The Circular Economy Standards Registry (CESR) is designed to help users identify and navigate standards, standards committees, and other standards-related resources relevant to the circular economy. The CESR was developed as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) Circular Economy Program.

With this registry, you can search for resources based on keywords and filter the results based on circular economy concepts and topics.

Who is this for?

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  • Standards developers: People developing standards—be they internal standards for their organization or open, voluntary, consensus-based standards developed through a standards development organization—can find existing circular economy standards and standards committees to reference and draw inspiration from. The CESR can also be used to identify gaps in standards development activities.
  • Standards users: Industry can use this resource to find a curated list of standards and related resources to help them implement circularity into their operations.

What is included in the Registry?

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The intent of the Registry is to help stakeholders identify standards, committees, and other standards-related resources relevant to the recirculation of manufactured products and materials. The resources included address system and supply chain aspects, design, end-of-use pathways, and related metrics.

The scope of the CESR is currently limited to North American and internationally recognized standards. The federal government prioritizes voluntary, consensus-based standards as defined by OMB Circular A-119.

How do I find resources?

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You can find resources by searching for keywords or choosing among categories. From the search page, you can narrow your search by selecting from several categories, including:

  • Type of Resource: CESR resources include voluntary consensus standards, standards development organizations, and standards-related literature, such as technical reports and standards landscape analyses.
  • Actions & Attributes: Find standards that relate to specific value recovery actions such as design, recycle, and repair, or focus areas like systems- level analysis and impact assessment.
  • Product & Material Types: Choose from categories of products (e.g., electronics, textiles) or materials (e.g., plastics, metals).
  • Region: The region where the standards organization is based. Resources classified as "International" are from the three international standards development organizations that adhere to the World Trade Organization's Technical Barriers to Trade requirements: the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Want to learn more about standards?

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More information about standards is available from NIST's Standards Coordination Office at Standards.gov.

Help us grow

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New standards on circular economy are continuously being developed. If you know of a standard or resource that should be included in this registry, please tell us about it at [email protected].

Motivation for creating the Registry

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Through extensive engagement with stakeholders, like workshops, NIST has identified a number of challenges faced by U.S. industry related to circular economy standards. These include the lack of a centralized hub for finding circular economy standards, gaps in the standards landscape, and a lack of harmonization across standards organizations. NIST developed the CESR to help address these challenges by creating a centralized registry for circular economy standards and standards-related resources.

Disclaimer: The Circular Economy Standards Registry makes every effort to provide accurate and complete information. Various data such as links to websites, etc. may change prior to updating. Circular Economy Standards Registry provides this information “AS-IS.” NIST makes NO WARRANTY OF ANY TYPE, including NO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NIST makes no warranties or representations as to the correctness, accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information. As a condition of using the Registry, you explicitly release NIST from any and all liabilities for any damage of any type that may result from errors or omissions in the Registry or other data. Some of the documents referenced point to information created and maintained by other organizations. Circular Economy Standards Registry does not control and cannot guarantee the relevance, timeliness, or accuracy of these materials.