Waste to Wealth: The Surpluss' Rana Hajirasouli Shares Insights Into Why the Circular Economy Must Become the Default Model for Global Trade

Rana Hajirasouli, founder of The Surpluss, sees a future where sustainability becomes the foundation, not an add-on, for a profitable business.

For years, the circular economy has been positioned as the answer to sustainable economic growth, promising a transition away from wasteful linear models. Yet, despite growing awareness and technological advancements, global circularity has declined from 9.1% in 2018 to just 7.2% in 2024. This decline shows the fundamental problem, which is that the circular economy is being treated as an add-on rather than an integrated economic force into the core structures of business, trade, and finance.

As the founder of The Surpluss, a climate-tech company enabling governments and businesses to trade excess materials profitably, Rana Hajirasouli, PhD, sees this struggle firsthand. “The circular economy remains a patchwork of good intentions and disjointed strategies,” she says. “For circularity to scale, we must move beyond sustainability as a moral imperative and reframe it as an economic one, motivated by regulatory compliance and financial incentives.” Hajirasouli further argues that shifts must take place for circularity to become a default business model rather than an exception.

One of the biggest barriers to circularity is the perception that it comes at the expense of profitability. Many organizations view sustainability measures as costly add-ons rather than being the core business drivers. The reality, however, is that waste remains an untapped economic asset, a cost to be minimized.

Hajirasouli emphasizes, “Waste is a mispriced asset. The key to closing the circularity gap is to financialize surplus materials—treating them like commodities rather than liabilities.”

Emerging innovations such as Digital Product Passports (DPPs) embed lifecycle data—tracking composition, origin, and repairability into products—creating a market for secondary materials. The European Union (EU) is leading the charge by mandating DPP the framework for batteries by 2026, with textiles, electronics, and construction following in 2030. This signals a shift toward circular accountability, making businesses rethink waste as a financial liability. “Industrial protectionism is accelerating, and circularity is becoming a competitive advantage. Early adopters of digital tracking and secondary material markets will dominate future trade”, says Hajirasouli.

Industries such as electronics, textiles, and packaging must shift toward modular design and high-value material recovery. Governments in other countries are already implementing ‘right to repair’ laws, with product design regulations expected to make planned obsolescence illegal by 2035. Hajirasouli, alluding to the asymmetry between these jurisdictions, states, “With no unified global rules for circularity, US businesses can gain a competitive edge through regulatory arbitrage—leveraging different jurisdictions with partners and suppliers to optimize resource flows ahead of the curve.”

Despite corporate sustainability commitments, the structure of global trade actively discourages circularity. The World Trade Organization (WTO) does not recognize circular materials as a trade category, meaning that in many cases, recycled or refurbished goods are taxed at higher rates than newly manufactured products. The unintended consequence is that global trade favors extraction over recirculation.

Much like the 1944 Agreements for monetary stability, is a Bretton Woods for circularity needed again? As per Hajirasouli, “Circularity policies do not have unified metrics. Without a global framework, the circular economy will remain a collection of localized experiments rather than a global economic system.”

Businesses cannot optimize what they do not measure. While supply chains have been refined for efficiency, waste streams remain largely untracked, unmanaged, and undervalued. Hajirasouli suggests real-time data on materials will work hand-in-hand with sustainable circularity.

While circularity is often framed as a sustainability issue, it is increasingly becoming a matter of resource security. Nations that take circularity seriously understand its direct link to economic sovereignty. For example, the EU is onshoring circular supply chains to reduce dependence on foreign material imports, while the US is investing in semiconductor recycling to strengthen domestic resilience. As nations race to secure their resource independence, circularity will become a strategic priority—not for environmental reasons, but to gain a competitive edge in global trade.

According to Hajirasouli, “At this rate, by 2035, geopolitical competition may accelerate circular adoption faster than any sustainability policy, as countries seek to protect access to critical materials in an era of global resource constraints. Countries taking circularity seriously are leveraging independence on foreign resource extraction and will lead the race in creating new geopolitical flashpoints.”

Emerging technologies such as AI-driven material tracking, blockchain-backed resource passports, and industrial IoT solutions have changed the dynamics as well. By 2028, major corporations may appoint Chief Circularity Officers (CCOs) and Chief Research Officers (CROs) to oversee resource flows in real-time, ensuring that materials are treated as strategic assets rather than waste byproducts. The Surpluss platform connects businesses with partners who can repurpose these surplus materials and assets. “We at The Surpluss are here to make circularity simple and profitable through multisectoral collaboration, not just reduce waste,” says Hajirasouli. “Carbon markets work because carbon has a price. Circularity doesn’t yet—but when it does, the entire economic system will change.”

Most circular initiatives assume that consumers will prioritize sustainability, but the problem is that convenience almost always wins. Even as awareness of climate and waste issues grows, circular products still make up about 8% of global consumption. “The most successful circular systems will be those that require limited behavioral change from consumers. This would mean designing default circular supply chains in e-commerce, automated take-back systems, and subscription-based models that eliminate the burden of ownership.

Circularity needs to be embedded into financial markets, trade agreements, and automated supply chains. “When industries cannot afford to operate without it, circularity will no longer be a ‘choice.’ It will be the foundation of the global economy,” Hajirasouli concludes.

About The Surpluss

The Surpluss is a multi-award winning, female-founded, B-Corp-certified climate-tech company that enables governments and privately held companies of all sizes to trade their excess materials, assets, utilities and resources, profitably. Our intelligent B2B platform helps identify, capture and locate nearby partners that have a use for excess, reducing waste, increasing resource efficiency, and enhancing profitability. We are particularly passionate about catalyzing the next digital evolution of industrial symbiosis to accelerate climate action, with a clear bottom line. For more, visit our website at https://www.thesurpluss.com.