Eco‐Design as a Strategic Lever for the Circular Economy: Insights From Industrial Case Studies

ABSTRACT

The transition to a circular economy (CE) necessitates redesigning products and processes to minimise environmental impacts throughout their entire lifecycle. Eco‐design represents a key enabler of this transformation; yet, its concrete interplay with CE remains underexplored, especially empirically and across diverse organisational contexts. This study investigates how eco‐design practices contribute to CE actions through a qualitative multiple‐case study of nine manufacturing companies, selected to capture variation in sector, size, and sustainability orientation. Company practices were analysed using the Eco‐design Strategy Wheel and the ReSOLVE framework. Findings reveal that eco‐design contributes more strongly to Optimise and Loop. Optimise, associated with eco‐efficiency, emerges as the most strongly supported area, while Loop, associated with eco‐effectiveness, shows differentiated patterns depending on organisational identity. Virtualise and Exchange remain largely not supported, suggesting a structural gap between current eco‐design practices and the more transformative ambitions of the CE.