Materials Efficiency and Circularity

Material use has traditionally been linear: virgin materials are taken from nature, used to make products, to ultimate disposal. In contrast, a circular economy promotes continuous use of materials in order to reduce waste and our reliance on finite virgin resources.

Seagate has begun measuring the circularity of our products using the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI). We do this in order to inform our storage solutions design and the way we provide services to our customers and partners to increase value.

The Material Circularity Indicator focuses on the restoration of material flows at product and company levels and is based on the following four principles:

• Using feedstocks from reused or recycled sources.
• Reusing components or recycling materials after each use of the product.
• Keeping products in use longer (e.g., by reuse or remanufacture).
• Making more intensive use of products (e.g. via service or performance models).

MCI combines these measures of circularity into a single indicator:

• A perfect score is 1 or 100% restorative.
• A score of zero results from a product with average lifespan and functionality, no recycled or reused content and no prospect of recycling or reuse at end of life.

More Resources

• Ellen McArthur Foundation – Circular Economy