Any scientific or economic sector uses specific vocabulary, and the circular economy is no different. Some concepts are easy to work out, others less so. Some are familiar but you'd find it difficult to define them. Acronyms can be a headache.

This series will look at concepts used in articles on this website and endeavour to provide straightforward definitions.

Concept: Secondary raw materials

• These are recovered from waste or end-of-life products through recycling.
• They can replace some or all virgin raw materials in manufacturing processes.
• Advantages: the supply of virgin raw materials can be limited, recycling reduces the total amount of waste, secondary raw materials have a smaller environmental impact than virgin ones.
• Disadvantages: the exact composition of secondary raw materials is not always known and there are no quality standards for some materials, meaning that it is difficult for manufacturers to use them in their supply chain.
• Example: wood obtained by cutting down a tree is a virgin raw material, while wood fibres derived from waste paper is a secondary raw material.