Circular Economy & Waste Management
The circular economy is a production and consumption model that seeks to maximise the value and lifespan of products and materials through practices such as sharing, leasing, reuse, repair, refurbishment and recycling. By keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible, this approach contributes to extending product life cycles and reducing resource consumption. The transition towards a more circular economy has the potential to enhance competitiveness, foster innovation, support economic growth and generate new employment opportunities. At EU level, the European Parliament estimates that the circular economy could contribute to the creation of approximately 700,000 additional jobs by 2030.[1] In this context, the European Union has implemented the EU Circular Economy Action Plan as part of its efforts to strengthen Europe's competitiveness and innovation capacity and support the green transition, with the long-term objective of achieving a circular economy by 2050. To achieve a fully circular economy, circularity and sustainability need to be integrated across all stages of the value chain, from product design and production to consumption. The EU Circular Economy Action Plan identifies seven key areas for action:
Plastics,
Textiles,
Electronic waste (WEEE)
Food, water and nutrients,
Packaging, batteries and vehicles,
Buildings and construction.
Circular economy employment can be broadly categorised into three groups: core circular jobs, which directly contribute to closing, slowing or regenerating material loops through activities such as repair, recycling, waste management and renewable energy; enabling circular jobs, which facilitate and scale up circular activities through areas such as design, digital technologies and new business models; and indirectly circular jobs, which provide supporting services to core and enabling activities, including education, professional services and logistics.[2] Given the extent of sectors covered by the Circular Economy Action Plan and the diversity of occupations aligmented with the circular economy, the transition towards a circular economy entails a wide and evolving range of skills requirements. Consequently, identifying emerging skills needs, assessing existing and future skills gaps, and anticipating changes in occupational requirements are becoming increasingly important for supporting the circular transition. In this context, skills intelligence and skills foresight in the circular economy and waste management sectors represent strategic areas for understanding labour market transformation and informing education, training and employment policies.
Key Skills Intelligence Reports & Initiatives
The monitoring of the development of skills and occupations related to circularity is constrained by the lack of their definition and by a general lack of comprehensive data that, according to the OECD, has also prevented the carry out of quantitative modelling work on skills composition and skills needs by sector.[1] However, recent years have witnessed a growing body of skills intelligence work across Europe, particularly under the Pact for Skills and through Cedefop, providing an increasingly robust evidence base for understanding emerging skills needs and occupational changes linked to the transition towards a circular economy.
In 2021-2023, Cedefop ran sectoral skills foresights on waste management, and circular economy and one on smart and green cities. The selection of the areas of analysis was based on their centrality to achieving EGD goals, the expected effects of the green transition on employment and skills, and the linked challenges and opportunities for vocational education and training for young people and adults.
§ In 2022, Cedefop published a policy brief reporting on a skills foresight study that examined the occupations and skills that are central to greening the waste management sector, as well as the role of vocational education and training (VET) in developing these skills. ‘Too good to waste’ brief identified 13 emerging occupations and jobs in the waste management sector, including waste industrial mechanics, waste valorisation professionals, strategic waste managers and repair specialists. It highlights the important role of VET, including apprenticeships, as well as continuing vocational education and training (CVET) in equipping individuals with the skills required for emerging and evolving waste management occupations. The study also underlines the importance of anticipating changing occupational requirements and aligning education and training provision with emerging skills needs arising from the transition towards a greener and more circular economy.
Cedefop’s 2023 report ‘Skills in transition The way to 2035’ also identifies emerging skill needs in waste management and the circular economy, categorising them into technical skills and soft skills. Technical skills include ICT and engineering competences related to the adoption of new technologies for waste processing, as well as skills related to design and repair, some of which may involve traditional manual skills that are currently in decline. Among soft skills, the report highlights collaboration skills, persuasion skills to engage organisations in reducing waste levels and promoting product design consistent with circular economy principles, and marketing and communication skills. These findings underline that the transition towards a circular economy requires not only new technical and digital competences, but also a broader set of transversal skills that enable workers and organisations to adapt practices, collaborate across sectors and support changes in production and consumption patterns.
Another important contribution to the evidence base on circular economy skills is the 2026 report A Just Transition to a Circular Economy: Monitoring Jobs, Skills and Workforce Inclusion, prepared by the European Topic Centre on Circular Economy and Resource Use (ETC CE) for the European Environment Agency (EEA). The report examines jobs, skills and workforce inclusion in the circular transition and highlights the need for improved labour market monitoring to support inclusive, high-quality employment across Europe. The report highlights the emergence of “hybrid competency profiles”, combining technical skills such as materials science, social skills such as communication and leadership, and digital competences such as platform thinking. It therefore emphasises that circular economy skills extend beyond traditional technical and vocational competences to encompass digital, organisational and social dimensions of work, reflecting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of circular occupations and practices.
The existing Pact for Skills communities and Blueprint initiatives of the European Commission represent another important source of skills intelligence. A growing number of Blueprint initiatives are currently active, including Skills4Smart TCLF 2030, TCLF Skills Alliance and Construction Blueprint . Addressing green and circular skills gaps and emerging skills needs is a key component of these alliances, which contribute to identifying evolving skills requirements and strengthening the capacity of education and training systems to respond to the green and digital transitions.
Advancing Circular Economy Skills through IVET and CVET
Against the backdrop of the circular economy transition and its far-reaching implications for employment, skills and sectoral transformation, strengthening the capacity of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems is essential to ensuring that Europe has the workforce needed to deliver its green and digital ambitions. As circular economy practices reshape production systems, occupational profiles and business models across sectors, TVET can play a strategic role in translating EU priorities on resource efficiency, sustainable production, skills development and inclusive employment into practical action. The following policy recommendations therefore focus on strengthening the responsiveness of IVET and CVET systems to emerging circular economy skills needs, while supporting the implementation of the EU's wider environmental, industrial and employment objectives.
Accelerating the transition towards a circular economy requires the systematic integration of circular economy skills into Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET) and Continuing Vocational Education and Training (CVET). Curricula should incorporate core skills related to resource efficiency, repair, maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, recycling and waste prevention, while remaining responsive to emerging occupational profiles and sector-specific skills needs. At the same time, circular economy skills should not be understood solely in terms of technical competences. TVET provision should also foster social, cognitive and organisational skills, including problem-solving, systems thinking, collaboration, communication and innovation, supported by appropriate mechanisms to assess, recognise and certify these broader competences. Strengthening these skills requires a stronger focus on practice-based and experiential learning. Real-world circular economy practices, sectoral cases and workplace challenges should be systematically integrated into learning environments, enabling learners to translate circular economy principles into practical applications and operational processes. In priority sectors such as textiles, electronics, buildings and construction, challenge-based, project-based and gamified learning approaches can further support learners in addressing authentic circular economy challenges and developing systems-thinking capabilities. In parallel, apprenticeships, internships and other forms of work-based learning should be expanded to provide direct exposure to circular production and service processes, particularly in areas such as repair, maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, resource efficiency and recycling.
Greater emphasis should also be placed on transnational mobility and peer learning, particularly through Erasmus+ Key Action 1 (K1) to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, technologies, training approaches and circular business models across countries and regions. At institutional and sectoral level, structured cooperation between TVET providers, companies and sectoral organisations should be strengthened to ensure that curricula, training content and skills standards reflect evolving labour-market and occupational requirements. Within this framework, dedicated training-of-trainers programmes should equip company mentors and workplace instructors with the knowledge and pedagogical tools required to effectively support circular economy learning, particularly within apprenticeship and work-based learning schemes.
[1] OECD (2020), Labour market consequences of a transition to a circular economy: a review paper- Environment Working Paper N°162
[1] European Parliament. (2021, February 10). European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on the new Circular Economy Action Plan (2020/2077(INI)).
[2] Muñoz H, M. E., Novak, M., Gil, S., Dufourmont, J., Goodwin Brown, E., Confiado, A., & Nelemans, M. (2022). Tracking a Circular Economy Transition through Jobs: method development and application in two cities. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 3, 787076.
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