Design Skills for Embedding Circularity

The Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM), together with the Design Council, WRAP, the Circular Economy Institute and URGE Collective are developing Design Skills for Embedding Circularity—a pilot programme that tests new, practical ways for designers and resource and waste professionals to share skills and knowledge.

Design cohort

The programme brings together a cohort of industrial product designers, design engineers and design researchers, and connects them directly with the resources and waste management sector. Participants will trial new approaches to co-design and collaboration, generating shared insight and fresh opportunities for circular innovation.

Immersive waste site visits

A core element of the pilot is immersive field experience. The cohort will visit a range of industrial waste facilities—including materials recycling centres, energy-from-waste plants, landfills and specialist treatment sites—to gain firsthand understanding of the realities of today’s material flows. Working alongside resources and waste sector experts, designers will experience the practical challenges of recovering resources and uncover opportunities for intervention at the design stage.

Expert Sessions

In parallel, a series of workshops and expert-led sessions will introduce the principles and requirements of circular design, supported by topics such as carbon and materials science, circular design tools and methodologies, reuse and repair strategies, product-service systems, packaging challenges, waste sorting technologies, and evolving policy and regulation.

Learning by doing

Combining academic grounding with action-based learning, participants will apply new insights to a design sprint focused on end-of-life challenges. Concepts generated—together with examples of emerging circular practice—will be showcased at a final symposium.

Knowledge transfer & CPD

As policy and market expectations shift toward circularity, this pilot supports designers and waste-sector specialists to respond collaboratively. Participants will gain practical capability and bring new skills back into industry, underpinned by a CPD endorsed through the Design Council’s Skills for Planet Knowledge Transfer Methodology.

Opportunities to partner

The programme is actively seeking partnerships with organisations in waste to those consulting on circular business models for the design sprint in June 2026. Please contact Sophie Thomas or Alexie Sommer for more information.