Forward loops
This section deals with the ‘inbound’ section of the circular economy (CE).
The production and use of materials in manufacturing that is the key to creating a good CE, and also retail and distribution. Too often, CE actions concentrate only on the reverse loops such as collection of waste and re-use or recycling but the opportunities for good materials stewardship in a CE are set up on the first stages of the cycle in production and manufacturing.
CE geo-models
Primary production is often excluded from the CE but the CE principles of reducing waste, keeping products and materials in use and regenerating natural systems (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 20251) are relevant to primary raw materials production just as much as to reuse and recycling.
This might seem counterintuitive at first but CE applies in a variety of ways to mining, processing and refining. In geological exploration, more consideration could be given to potential co- and by-products, even from the first exploration desk studies. The same applies later in exploration as companies make geological and resource models for ore deposits. Mines should not be considered in isolation but as part of a symbiotic industrial ecology with adjacent industries such as farming, manufacturing and recycling as well as their local communities. This gives further opportunities for use of materials, including what would otherwise be waste, and land. We use the term CE geo-models for this extension of the traditional geological and mine models (Wall et al., 202212, Start at the beginning, Marquis et al., 20242).
Circular Economy Geomodels – Cornwall Case Study Cross-Section (Marquis et al., 20242).
UK domestic primary production of lithium
Almost all raw materials for LIB manufacture in the UK are mined overseas and will be so for the foreseeable future. The main exception to this in the UK might be lithium.
At present, most of the World’s lithium comes from lithium pegmatites in Australia and salar deposits in South America. The lithium from these sources is almost all sent to China for processing and refining into battery grade materials (Petavratzi et al., 20243, USGS 20244).
The UK has lithium mineral deposits in the granites of SW England, that together constitute Europe’s largest lithium resource (Gourcerol et al., 20195) and also geological prospects being actively investigated in the Weardale granite in northern England (Deady et al., 20236).
The main problem with developing new sources of primary raw materials is typically the length of time that it takes to open a new mine (Petavratzi and Gunn, 20237). However, UK Li projects have ambitious targets of starting production at scale between 2025 to 2028.
Between 2020 and 2030, planned UK LIB manufacturing will need less than 25,000 t Li in total over the 10 years and by 2040 the cumulative demand might be only about 90,000 t (Petavratzi et al., 20243).
If the UK primary producers output is about 25,000 tpa, so 250,000 t cumulative total over ten years, Li supply is much more than needed by UK LIB manufacturers. The UK will be a Li exporter and it is a possibility that, unless there is accelerated investment in UK LIB battery factories and the cathode active materials manufacture that links raw materials to LIBs (Missing the midstream), most of the UK-produced Li will be exported (Marquis et al., 20258).
The supply needed for all EVs projected to be driven in the UK (i.e. manufactured and imported, see Cars made are not cars we drive) ranges from 10,000 – 33,000 tpa depending on the take-up of EVs (Petavratzi et al., 20243) and and although these figures match better with the amount of Li that might be produced, most of these cars are likely to be manufactured overseas.
Eco-design, long life
Eco-design is the process of planning products and services to minimise their environmental impact throughout their entire life cycle, including the extraction of raw materials, processing, manufacturing, supply, use, and at the end of life.
Over 80% of a product’s environmental impacts may be determined at the design stage (Tischner and Charter, 20019). Some examples of the latest thinking on eco-design are reflected in the EU Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (Regulation (EU) 202410) which came into force in July 2024, with eco-design requirements in a wide range of products. These look to minimise waste generation in the process of manufacture while increasing the recycled content of products. Substances which might inhibit circularity should be avoided so that products become easier to remanufacture or recycle. Greater attention should be given to the carbon and environmental footprint of the product which will therefore become more resource and energy efficient and easier to maintain and refurbish. The durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability of products should be enhanced supported by more information on product sustainability to the consumer.
An interesting point is that eco-design is an international agenda. Eco-design in UK manufacturing of LIBs will give benefits overseas since most of the cars we make are exported (Cars made are not cars we drive), and conversely, cars manufactured globally need will be the ones used re-manufactured and recycled in the UK. Therefore the UK needs to consider eco-design standards for all cars placed on the UK market.
There is much to be done during product design and manufacturing to make LIB materials more easy and efficient to recycle (see Not how many but how recycled, Zante et al., 202411).
A further extension of this kind of thinking is to encourage more conversations between geologists – who could be thinking more about all possible uses of materials in the deposits that they are exploring rather than just the main commodities (Start at the beginning) – and materials specialists who are designing new materials. An improved dialogue might result in new materials better matched with available mineral resources, thus reducing waste and increasing resource efficiency.
Reducing use
One simple strategy to help ease materials supply concerns is simply to reduce demand by using fewer LIBs (fewer EVs), or to make LIBs with smaller amounts of materials (new technology or smaller capacity batteries). This is easier said than done.
Firstly, because people like the convenience of cars and are reluctant to give up car ownership (Take the bus) and secondly because the UK demand for LIB materials does not come from the car drivers but from the car manufacturers (Cars made are not cars we drive).
Retail and distribution
Innovative business models at this step can help to keep LIBs in use for longer and ensure that components and materials are re-used / remanufactured or recycled more efficiently. Leasing models, where the distributor retains ownership are the best-known and terms such as Products-as-a-Service (PaaS), Resource-as-a-Service (RaaS), product-service and servitisation are all terms used to describe variations on this theme (Resource-as-a-service).
1. Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2025) https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview. Accessed 22.02.2025.
2. Marquis, E., Wall, F., Cudmore, N., Hudson-Edwards, K. (2024) Optimizing Resource Management for Critical Raw Materials: A Case Study of the Application of the United Nations Resource Management System with Cornwall Regional Government, United Kingdom. United Nations Economic and Social Council, Geneva, ECE/ENERGY/GE.3/2024/6.
3. Petavratzi, E, Josso, P, Shaw, R, Horn, S, and Singh, N. (2024) A UK foresight study of materials in decarbonisation technologies: the case of batteries. British Geological Survey Open report, CR/24/007N. 48pp.
4. U.S. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025, DOI: 10.3133/mcs2025
5. Gourcerol, Blandine, et al. ‟Re-assessing the European lithium resource potential – A review of hard-rock resources and metallogeny” (2019) Ore Geology Reviews 109, 494-519.
6. Deady, E, Goodenough, KM, Currie, D, Lacinska, A, Grant, H, Patton, M, Cooper, M, Josso, P, Shaw RA, Everett P, and Bide T (2023) Potential for Critical Raw Material Prospectivity in the UK British Geological Survey CR/23/024 57pp.
7. Petavratzi, E., Gunn, G. (2023) Decarbonising the automotive sector: a primary raw material perspective on targets and timescales. Miner Econ 36, 545–561. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13563-022-00334-2
8. Marquis et al. in preparation as an output of Met4Tech thematic area 2.
9. Tischner, U. and Charter, M. (2001) "Sustainable Product design" in Martin Charter and Ursela Chitner Sustainable solutions: developing products and services for the future 2001 Greenleaf, 469 pp, £40.00 (hbk). ISBN 1‐874719‐36‐5.
10. Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products.
11. Zante G, Elgar CE, Hartley JM, Mukherjee, Kettle J, Horsfall LE, Walton A, Harper GDJ, Abbott AP (2024) A toolbox for improved recycling of critical metals and materials in low-carbon technologies, RSC Sustainability, 2, 320. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SU00390F
12. Wall, F, Bird, P, Marquis, E., Pettit, C. Jenkin, G., Hudson-Edwards, K. (2022) The Circular Economy: A View from the Front. Geoscientist, The magazine of the Geological Society of London, December 2022, https://geoscientist.online/sections/features/the-circular-economy-a-view-from-the-front/
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