Text by Ana Lilia Cortés, Circular Economy and TWM Manager at Veolia México.
There is an uncomfortable truth that is rarely said in business forums: the circular economy is advancing at a slow pace in Mexico because it implies a profound transformation in the way industries produce, supply, distribute and, above all, conceive value. It is a transformation that beyond speech, touches the operational core of companies.
Although the circular economy goes far beyond recycling, this is still a good starting point in a country where it is still essential to develop infrastructure for the recovery of materials. Consumer demand, the opportunity for internal use of by-products and increasing access to sustainable financing are already driving many companies to incorporate recycling practices.
However, the real bottleneck is the ability to move, process, transform and secure, with industrial quality, materials that for decades were considered waste without strategic value. That is the conversation that is still missing from the national debate, and also the key to turning circularity into a real economic driver.
The potential is impressive. According to the World Economic Forum, circular models could generate up to $4.5 billion in economic value by 2030, an opportunity that Mexico can take advantage of through an operational vision based on efficiency, technology and infrastructure.
In 2022, INEGI registered 4,528 recycling companies, 284 focused on reuse, 121 on recovery and 71 dedicated to reduction and repair. These figures show dynamism, although they also show that the size of the challenge requires an infrastructure capable of supporting an industry that seeks to compete in global markets.
This challenge is clearly reflected in the fact that Mexico recycles or reuses only 0.4% of the resources it uses, well below the global average of 7.2%. This difference not only represents an environmental lag, but also an enormous space to capture economic value.
The transition to a strong circular economy begins with infrastructure. It is at this level where the ability of an industry to convert waste into valuable materials, guarantee traceability, ensure constant quality and reduce energy volatility through recovery is truly defined.
Industrial circularity implies having pretreatment systems for hazardous and special handling waste, specialized separation centers and plants capable of valorizing complex materials. It also requires waste-based energy solutions that stabilize costs and strengthen operational resilience. It is in this area where true transformation occurs and where companies like Veolia can become a strategic ally.
A concrete example of this path towards circularity is the San Luis Potosí Environmental Center, a plant built by Veolia that has the capacity to transform up to 40 thousand tons of industrial waste per year into a formulated solid fuel that replaces fossil fuels in cement kilns. This model is also a clear case of industrial symbiosis, where the waste of one industry becomes the energy input of another.
These types of initiatives generate significant environmental benefits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. That combination of operational efficiency and environmental advantage creates a direct competitive differential.
In business terms, this implies three very specific things: less dependence on highly volatile and polluting fossil fuels; an environmentally superior solution that also stabilizes costs and reduces thousands of tons of waste that no longer reaches landfills with increasing environmental and economic impact.
But none of this happens in isolation. Industrial collaboration and work hand in hand with experts is a key piece to move towards circularity, since only through technical and strategic alliances can robust solutions be designed, guarantee operational quality and scale valorization models that work in the real world.
The circular economy stopped being an aspiration and became a competitiveness decision. Companies that integrate it as a structural part of their strategy—from product design to valorization—not only reduce their environmental footprint: they build operational advantages that are difficult to replicate. In Mexico, the time to act is not tomorrow. It’s now.
And the question is no longer whether circularity makes sense, but who is prepared to lead it.
