Advancing Our Understanding of CE Loop Strategies: A Synthesizing Framework for Durable Consumer Products

The Circular Economy (CE) concept is widely promoted as a pathway to sustainability, yet its practical realization can appear to be challenging and unclear due to divergent definitions, interpretations and understanding about the implications and goals of a realized CE. Addressing this gap, this study develops the Circular Economy Loop Strategies (CELS) Framework, a synthesizing foundational model that defines and organizes five overarching strategies—simplifying, narrowing, slowing, intensifying, and closing—within a material flow perspective for durable consumer products, such as electronics and furniture. The framework delineates how varying CE goals (e.g., recycling vs. sufficiency) can influence material flow outcomes and, for each strategy, outlines overlaps and trade-offs while linking them to CELS characteristics: trajectory, magnitude, composition, and rate of flow. The CELS Framework was constructed through a critical review of CE literature and refined via a two-round Delphi study with 17 international experts from academia, industry, policy, and non-profit sectors. Results indicate strong consensus (89% agreement) on the framework’s validity and usefulness for mapping CE strategies and evaluating their implications across different CE versions—from recycling-focused approaches to sufficiency-driven models. This research contributes to CE theory by providing a clearer conceptual foundation and vocabulary, as well as provides a foundational tool for policymakers and practitioners to support strategic planning and alignment in CE transitions. The framework highlights the need for integrated strategies to achieve environmental sustainability and serves as a starting point for future research on operationalization, prioritization, and social dimensions of circularity.