Maturity · Circular economy and industrial waste optimisation
Your industrial material flows and waste, measured by theme and turned into a roadmap.
10 themes, a 5-level scale. And the action that moves each level to the next.
The framework’s 10 themes, already written from L1 to L5. One company, one business unit, or 300 at once.
Maturity · Circular economy and industrial waste optimisation
10 themes, 5-level scale.
Nordhavn Industries
53 / 100
They measure their maturity with Datamensio
An example
This could be your situation.
Take one company as an example: three sites, three spreadsheets, no shared answer.
Nobody can consolidate.
Nordhavn Industries, 2,400 people in Hamburg, Lyon and Porto. A client asks where the group stands. Each site answers in its own spreadsheet, with its own scales.
Three weeks, a single base.
One Datamensio maturity framework, based on circular economy principles (waste treatment hierarchy, ecodesign, industrial symbiosis) assessment launched across all three sites at once, from the managers’ interview notes. The framework was already written, its 10 themes and levels L1 to L5 too.
Two costs avoided before being committed.
A score of 53 out of 100, with the gap concentrated on three themes. The AI companion spotted that two actions duplicated those of another audit. The committee report took one sentence to request.
What it saved them
- 3sites measured on the same base, instead of three questionnaires to reconcile
- 2duplicate actions caught before the spend
- 1committee report, with no manual rework
These figures are an example. They could be yours.
The standard imposes processes. Datamensio says where you stand.
01
The framework is already written
Themes, questions and levels L1 to L5, all written. You do not start from an empty spreadsheet.
02
The score lands the same day
Online, by self-assessment link or in interview. Theme by theme, comparable over time.
03
The gap becomes a costed plan
Every step up carries its action. The AI prioritises on expected effect, not on the order of the standard.
04
Progress can be demonstrated
Campaign after campaign, against your target and against your own past. That is what your board asks for.
The maturity scale
One level, the next, and the action that links the two.
It is this mechanism (a level, a level above, and the action linking the two) that turns an observation into a trajectory.
Do you have a reliable material balance that distinguishes the share of your waste genuinely recycled into material?
- N1
No material balance. The only known tonnages are those invoiced by the waste collector, with no distinction between treatment modes.
- N2
Tonnages are consolidated once a year, by broad waste category. The final destination is not documented flow by flow.
- N3
A material balance is drawn up periodically by site, with the destination of each flow and a distinction between material recycling, energy recovery and disposal.
- N4
The balance is drawn up by production line, reconciled with ERP data and treatment records, and any gaps are analysed and logged.
- N5
The balance feeds ecodesign and process investment decisions, with cross-site comparison and multi-year tracking of tonnages on a constant scope basis.
Action to move from L2 to L3
Ask each contractor for treatment records by flow, build a monthly per-site material balance sheet distinguishing material recycling, energy recovery and disposal, and present it at the following month’s industrial performance review.
« With Datamensio, we meet our objectives far more efficiently. The ERDF inspection services and our supervising ministry particularly appreciated an approach that gives them reliable data. »
Director, CCI 94CCI Île-de-France
« We believe this is the most suitable solution to scale our transformation project and measure impact according to our needs. »
Maja SucekChief Operating Officer, Interreg Danube
Rarely on its own
Frameworks combine. Put several together to cover your business, or have the AI write yours.
Take your first measurement
What this framework covers
Industrial circular economy follows a precise sequence: know your incoming and outgoing material flows, prevent waste at source, reuse what can be reused, recycle the rest, and turn to energy recovery or disposal only as a last resort. It draws on ecodesign, material choice, reducing manufacturing scrap, valorising by-products, reverse logistics and flow exchanges between neighbouring sites. This is not an end-of-pipe topic: the decisions that matter are made in design offices and procurement.
In practice, steering the effort runs into simple questions that are rarely answered. Do you know the actual tonnage of scrap by production line, or only the tonnage invoiced by your waste collector? Do you know what share of your waste is genuinely recycled into material, as opposed to recovered as energy? Are your reduction targets owned by production, or do they remain within the environment department’s remit? The data usually exists, scattered across collection notes, the ERP and site dashboards.
The context has shifted. European non-financial reporting requirements now call for information on resource use and waste flows, extended producer responsibility is expanding into new sectors, and industrial customers are building circularity into their supplier specifications. One confusion keeps coming back: sorting more is not the same as becoming circular. A site can show a high recovery rate while producing the same tonnages year after year, simply because no one has acted on design and process settings.
This assessment does not end in a binary verdict. It places each practice on a five-level maturity scale, then names the action that moves it up to the next level. On flow knowledge, on ecodesign, on recovery partnerships, you get a score by theme, a gap against the target you set, and a prioritised action plan. Results can be compared across business units and over time, which makes it possible to tell structural progress apart from a change in scope.
The framework is available as is and adapts to your industry. The AI adjusts the themes, questions and wording of the levels to your process vocabulary, whether food, metalworking, plastics or electronics, or builds a variant from your internal documents, material balances, environmental policy, recovery contracts. On results, it groups gaps into a prioritised roadmap rather than a flat list of actions.
Reference standard: Datamensio maturity framework, based on circular economy principles (waste treatment hierarchy, ecodesign, industrial symbiosis)
The themes assessed
Knowledge of material flows
Mapping of inputs and outputs, material balance by line or workshop, reliability of weighing data, reconciliation with the ERP and collection notes.
Source reduction and manufacturing scrap
Scrap tracking by cause, material offcuts, process settings, recovered non-conforming output, reduction targets owned by production.
Product ecodesign
Material criteria in specifications, demountability, repairability, reducing the number of materials used, end-of-life considered from the design stage.
Reuse and repurposing
Reusable packaging and containers, internal reuse of offcuts, remanufacturing, spare parts from disassembly, reverse logistics loops.
Recycling and waste recovery
Source separation, quality of separated flows, share genuinely recycled into material, energy recovery, residual disposal routes.
By-products and industrial symbiosis
Qualifying residues as by-products, flow exchanges with neighbouring sites, take-back contracts, regulatory end-of-waste status.
Procurement and secondary materials
Share of recycled or bio-based material purchased, circular requirements in supplier contracts, securing supply of secondary materials.
Contractors and traceability
Selection and audit of collection and treatment contractors, traceability through to final disposal, waste register, reporting obligations.
Indicators and governance
Circularity indicators used, scope and frequency of consolidation, review at executive committee level, alignment with non-financial reporting.
Skills and team involvement
Operator training, capturing ideas from the shop floor, embedding material targets into production routines, multi-site coordination.
A short version of the framework is available for the online self-assessment.
Frequently asked questions
Does this assessment lead to a certification?
No. This is a maturity framework, not a certifiable standard. It measures where your circularity practices stand and points to the progress trajectory. If you are also pursuing a certification scheme on environment or energy, the assessment provides a reusable baseline.
How does this differ from a standard waste audit?
A waste audit checks the compliance of registers, treatment routes and disposal sites at a given point in time. The maturity assessment places your practices on a progressive scale, from flow knowledge through to ecodesign, and names the action that moves you up to the next level. The two complement each other.
How long does the assessment take?
The short version takes 20 to 30 minutes and can be completed by an environment manager or site director. The full version, run collaboratively with production, procurement and the design office, generally takes one to two weeks, most of the time going into data collection.
Can it be adapted to our industry?
Yes. Themes, questions and levels can all be modified, and the AI rephrases them into your process vocabulary or builds a variant from your internal documents. You can also add your own themes, for example on water or reusable packaging.
Can several sites be compared with each other?
Yes. Applying the same framework across several business units enables an internal benchmark, theme by theme, and comparison against previous assessments. Each site’s action plans consolidate into a cross-cutting roadmap.
How is the action plan costed?
The gap between the score obtained and the target generates the actions. The service catalogue matches a solution to each action, with its cost, timeframe and expected impact on the score. You make decisions on that basis rather than from a list of intentions.
Where is the data hosted?
In France, with OVH, backed up at Scaleway. No transfer outside the European Union. The AI models used can be selected, including from European providers.