A simple way to understand the circular economy is to look at something as familiar as automotive components. Circularity begins at the design stage, where decisions determine whether products can be taken apart, repaired, and reused—or whether they are destined for waste. Using screws instead of glue is a powerful illustration of this principle. Screws create reversible connections, allowing components to be dismantled without damage, while adhesives form permanent bonds that make separation difficult or impossible.

At the end of a vehicle’s life, screwed assemblies can be disassembled into clean material streams—metals, plastics, and electronics—making reuse and high-quality recycling achievable. Glued components, by contrast, are often shredded together, contaminated by mixed materials, and ultimately downcycled or sent to landfill. By enabling separation and recovery at higher purity, screwed components can be reintroduced into manufacturing loops, preserving material value at the heart of the circular economy.

This design choice also supports repair, refurbishment, and remanufacturing—key priorities of circular systems that go beyond recycling alone. Screws make it possible to replace individual damaged parts, upgrade electronics or sensors, and remanufacture entire modules such as dashboards, battery housings, or interior panels. Adhesives often eliminate these options, forcing entire assemblies to be scrapped when only one component fails.

Every part that can be repaired instead of replaced, or reused instead of recycled, avoids the carbon emissions and resource consumption associated with producing new components. In this way, small design decisions—like choosing screws over glue—can have an outsized impact on waste reduction, lifecycle emissions, and the transition to a truly circular economy