Operational circularity indicators
Measurement answer
What this metric measures
Reports one or more operational circularity proportions, such as recycled material inputs, recycled waste outputs or recovered secondary metals, with each selected indicator separately defined and quantified.
Specification
Metric specification
- Result format
- Structured table
- Unit
- % — source-defined reporting unit
- Reporting basis
- Reporting period covered by the TNFD disclosure
- Aggregation
- Report one or more applicable circularity indicators separately; do not aggregate indicators with different numerators, denominators or material populations into a single percentage.
- Pillar
- Environmental
- Topic
- Circular economy and materials recovery
- Controlled domain
- Materials, circularity and waste
- Entity type
- Metric
Reporting boundary
Organisation's operations for the selected circular-material-input, waste-output or secondary-metal-recovery indicator
Verified source occurrences
Framework coverage
This is one canonical metric. The bindings below show every verified framework occurrence without creating duplicate metric pages. Edition, disclosure, role, and relationship remain source-specific.
- Adopting DisclosureSource evidence
TNFD sector guidance
- Publisher
- Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
- Edition
- Final English sector guidance collection through August 2026 (17 documents)
- Requirement
- Not Specified
- Relationship
- Defines Disclosure
- Mapping outcome
- Direct Evidence
- Source locator
- TNFD additional sector guidance, p. 87, Section 3.3, Table 25, MM.A23.1. | Extracted evidence: quantification of operational circularity using one or more of proportion of materials from recycled sources, proportion of recycled waste outputs, or secondary metal recovery. | Page 87, Section 3.3, Table 25, MM.A23.1
- Adopting DisclosureMM.A23.1
TNFD sector guidance
- Publisher
- Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
- Edition
- Version 1.0, June 2024
- Requirement
- Recommended
- Relationship
- Maps Source Identity
- Mapping outcome
- Published
- Source locator
- Page 87, Section 3.3, Table 25, MM.A23.1
Value structure
Dimensions and units
- Unit
- % — source-defined reporting unit
- Reporting basis
- Reporting period covered by the TNFD disclosure
Unit meaning: Values use % under the disclosed TNFD sector-guidance method, reporting period and boundary.
Table fields and units
- indicator type
- indicator definition
- numerator definition
- denominator definition
- reported proportion (%)
- material category, waste stream or metal category
- operational boundary
- method and data-source note
Published dimensions
- indicator type
- selected circularity measure
- material category or waste stream, where applicable
- operational activity or site, where applicable
Calculation method
Formula information
- Status
- Specified
- Formula type
- Percentage
Formula
Selected operational circularity indicator (%) = (applicable circular-material, recycled-waste-output, or secondary-metal-recovery quantity / indicator-specific relevant total quantity) × 100; numerator and denominator must be disclosed for each indicator.Apply the source-defined TNFD sector-guidance method within the stated reporting boundary. MM.A23.1 explicitly supports quantification through one or more distinct circularity measures. Because the measures may have different populations and denominators, the defensible public identity is a structured indicator family rather than a single circularity rate or a match to the shortlist's generic circular-material-use rate.
Variables
| Symbol | Variable | Definition | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
C_i | Circularity quantity for indicator i | Indicator-specific quantity representing recycled input, recycled waste output, secondary metal recovery or another selected circularity measure. | indicator-specific quantity |
T_i | Relevant total quantity for indicator i | Indicator-specific total quantity forming the denominator for the selected circularity measure. | same unit as C_i |
P_i | Operational circularity proportion for indicator i | Reported percentage for the selected operational circularity indicator. | % |
Verified sources
Evidence and status sources
Sustopedia checked each record-specific claim directly against primary publisher material. Labels distinguish current measurement authority from future compatibility and corroborative, legal, edition, or method status context. Corroborative evidence can support a stated limitation but cannot establish the core measurement by itself.
Measurement evidence
- Measurement evidenceChecked 30 August 2026
TNFD additional sector guidance collection
- Publisher
- Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
- Edition
- Final English sector guidance collection through August 2026 (17 documents)
- Locator
- TNFD additional sector guidance, p. 87, Section 3.3, Table 25, MM.A23.1. | Extracted evidence: quantification of operational circularity using one or more of proportion of materials from recycled sources, proportion of recycled waste outputs, or secondary metal recovery. | Page 87, Section 3.3, Table 25, MM.A23.1
Supports: The official TNFD sector guidance supports the identity, boundary and method basis of “Operational circularity indicators”.
Open official source
Use with context
Interpretation boundaries
Method disclosures required
Source-edition basis: TNFD sector guidance, Final English sector guidance collection through August 2026 (17 documents).
- Identify each selected circularity indicator and explain why it is applicable to the organisation's operations.
- For each indicator, define the numerator, denominator and included material, waste or metal population.
- State whether the indicator measures recycled material inputs, recycled waste outputs, secondary metal recovery, or another explicitly selected operational circularity measure.
- Disclose the operational boundary, reporting period, data sources, estimation methods and treatment of material categories.
- Do not present separately calculated indicator percentages as a combined score unless a separately disclosed methodology supports that aggregation.
- Retain TNFD source attribution; any cited external standards, methodologies or trademarks retain their own attribution and licensing terms.
Record-specific limitations
- The source permits one or more alternative indicators and does not establish a common denominator that would support a single combined circularity score.
- The extracted evidence does not define the detailed numerator, denominator, material categories, recovery methodology or treatment of reused material for each indicator.
- Input circularity, waste-output recycling and secondary-metal recovery are distinct constructs and must be reported as separate indicator rows.
Interpret this metric with the stated reporting boundary, period convention, value shape, and unit. Results prepared with different boundaries or conventions may not be directly comparable.
Measurement evidence supports the core record-specific claims described above. Corroborative evidence can support limitations, while compatibility and status sources provide their separately labelled context. None of these cards by itself determines an organisation's legal applicability, filing readiness, assurance status, or compliance conclusion.