Summary: The circular economy aims to transition away from the traditional ‘take, make, consume and dispose’ linear economy to a circular economy which focuses on keeping resources in use and designing out waste, ultimately supporting the climate and wider sustainability agenda. Digitalisation is identified as a key enabler for accelerating the adoption of a circular economy. Data and digitally-enabled solutions are already being leveraged to improve circularity across economies and there remains significant scope to strengthen this transition globally. Such solutions can optimise value chain management, improve value chain transparency, facilitate dematerialisation and waste-to-resource matching; however, these digital solutions must also be circular by design. The engagement and research undertaken for this paper has informed the development of a suite of recommended opportunities for the public and private sector to accelerate a digitally-enabled circular economy in Ireland.
