When: 

Friday, May 16, 14:30-16:00 (UTC-3, Brazil time) 

Where: 

Hotel InterContinental, Alameda Santos 1123, São Paulo, Brazil 

The upstream part of supply chains requires more attention by policymakers and businesses, in particular the design of products as most resource savings can be achieved at the design stage. However, it is necessary to move beyond the principle of designing for circularity, and towards development and application of design toolkits, criteria, guidelines and standards.  Starting from the concept of (product) design for circularity, we can extrapolate a more general approach that applies to planning for circularity on a broader scale, at the level of policy measures and through enablers that make operationalizing CE approaches possible. This session will: 

• Outline current policy context and need for upstream measures to accelerate transition to a circular plastics economy, as well as present reflections on the outcomes of the INC-5, with design criteria examples for specific plastics value chains 
• Introduce potential practices related to the circular design of plastic products, as informed by the recent work of GACERE, and a planned intervention by a LAC country 
• Inform participants about upcoming work by UNIDO on a toolkit on design for circularity 
• Broaden discussion: from these examples, design for circularity as an approach is proposed as a novel way forward to operationalize CE 

How to participate 

Participation in this event is not limited to WCEF 2025 attendants. Participants will be offered a light refreshment before the event. 

Please register yourself at this link: be quick, capacity is limited! 

This event is an accelerator session at the World Circular Economy Forum 2025 (wcef2025.com). On social media, you can follow the event with #WCEF2025.