Why public data is a vital part of the UK’s transition to a circular economy

The importance of data in developing tools that could steer, monitor and improve circularity and its positive impacts must not be overlooked, writes Ryan Nolan from the UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER)

As the UK continues its transition towards a circular economy, the availability, management, and dissemination of public data will play a crucial role in scaling circular practices and achieving a more sustainable and prosperous future. However, gaps and inconsistencies in currently accessible data are slowing down the development of tools that could otherwise steer, monitor, and improve circularity and its positive impacts.

The Need for Coordinated Data Collection and Management

To address this issue, the UKRI CE-Hub recently published a technical report titled ‘A Guide to Public Data Resources for a Circular Economy Modelling and Measurement Framework’. Our report examines and curates UK public data sources of potential relevance to circular economy implementation in the UK, providing several recommendations to improve coverage and fitness.

In the report, we focus on data and data sources that are currently publicly accessible. An excellent model of this practice comes from the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ Data Services Platform, which was set up to make ‘environmental data openly available to a wide range of users.’ We understand, however, that there is a broader need for better coordination and collaboration between public and private sector data sources to ensure that the data being collected is comprehensive and consistent when it comes to measuring and implementing circular processes. In focusing on the UK, we also note that a wider perspective could yield more relevant data, and this will be developed in future iterations of the guide.

This would facilitate the development of more effective tools and metrics for measuring the impact of circular practices and help to identify areas where additional efforts are needed to improve circularity on a global scale. Developing capacity and a more open ecosystem is central to our work in the CE-Hub and NICER Programme more generally – look out for forthcoming work on circular KPIs, road mapping and behaviour change. By working together, we can ensure that data is collected and organized in a consistent manner, using standardized definitions and classifications. This would make it easier to compare and analyze data across different datasets, helping to identify trends and patterns that may be relevant to the circular economy.

The Benefits of Following the FAIR Principles

One of the key recommendations we outline in the report is the need for greater transparency and accessibility of data that is collected with the circular economy in mind. By following the ‘FAIR principles’, which emphasize the need for data to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable, we can help to make data more readily available to researchers, policymakers, and the general public. This, in turn, can drive innovation and encourage the development of new solutions to support the transition to a circular economy.

For example, by making data easily findable, researchers and policymakers can quickly and easily locate the data they need, without having to spend excess time searching through multiple sources and piece together assets to fabricate a full picture – whether it is for a specific material or finished product at any stage of the value chain. By making data accessible, we can ensure that researchers and policymakers have the tools and resources they need to analyze and interpret the data in a meaningful way and with confidence. By making data interoperable, we can ensure that different datasets can be combined and compared easily, enabling more sophisticated and comprehensive analysis across entire value chains and material flows. And by making data reusable, we can encourage researchers and policymakers to use and build upon existing datasets, rather than having to start from scratch each time.

Investing in Data Infrastructure and Capacity Building for a More Circular UK Economy

We also highlight the need for a coordinated effort to better capture dynamics of relevance to the circular economy in statistical classifications for products and activities across production and trade. This would help to ensure that data is collected and organized in a consistent and standardized manner, making it easier to use and compare across different datasets. For example, by using consistent definitions and classifications, we can ensure that data collected on products and materials is comparable across different sectors and regions. This would make it easier to identify areas where circular practices are being used effectively, and where additional efforts may be needed to improve circularity.

Additionally, the report recommends greater consistency in the dissemination and formatting of datasets and related metadata, including the use of shared terminology. This would help to reduce confusion and improve the reliability of the data, enabling more accurate and meaningful analysis. For example, by using standardized formats and metadata, researchers and policymakers can easily understand how data was collected, what it represents, and how it can be used (and importantly, reused). This would help to reduce the risk of errors and misunderstandings, and support more robust and reliable analysis. Furthermore, a shared and common language facilitates transdisciplinary collaboration between not only academics, but those in industry and policy positions too.

Clearer indications of reuse permissions for datasets would also help to encourage their use and support the development of new circular economy solutions. By making it clear what is and is not allowed when it comes to using public datasets, we can help to foster a culture of openness and collaboration while continuing to build a robust circular economy in the UK.

In order to remove barriers and accelerate the UK economy’s transition towards greater circularity, we must build an environment of openness and transparency. This applies across the board, not least in the collection and publication of data. For now, we recommend that publishers of public data:

• Provide clearer indication of reuse permissions for datasets
• Normalise a culture of open access publication for data collected using public funding
• Maintain greater consistency in the dissemination and formatting of datasets and related metadata, including shared terminology
• Capture dynamics of relevance to the circular economy in statistical classifications for e.g. products and activities across production and trade

Adopting the circular values of maintaining the right data at the highest value for as long as possible won’t take us all the way to a regenerative economy, but it’ll certainly be a vital step in the right direction.

Adopting the circular values of maintaining the right data at the highest value for as long as possible won’t take us all the way to a regenerative economy, but it’ll certainly be a vital step in the right direction.