How Facility Managers Can Implement Circular Economy Practices

Implementing circular economy practices in facilities management transforms waste from a cost burden into a strategic opportunity. By designing waste out at the source, leveraging energy-efficient systems, and partnering with vendors, facility managers can reduce landfill reliance, lower operational costs, and create more sustainable buildings.

Experts from ISS North America, IFMA, and Steelcase share actionable strategies for integrating circular principles into everyday facility operations.

Circular Economy Approaches for Facility Waste Management

The approach to traditional waste management is shifting to a circular economy mindset. Waste looked at as a value and opportunity for reuse inspires good design.

Matt Tucker, Director of Research at IFMA, shared how the procurement process is important, and the influence facilities managers have on vendors to enable circular practices can have a ripple effect. Emphasizing the value of designing waste out of a product or building lifecycle initially creates value.

“One of the fundamental principles of circular economy is that it is really defining the whole concept of what we know as waste. And actually, there should not be any waste,” Tucker said. “We need to be better at designing that waste out at the beginning of a lifecycle … Waste, if there is waste, should be looked at as a value, something we can actually do something with.”

Cultivating Sustainable Waste Behavior in Facility Occupants

Waste streams represent the flow of waste from the creation source until its disposal. Commercial and industrial (C&I) waste and construction and demolition (C&D) waste are two of the five waste streams, relevant to the building and construction industry.

C&I waste—from retail, education, and corporate facilities—requires coordinated systems for collection, sorting, and recycling to minimize landfill reliance. Many businesses now partner with sustainability organizations to repurpose or compost food and other organic materials.

C&D waste, on the other hand, is integral to every building project. From natural materials like rock and wood to synthetic ones like asphalt, much of it can be reused or recycled. Contractors who implement material recovery and recycling strategies not only meet sustainability goals but also comply with green building standards such as LEED.

A culture of sustainable waste streams starts with people. The first step is to influence people’s behaviors and thoughts around procurement and end-of-life processes, not just the processes of circularity. Challenges facilities managers and contractors face include contamination in recycling bins or pushbacks from building occupants.

“We’re obsessed with new things,” Tucker said. “It’s a change in mindset. If it is fit for purpose, ironically, it may have a higher value than the brand new one, which is a poorer, cheaper version. Not everything has to be brand new and not everything has to be owned.”

FMs need support from everyone at the client site—what Tucker calls “rowing the boat in the same direction.”

Ownership and staff alignment reduce re-sorting labor and improve program success. When occupants effectively use the systems for recycling or composting, it keeps the cost of labor lower because no one needs to re-sort items in the bin. Inspiring vendors and occupants to follow those systems requires effective communication. To reinforce the practices, it’s important to show the value.

“We build a sustainability matrix and report around that. We're also able, from a waste reduction standpoint, to either provide on our own or through the brokers a cost point summary report to our customer by commodity,” Todd Robertson, Head of Technical Services at ISS North America, said. “That shows the value of waste diversion, landfill diversion, and recycle efforts.”

Some waste streams may not have a dollar value attached to them, but there is an ancillary or collateral value by reducing the number of trucks on the road every day. This creates an economic value that the client sees from the recycling center.

When the focus is on reducing waste through design, the concept of recycling is the opposite to a circular economy that reduces waste entering the waste stream because all materials are reused and repurposed.

“Circular economy is not recycling,” said Tucker. “It’s as far away from recycling as we get.”

Tucker said the principle of how we design starts at the beginning of a lifecycle. Whether for a product, a service, or a building, or an asset in a building, the processes need to improve to get waste out.  

“A typical chair you sit on in a conference event will likely have a metal frame, cushioned seat, which is in nice fabric and a cushioned back to the seat,” Tucker said. “The chances are, in most of those chairs, you can remove the base and back and you’re left with the metal that can be reused. But the likelihood is that the fabric and foam to make the nice cushion could be glued together with adhesive. That means we can’t decompartmentalize any further and that’s where the myth of recycling comes in.”

Collaboration among stakeholders is crucial to understanding the processes for procurement and end-of-life procedures to close the loop.

“Closing the loop on maintenance waste requires both strong vendor partnerships and effective take-back programs. Through Circular by Steelcase, we collaborate with trusted partners to recover valuable materials and ensure products are reused, repaired, remade or responsibly recycled rather than ending up in landfills. These relationships extend our reach and make it possible to scale solutions quickly,” said Kaila Bryzgalski, product sustainability marketing manager for Steelcase.

Energy-efficient systems support circular economy practices by reducing landfill waste through maintenance, refurbishment, and reuse. Robertson highlights the importance of partnerships with waste managers, brokers, and sustainable solution providers.

Metropolitan areas like New York, California, and parts of Illinois face challenges of a waste management monopoly. In such instances, partnerships with brokers help facilitate the value of sustainable systems and manage the waste stream diversions and recycle programs.

“The waste streams look like wood products—pallets that come in with raw materials that are broken down and stored in unique bins. It’s universal waste, which is just about anything non-hazardous—different types of metal and cardboard,” Robertson said.

ISS North America focuses on integrated facility services to optimize a building’s systems, reducing energy usage and coordinate waste streams. Integrating composting, effective package storage, and investments in high-efficiency products are some ways facilities managers can reduce waste.

Managing waste streams requires planning and partnerships. While energy-efficient and recyclable products ease the burden, non-recyclables like light bulbs and batteries often end up in landfills, making high-efficiency replacements—with longer lifespans—a cost-effective way to reduce waste.

“From a technical or engineering standpoint, we recommend more efficient systems or even subcomponents of systems—a motor attached to an air handler, for example. When we talk about what the FM on the client side can do, it’s more of an investment for long-term financial gains that supports a circular economy,” said Robertson.  

Using Digital Product Passports to Track Materials and Lifecycles

Digital product passports are a mechanism for tracking materials and lifecycle data. European regulations are driving adoption of this tool that requires FMs to take ownership of digital data and integrate digital transformation with circular economy strategies.

“A digital product passport is a digital record containing comprehensive information about a product's lifecycle, including its origin, materials, environmental performance, repairability, and disposable guidance … designed to enhance supply chain transparency,” Tucker said.

Scalable Circular Economy Practices for Facility Managers

Waste streams can be managed and improved through small, incremental changes that can be scaled up to larger systems and practices.

If we think of a building in layers, we have the outer layer of building fabric, a layer of mechanical and electrical services, the interior floorplan with rooms and gathering spaces, and the then a layer of furniture, fixtures, and equipment.

“If you think about a building like an onion—start with your furniture, your fixtures, and fittings,” said Tucker. “Start small. Work with those, make a change, demonstrate the change, and the evidence of what that has achieved. Then scale up.”

Bryzgalski shared an application from Circular by Steelcase: Remade where they restored high-performance chairs with new parts, finishes, and warranty, cutting carbon emissions in half compared to producing a new product.

“In FY2025 alone, with a network of local service providers, we helped customers sustainably decommission more than 2,180 tons of furniture, fixtures and equipment from over one million square feet of office space—consistently achieving a landfill diversion rate of more than 95%,” she said. “Through strategic collaboration with our suppliers, we’ve removed harmful PFAS from coatings, advanced textile-to-textile recycling and doubled the recycled content in our most popular task chairs.”

Circular economy strategies in facility management deliver measurable environmental and financial benefits. From reclaimed materials to digital tracking and high-efficiency systems, coordinated planning and vendor partnerships make waste reduction scalable and effective. By starting small, tracking impact, and scaling practices, FMs can optimize operations, support sustainability goals, and advance long-term environmental responsibility.