Circular Economy and Resource Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 9 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, Environmental Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SC-029

Before you join: Participants should have working familiarity with environmental management, waste operations, procurement, facilities, manufacturing, product management or sustainability reporting.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Organisations face rising material costs, waste disposal charges, supply disruption, producer-responsibility obligations and stakeholder scrutiny of resource use. A circular economy approach helps teams reduce dependence on virgin materials, keep products and components in use, recover value from by-products and design out avoidable waste. The challenge is turning broad sustainability commitments into decisions on procurement, product design, operations, logistics, asset management and reporting.

This course examines the principles, business models and management methods used to move from linear resource consumption towards circular material flows. Participants learn to map material inputs and outputs, identify priority waste and value-loss points, apply the waste hierarchy, assess lifecycle impacts, develop circular procurement requirements and select suitable recovery routes. The programme also covers product stewardship, reverse logistics, industrial symbiosis, circular performance indicators and the links between circularity, carbon, waste and environmental management systems.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with sector-based cases from manufacturing, construction, food, healthcare, public services and consumer goods. Participants work with material flow data, procurement scenarios, recovery options and implementation constraints, then build an application plan for a selected business area. Each participant leaves with a circular economy opportunity assessment, a material flow map, a prioritised action register and practical templates that can be adapted for workplace use.

The course suits environmental, sustainability, operations, procurement and facilities professionals who already influence resource, waste or supply-chain decisions and need a structured method for delivering measurable circular initiatives.

What you will be able to do

  • Map material flows using material flow analysis and identify priority value-loss points
  • Apply the waste hierarchy to select prevention, reuse, recycling and recovery actions
  • Assess circular economy opportunities using lifecycle thinking and value-retention strategies
  • Develop circular procurement criteria using whole-life costing and supplier requirements
  • Design reverse logistics and recovery routes for products, components and materials
  • Calculate circular resource indicators for waste, recycled content and material productivity
  • Prepare a circular economy business case using costs, benefits, risks and implementation assumptions
  • Produce a phased circular resource management action plan with governance measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Apply a repeatable method for finding material-cost and waste-reduction opportunities
  • Build credible circular economy proposals supported by operational and financial evidence
  • Specify supplier requirements for recycled content, repairability and take-back arrangements
  • Interpret lifecycle and circularity metrics when reviewing sustainability claims
  • Lead cross-functional discussions on resource priorities, recovery routes and implementation responsibilities

For your organisation

  • Reduced material purchase, waste handling and disposal expenditure
  • Clearer priorities for reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling investments
  • Stronger procurement controls for recycled, reusable and lower-impact materials
  • Improved evidence for waste, resource-efficiency and environmental reporting
  • Greater resilience against material shortages, price volatility and disposal constraints

Course modules

9 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish circular economy strategies and identify where value is lost or retained.

  • Linear and circular systems compared through material, value and risk flows
  • Ellen MacArthur Foundation butterfly diagram for biological and technical cycles
  • Value-retention options: refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycle
  • Waste hierarchy applied to prevention, preparation, recycling, recovery and disposal
  • Circular business models: product-service systems, sharing, resale and take-back
  • Resource security assessed through critical materials, supply concentration and substitution
  • Regulatory drivers including extended producer responsibility and waste-duty requirements

Participants can create a material flow baseline that identifies significant losses and recovery opportunities.

  • Material flow analysis defines system boundaries, stocks, flows and process losses
  • Input-output accounts reconcile purchased materials, products, by-products and wastes
  • Sankey diagrams display mass flows and concentration of material losses
  • Pareto analysis prioritises high-volume, high-cost and high-risk resource streams
  • Data collection plans identify meters, invoices, bills of materials and manifests
  • Mass-balance checks test data completeness, units, timing and allocation assumptions
  • Baseline registers record ownership, data sources, frequency and confidence ratings

Participants can use lifecycle thinking to compare resource decisions beyond site-level waste measures.

  • ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 lifecycle assessment principles and stages
  • Functional units establish fair comparisons between products, services and alternatives
  • Hotspot analysis identifies significant impacts across extraction, use and end-of-life
  • Life cycle stages include raw materials, manufacture, distribution, use and recovery
  • Allocation choices affect recycled-content claims, co-products and recovery credits
  • Screening lifecycle assessments support early decisions without specialist software
  • Environmental trade-offs compare carbon, water, toxicity, land use and circularity

Participants can identify design and asset-management choices that extend useful life and recovery value.

  • Design for durability addresses wear, maintenance intervals and operating conditions
  • Repairability criteria cover access, fasteners, diagnostics, parts and documentation
  • Modular design enables component replacement, upgrading and selective disassembly
  • Design for disassembly considers joining methods, material labelling and contamination
  • Asset life-extension plans combine preventive maintenance, refurbishment and redeployment
  • Material selection weighs recycled content, recyclability, toxicity and criticality
  • Residual-value assessment informs repair, resale, remanufacture and disposal decisions

Participants can write circular procurement requirements and evaluate supplier evidence against them.

  • Whole-life costing includes acquisition, operation, maintenance, recovery and disposal
  • Circular specifications set recycled content, durability, repairability and take-back requirements
  • Supplier questionnaires request material composition, certifications, warranties and recovery routes
  • Total cost of ownership compares purchase price with service-life expenditure
  • Tender evaluation matrices weight environmental criteria, commercial value and delivery risk
  • Contract clauses define ownership, maintenance, data reporting and end-of-life responsibilities
  • Supplier engagement plans address traceability, capacity, quality and market availability

Participants can select practical prevention and recovery controls for priority waste streams.

  • Waste characterisation identifies composition, contamination, quantities, sources and handling routes
  • Source reduction reviews process yield, packaging, spoilage, breakage and over-ordering
  • Segregation systems use clear labelling, container design, training and collection schedules
  • Contamination controls protect material quality, recovery value and contractor acceptance
  • Reuse pathways assess hygiene, safety, quality assurance and storage requirements
  • Recycling market assessment compares specifications, buyers, transport costs and price risk
  • Waste contractor scorecards monitor collection performance, recovery evidence and non-conformances

Participants can design recovery pathways involving return flows, partners and secondary-material users.

  • Reverse logistics maps collection points, transport, inspection, sorting and disposition
  • Take-back schemes define customer incentives, return conditions and product ownership
  • Disposition rules distinguish reuse, repair, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling and disposal
  • Closed-loop supply chains retain materials within controlled production and procurement systems
  • Industrial symbiosis matches by-products, heat, water and materials with local demand
  • Quality protocols define secondary-material specifications, testing, traceability and liability
  • Partner selection assesses volumes, proximity, permits, capability and commercial terms

Participants can define indicators and reporting controls for circular resource management performance.

  • Material circularity indicators measure recycled inputs, utility and recovery potential
  • Resource productivity ratios relate output, revenue or service delivery to material use
  • Waste intensity metrics track waste generation per product, employee or floor area
  • Recycled-content calculations distinguish pre-consumer, post-consumer and mass-balance claims
  • ISO 14001 objectives link resource targets, operational controls and management review
  • Data governance assigns calculation methods, evidence files, approval and retention periods
  • Dashboard design separates leading actions from lagging resource and waste outcomes

Participants can prepare a prioritised circular resource action plan with governance and investment logic.

  • Opportunity registers capture baseline, intervention, owner, benefits, costs and dependencies
  • Cost-benefit analysis values material savings, avoided disposal, revenue and implementation costs
  • Sensitivity analysis tests price, volume, recovery-rate and demand assumptions
  • Risk registers address quality, safety, compliance, supplier and market uncertainties
  • RACI matrices assign accountability for procurement, operations, finance and environmental teams
  • Pilot design defines scope, measures, milestones, evidence and decision gates
  • Ninety-day action plans sequence approvals, data collection, trials and stakeholder engagement

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Material flow analysis template
  2. Circular opportunity assessment matrix
  3. Circular procurement specification checklist
  4. Waste characterisation and segregation checklist
  5. Circular performance indicator dashboard
  6. Ninety-day circular resource action plan

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — need practical methods for converting circular commitments into initiatives
  • Environmental Managers — manage waste, compliance and resource-efficiency improvement programmes
  • Procurement Managers — specify circular requirements and engage suppliers on material choices
  • Operations Managers — reduce material loss, utility consumption and disposal costs
  • Facilities Managers — improve reuse, segregation, recovery contracts and asset-life decisions
  • Product and Service Managers — incorporate repairability, reuse and end-of-life requirements

Skills and tools covered

Material flow analysisCircular procurementLifecycle assessmentWaste hierarchy applicationReverse logistics designCircularity measurement

Tools and standards

ISO 14001, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, Material Flow Analysis, Ellen MacArthur Foundation butterfly diagram

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce circular economy methods, standards and decision criteria. Participants analyse realistic material, waste and procurement cases, compare recovery options, and work in groups on material flow maps and circular business models. Facilitated simulations address supplier discussions, reverse-logistics choices and investment trade-offs. Individual application planning helps participants transfer the methods to a current workplace issue. Instructor feedback focuses on data quality, assumptions, implementation barriers and measurable outcomes.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working familiarity with environmental management, waste operations, procurement, facilities, manufacturing, product management or sustainability reporting. They should be comfortable interpreting basic operational data such as quantities purchased, waste volumes, utility use, supplier information and costs. Experience with environmental projects or management systems is useful, but formal sustainability qualifications are not required. The course does not require advanced mathematics, lifecycle assessment software, engineering design expertise or prior knowledge of circular economy models. Participants should bring a current resource, waste or procurement issue they may wish to examine.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand the basics of their organisation's materials, waste, procurement or operational processes. No formal environmental qualification, lifecycle assessment software experience or engineering background is required.

Bring a current workplace issue involving materials, waste, packaging, assets, procurement or supplier returns. Useful information includes approximate volumes, costs, waste routes, supplier terms or existing environmental targets, but this is not mandatory.

It is designed for professionals who influence resource, waste, procurement, facilities, product or operational decisions. It is particularly useful where teams need to move from general circular economy ambitions to defined projects and measures.

Waste management courses focus mainly on legal handling, storage, treatment and disposal controls, while carbon courses focus on emissions measurement and reduction. This course examines material value, product life, procurement, recovery systems and circular business choices, while showing their connection to waste and carbon results.

Participants can map a priority material stream, identify loss points, compare recovery options and prepare a business case for action. The templates support discussions with procurement, operations, finance, suppliers and waste contractors.

The programme runs for five training days from 08:30 to 16:30, with about 6.5 contact hours each day. Time is divided among instructor input, case analysis, group work, simulations and individual application planning across the nine modules.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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