Note: The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is no longer a development partner for the MCI. It remains a credible tool for the assessment of product circularity and we continue to provide input on alignment with our circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. principles.The Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) is a free Excel-based tool for measuring how circular the material flows of a product are. It includes an assessment of:
Inputs (what the product is made of and where those components come from)
Outputs (what happens at the end of the product’s life)
The MCI tool can be used to assess and compare the ‘circularity’ scores of individual products and product portfolios, or aggregated to company level. It can be used, for example, by product designers to inform design decisions, as well as for internal circular economy performance reporting, and procurement decisions.
The MCI methodology was updated in 2019 to include materials of biological origin in the assessment scope, enabling the evaluation of all material types.
Acknowledgements
Ansys Granta
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
LIFE
The project in 2015 to develop the MCI tool was carried out by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation together with Granta Design (now Ansys). The project was co-funded by the LIFE financial instrument of the European Union.
