Introduction
Circular Business Models in Bioeconomy (CBMBs) are gaining popularity recently in Europe as a promising opportunity to reverse the prevailing “Take, Make, Waste” model and current global challenges, such as climate change, resource depletion, and food insecurity. CBMBs are business models that unite participants across the supply value chain.
According to the 2025 Circulatory Gap Report, only 21.5% of the 106.1 billion tons of materials entering the global economy are from carbon-neutral biomass (e.g., food crops, agricultural residues or wood). While this rate may seem positive, the report warns that “carbon-neutral” does not necessarily equate to “sustainable.” [1] Intensive monoculture practices and drastic land-use transformations – primary causes of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation – often accompany biomass production. True circularity requires more than carbon neutrality; it demands restorative practices, cascading use, and closed nutrient cycles. This makes the transition toward resource-efficient, regenerative business models, especially in the bioeconomy, more urgent than ever. [2]
CBMBs offer a pathway to not only environmental sustainability but also economic resilience and social value by rethinking how resources are sourced, used, and regenerated throughout the value chain.
In our previous blog, we discussed the transitioning from a linear to a circular economy. This blog examines the current status of circular models for business within a bioeconomy, highlighting key challenges, real-world examples, and how PRIMED is advancing beyond current developments and techniques.
Current challenges in CBMBs
Designing sustainable and profitable CBMBs comes with several challenges. Producers in the primary sector (e.g., agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and forestry) are central to supplying essential raw materials; however, they are often small-scale and not well integrated into bioeconomy value chains, which limits their influence and participation with larger corporations. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge sharing and collaboration between stakeholders, exacerbated by insufficient cross-industry partnerships. Deploying CBMBs often requires entirely new or reconfigured supply chains and logistics, while scaling up innovative technologies remains economically and technically difficult. The public mindset and value towards using waste as a primary resource is not yet universally acceptable.
Moreover, CBMBs face external challenges from complicated and decentralized policies. They must adhere to various policies, including those related to food security, food safety, and climate change. Additionally, they must deal with unclear and complex regulations related to technology in the growing bioeconomy, which vary by region. Due to these complexities and challenges, there is no clear and replicable biotechnological solution for implementing the circular bioeconomy in different areas. Moreover, individual primary producers often lack the money and technical equipment needed to invest in the additional infrastructure required for development in the bioeconomy.
Business Models Powering the Circular Bioeconomy
While the challenges of creating a circular bioeconomy may seem daunting, from fragmented value chains and inconsistent policies to limited technology scale-up, success is possible through well-structured and customizable business models. These models are already being tested, refined, and implemented today across industries and regions.
Types of Business Models for a Circular Bioeconomy [3]
- Optimizing Resource Efficiency: Reducing waste and improving how resources are used, such as extending product life or sharing surplus food to cut waste.
- Recovering Value from Waste: Giving materials a second life, like repurposing wood from discarded furniture or capturing biogas from manure.
- Innovating Bio-based Resources: Creating new products from renewable sources; for example, using sugarcane to produce bioethanol.
- Establishing biorefineries or living labs: Creating real-world environments to validate the conversion of biomass into new bio-based added products through integrated, closed-loop systems.
- Exchanging Resources: Building local networks where waste from one industry fuels another, such as turning crop waste into biodiesel.
- Valuing the Local Economy: Making and selling bio-based products by sourcing and selling locally within 20km rather than 100km away.
The Role of PRIMED: Building Inclusive Circular Bioeconomies
The PRIMED project isn’t just about transforming leftover plants, farm residues or other primary sector biomass waste into useful products – it’s about building a whole system that brings people and industries together to make that happen in a fair, sustainable, and smart way. We are setting a new standard by creating CBMBs that connect farmers, technology experts, businesses, communities and other relevant stakeholders.
Unlike general circular models, PRIMED’s CBMBs:
- Bring together farmers, researchers, and businesses to co-create solutions.
- Ensure fair distribution of profits, costs, and risks across everyone involved, from primary producers to product developers.
- Support primary producers with guaranteed, stable, and improved income streams.
- Reduce reliance solely on production costs by enabling value creation through other parts of the chain, strengthening economic resilience, especially for primary producers.
- Create a market pull for waste resources instead of relying solely on technology.
- Help cut emissions and landfill waste by turning biomass residues into valuable products. Contribute to climate change mitigation by restoring organic carbon in soil, cutting CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, and minimizing bio-waste sent to landfills.
- Develop new CBMB that are scalable and replicable, adapted to different regions across Europe.
- Conduct a comprehensive impact assessment covering technological, economic, social, and environmental dimensions for the developed value chains.
Through its five Living Labs, PRIMED will:
- Develop and test CBMBs to local and regional conditions.
- Demonstrate how small-scale biorefineries can operate successfully.
- Measure the social and environmental impact, like job creation, education, emissions, and resource use.
- Validate end-products in partnership with producers, citizens, and end-users.
We began validating four value chains during the first open call and will validate six more with the second, reaching a total of ten. These value chains actively involve primary producers and are key to developing at least 10 circular business models and 15 high-value bio-based products. PRIMED promotes fair income, gender equality, and sustainability in rural and decentralized communities. To ensure lasting impact, we will also launch an open-access digital toolbox and host policy workshops to share knowledge and methods widely.
References
[1] Circle Economy, “The circularity gap report 2025.” [Online]. Available: https://global.circularity-gap.world/
[2] W. Reim, V. Parida, and D. R. Sjödin, “Circular Business Models for the Bio-Economy: A Review and New Directions for Future Research,” Sustainability, vol. 11, no. 9, Art. no. 9, Jan. 2019, doi: 10.3390/su11092558.
[3] R. Salvador, M. V. Barros, M. Pieroni, D. A. Lopes Silva, F. Freire, and A. C. De Francisco, “Overarching Business Models for a Circular Bioeconomy: Systematising archetypes,” Sustain. Prod. Consum., vol. 43, pp. 349–362, Dec. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.spc.2023.11.010.
[4] World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), “Tackling Food Loss and Waste – Case studies | WBCSD.” [Online]. Available: https://www.wbcsd.org/resources/tackling-food-loss-and-waste-case-studies/
[5] A. B. R. WITT, “Biofuels and invasive species from an African perspective – a review.” [Online]. Available: https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1757-1707.2010.01063.x
[6] M. Njenga et al., “Improvements in charcoal production and the environmental implications: Potential for the invasive Prosopis juliflora in Kenya,” Resour. Conserv. Recycl. Adv., vol. 19, p. 200181, Nov. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.rcradv.2023.200181.
[7] T. S. S. B. Rao, M. Gnanaprakasam, R. Manimaran, D. Balasubramanian, U. Kale, and A. Kilikevičius, “Sustainable synthesis and advanced optimization of Prosopis juliflora biomass catalyst for efficient biodiesel production and environmental impact assessment,” Sci. Rep., vol. 15, no. 1, p. 4472, Feb. 2025, doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-88355-z.