycling). Read about our actions and solutions each step of the way below.
Circular design and sourcing
Globally
- Globally
- Finland
- Sweden
- United States of America
65%
<p>lower carbon footprint than industry average</p>200kg
<p>CO<sub>2</sub> emission reduction for each motor manufactured</p>100%
<p>of SynRM and e-mobility motors produced in Europe use this copper</p><p>ABB is working with <a href="https://new.abb.com/news/detail/98073/abb-partners-with-boliden-to-reduce-carbon-footprint-of-its-industrial-products"><b>Boliden</b></a>, the Swedish mining and smelting company, to build a strategic co-operation to use low carbon footprint copper in its electromagnetic stirring (EMS) equipment and high-efficiency electric motors. The aim is to <b>reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions</b> while driving the transition to a more <b>circular economy</b>.</p> <p><b>Our product portfolio embraces circularity.</b> For example, our synchronous reluctance motors deliver IE5 ultra-premium energy efficiency and avoid rare-earth materials. Also our digitalization and modernization services extend lifetime, optimize performance and reduce waste. Within the realm of recycling, <b>our motors and drives are 90 percent to 98.5 percent recyclable.</b></p>
<p><b>ABB is actively transitioning to REZYcom PP</b>, a recycled plastic material, supplied by Polykemi, the largest producer of customized thermoplastic compounds in Scandinavia. This has led to a <b>40 percent carbon reduction and minimized water usage across the lifecycle.</b></p>
<p>ABB is partnering with ArcelorMittal to introduce XCarb® steel made with high levels of recycled steel and <b>100% renewable energy</b> for its trusted Kabeldon power distribution system. The sustainable sourcing agreement <b>helps reduce the carbon footprint of key electrification equipment by 29%</b>. Low carbon-emissions steel which has a lower environmental impact than conventional steel, is an important raw material for the transition to more sustainable material sourcing, a KPI in <a href="https://global.abb/group/en/sustainability/preserving-resources#circularity"><b>ABB’s Circularity Approach</b></a>.</p>
<p>ABB has been selected by GreenIron, an innovative Swedish company working in the mining and metals industries with its patented materials reduction technology, to provide automation and control system solutions for a first commercial facility in Sandviken, Sweden. GreenIron’s hydrogen-based reduction technology will be industrialized for <b>fossil-free and energy-efficient production of metals</b>, producing fossil-free sponge iron that can then be used in industries such as steelmaking.</p> <p>This order supports GreenIron’s ambition to <b>lead the industries’ transformation to a circular economy and reduce CO₂ emissions.</b></p>
<p>ABB is partnering with ArcelorMittal to introduce XCarb® steel made with high levels of recycled steel and <b>100% renewable energy</b> for its trusted Kabeldon power distribution system. The sustainable sourcing agreement <b>helps reduce the carbon footprint of key electrification equipment by 29%</b>. Low carbon-emissions steel which has a lower environmental impact than conventional steel, is an important raw material for the transition to more sustainable material sourcing, a KPI in <a href="https://global.abb/group/en/sustainability/preserving-resources#circularity"><b>ABB’s Circularity Approach</b></a>.</p>
<p>To help address dangerous marine pollution, ABB Installation Products pioneered industry-leading cable protection crafted from <b>50 percent recycle-based polyamide</b> using primarily recovered fishing nets. This ABB’s <a href="https://new.abb.com/low-voltage/products/conduit-fittings/pma"><b>PMA® EcoGuard™ PA6</b></a> RPPA conduit requires less energy and water to produce, <b>reducing 30 percent of upstream Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and 50 percent of net freshwater use.</b></p>
Resource- efficient operations
Globally
- Globally
- Australia
- Finland
- Netherlands
- United States of America
<p>Closed loop and other recycling processes have saved <b>65 percent of industrial water use</b> and <b>80 percent of cooling water use at ABB sites worldwide</b> through 2022; we have <b>13 projects under way</b> to improve water management, with <b>projected annual savings of 17 kilotons.</b></p>
Closed loop and other recycling processes have saved 65 percent of industrial water use and 80 percent of cooling water use at ABB sites worldwide through 2022; we have 13 projects under way to improve water management, with projected annual savings of 17 kilotons.
65%
<p>of industrial water saved</p>80%
<p>of cooling water saved</p>13 projects
<p>to improve water management</p>17 kilotons
<p>of projected annual water savings</p>In partnership with one of its' key channel partner IPD, ABB has implemented a new sustainable packaging practice to reduce, reuse and recycle. By switching to reusable crates for shipping products to IPD, the ABB Warehouse team has been able to reduce their use of packaging material. By eliminating the need for cartons, void fill or packaging tape for those products they’re using crates for, the team has seen reduction of about 20% of their packaging material over the last year.
<p>ABB’s electrical installation products manufacturing site in Porvoo, Finland, has <b>reduced its mixed plastic waste by 50 percent</b> and improved its <b>recycling rate by almost 20 percent</b> in 2023 by adopting innovative processes for reusing waste products.</p>
<p>ARN’s waste-to-energy plants help to <b>drive a circular economy</b> in the Netherlands and Europe. The plant has been using the <b>ABB Ability™ Distributed Control System 800xA®</b> since 2008. In June 2023, ABB upgraded the distributed control system (DCS) to a newer system version.</p>
<p>ABB Motion plant in St. Louis, Missouri (USA), identified a way to reuse scrap from the manufacture of motors, <b>recovering more than 26,000 metric tons of electrical steel per year</b>.</p> <p>In 2022, the plant’s primary electrical steel supplier purchased a local recycling company, which now allows us to sell all electrical steel scrap produced during the manufacturing process back to the primary steel supplier.</p>
Optimized use phase
Globally
- Globally
- Egypt
- Belgium
- Sweden
- South Africa
<p>The <b>Circular Water Economy</b> is an innovative approach to managing water resources sustainably and efficiently. It aims to mimic the circular principles found in nature, where resources are continuously recycled and reused. In contrast, the Traditional Water Economy is the conventional linear approach, where water is used once and then discarded as wastewater without much consideration for recycling or conservation.</p> <p>The Circular Water Economy is built on the so-called six Rs: <b>"Reduce," "Reuse," "Recycle," "Reclaim," "Recover," and "Restore"</b>. The six elements represent different strategies aimed at sustainable water management and conservation.</p>
<p>A project to modernize an ACS600 multidrive at Al Bardi Paper Mill in Egypt has upgraded it to the latest drive technology,<b> increasing its reliability by approximately 30 percent</b> and <b>extending its lifetime by at least 12 years</b>.</p>
<p>ABB helped <a href="https://new.abb.com/news/detail/105147/retrofit-solution-brings-security-and-efficiency-to-belgium-energy-supplier">ENGIE</a>, a leading energy supplier in Belgium, to ensure <b>continuous and safe operations</b> in its innovative heat and power plants. This is a tangible example of how the circular approach can <b>extend asset lifespan and reduce operating equipment costs</b>, bringing short and long-term benefits to the company, society, and environment.</p>
ABB provided life cycle services for the motors and drives that control critical equipment at Jämtkraft’s factory for more than 20 years. Performed modernization services prolonged the equipment’s lifetime and helped to avoid premature scrapping and reduce waste, by reusing the existing infrastructure.
<p>The City of Cape Town, which is responsible for delivering energy to the 4.8 million residents of the Western Cape, has awarded ABB a three-year contract for a phased retrofit of legacy medium voltage (MV) switchgear within its electrical infrastructure. ABB’s electrification service experts design, install and commission switchgear <b>upgrade solutions to support safer, more sustainable power supply for Western Cape residents</b>. These new devices replace oil and SF6 insulated products, <b>reducing reliance on fossil fuels and release of potent greenhouse gas</b>.</p>
Responsible end of life
Globally
- Globally
- Vietnam
- Germany
- Sweden
- Türkiye
- United States of America
- Switzerland
<p>We offer a <b>take-back service</b> for switchgears and components including breakers. We have piloted it in several countries and will scale it up in 2024.</p>
ABB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Swedish textile impact company Syre to jointly explore technologies to support the development of Syre’s first textile-to-textile recycling plant in Vietnam. The agreement establishes a framework for collaboration to investigate how ABB’s automation, electrification and digital technologies could contribute to safe, efficient and scalable operations.
The proposed plant in Gia Lai province, Vietnam, is intended to recycle polyester from used textiles and industrial waste into new recycled polyester material. Recycling polyester helps reduce reliance on virgin fossil inputs, lowers climate impact and keeps valuable materials in circulation, supporting the transition toward a more circular textile industry.
In 2023, we partnered with Germany's Remondis, which recycles old inefficient motors and sends the retrieved metals to selected companies that ABB can then use as suppliers to manufacture new products.
ABB Large Motors and Generators in Sweden have joined forces with Stena Recycling to offer our customers an opportunity to recycle their old machines. The deal ensures that end-of-life motors/generators are recycled in an environmentally friendly way and the metals are reused in new products made in Europe.
<p><b>ABB and Stena Recycling AB have joined forces to streamline and improve the recycling of wood waste.</b> Each year, ABB Robotics generates approximately 1,300 tons of wood waste in the factory in Västerås. This waste primarily derives from pallets used in the transportation of robots and equipment. Stena Recycling collects the wood waste from ABB’s factories and transports it to their facility in Eskilstuna, where it is processed into wood chips using a wood chipping machine. The recycled wood is utilized to produce particle boards for new furniture production. By converting wood waste into new furniture, ABB Robotics factory in Västerås <b>increases material recycling rate from 36% to over 90% annually.</b></p>
ABB has completed the retrofit conversion of a Nuh Cement-owned diesel-fueled Euclid R85B haul truck into a fully electric, zero-emission vehicle. The two companies worked together closely to design and build this retrofit project, making this the first time in the world that a vehicle of this size and class type has been fully electrified.
<p>The ABB Energy Industries Service Parts Circularity Program aims to extend the life of used parts, conserving resources and minimizing electronic waste. The initiative focuses on the repair, reuse and recycling of faulty parts to extend their life. <a href="https://new.abb.com/news/detail/120913/abb-circularity-program-reduces-industrial-electronic-waste-to-landfill-by-93-percent-over-four-year-period"><b>Data collected by ABB Energy Industries reveals that the amount of industrial electronic waste sent to landfill reduced from 214.5 kg in 2020 to 14.2 kg by the end of 2023, this means a decrease in 93% over a four year period.</b></a></p> <p>The program creates significant value for customers through collaboration with recycling experts Stena Recycling in Europe and Ohio Drop Off in the US, who provide certified reports that assess the material properties of each part across various categories, offering transparency in sustainability reporting. </p>
Novelis – a leading sustainable aluminum solutions provider and the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling – selected ABB to modernize a mission-critical powertrain at its Swiss plant in Sierre. ABB provided a holistic solution, supplying new equipment, upgrading the automation system, handling all installation work, and managing the transportation and recycling of obsolete assets. When modernizing Novelis’ powertrain, ABB transported the dismantled products from the Sierre site to a nearby Thommen recycling facility. This approach, where modernization was coupled with end-of-life management, proved extremely valuable for the customer, providing both environmental and economic benefits.
Footnotes
- Global Footprint Network
- Circularity Gap report 2025: CGR 2025