When DIY companies make 2030 circularity promises, there is an awkward elephant in the room. 68% of DIY revenue links to bonding product use (paint, adhesive, grout or sealant), a sector with unbreakable bonds as part of “premium” definitions, an almost anti-circular mission. How will brands and retailers close the loop? We interviewed multiple DIY companies and offer a framework, including ideas for where the solution will ultimately come from, with visible risks of inaction.
The Obligation to Opportunity: Closing a Circular Loop in DIY global briefing offers the big picture view of the size and shape of the Home and Garden market. The report delivers strategic insight into some of the key areas of the market, including emerging regions, countries and categories, as well as pressing industry issues and white spaces. It identifies opportunities, analyses leading companies and brands, and offers analysis of major factors influencing the market. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change and criteria for success
There is an elephant in the room for bonding product circularity we need to fix
When we study circularity end-of-life for DIY bonding products, currently 97% of material escapes the loop, it is harming sustainability options for a large portion of all DIY spend, and circularity so far was about closing other industries’ loops, not our own. There are three barriers (below) we need to overcome, and if we do not solve all three parts, the solution to any one part cannot ever pay off.
Contamination of DIY waste is the first barrier to overcome
Brands today are fabricating uncontaminated waste (ie not genuine) to allow needed end-of-life residual value tests. If we do not change waste handling during renovations and adopt Designing for Deconstruction principles in formulation and ideation, we will never close the loop; we will never even realistically test residual value in waste to know if there is profit in becoming circular.
Recovering waste has reverse last mile with batch-of-one issues
As long as managers feel removed geographically and temporally from the moment of product end-of-life, they will also feel unaccountable and will continue to accept words like “impossible”. If companies face this in isolation, the scale, complexity and influence barriers are dealbreakers. We need to escape silo thinking; alliances in Consumer System Thinking are the answer we see.
Where is the money? Until circularity means profit, it will not scale
There are circularity dead ends, like polymer cross-linking, that need to be fixed in formulation; this was the elephant in the room blocking progress so far, but recent technologies solve this. Once we prove embedded value in waste, finance can shift to a circular business model that views waste as a recoverable asset on balance sheets, and sustainability goals become profit goals.
If we do not solve circularity in bonding products, we face extreme disruption
The most attractive future vision is of a bonding products industry stakeholder alliance launching a product formulation that escapes cross-linked polymers, with residual value worth recovering that funds circularity, and this sector can start genuinely chasing 100% circular claims. The darker versions of forced regulation and deselection at retail have moving parts already visible today.
Report Scope:
- Product coverage: Home Improvement and Gardening, Homewares and Home Furnishings.
- Data coverage: Market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.
Why buy this report?
- Get a detailed picture of the Home and Garden market;
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;
- Understand the competitive environment, the market’s major players and leading brands;
- Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.
