The term "Circular Economy" is becoming familiar to an increasing number of businesses. It expresses an aspiration to get more value from resources and waste less, especially as resources come under a variety of pressures - price-driven, political and environmental.

Delivering the circular economy can bring direct costs savings to businesses, reduce risk and offer reputational advantages, and can therefore be a market differentiator - but working out what counts as "circular" activity for an individual business, as against the entire economy or individual products, is not...