We arrived in India expecting to talk about circularity. We left thinking about how we design the future and how that connects to the work we are already doing with communities in the Philippines.

Waste is not waste until we waste it.

This was one of the messages that caught my attention as I enter the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) 2026 in Gandhinagar, India.

Nearby, another message stretched the familiar idea of the circular economy into a much longer chain: rethink, refuse, reduce, repair, repurpose, refurbish, remanufacture, recycle, and regenerate.

Walking more around the area, I kept encountering different expressions of that idea.

What comes from nature can return to nature.

Says a wall showing conventional packaging, leaf-made plates and bowls, earthen cups, electronic waste being recovered, and non-recyclable plastic being used in road construction.

“Different materials with different solutions”, I said to myself. But deeper in me, I could not help but ask, what else can we do with what we already have?

The conversation goes deeper

At WCEF, circularity was discussed as more than an environmental concern. It was connected to employment, businesses, local governance, technology, skills, markets, and communities.

We heard about informal workers already keeping materials in circulation and small and medium enterprises contributing to local circular economies. We were also reminded that skills alone are not enough without access to markets, finance, technology, and decent work.

Listening to these conversations, we began to see connections with our own work.

Gemma Goliat, Country Manager of the Philippine delegation, reflected:

It made me realize that there are still so many things we can do and so many opportunities within the work we are already doing. It reminded me that the challenges we have are not isolated.

Seeing our work through a different lens

One example is our work with seaweed communities in the Philippines.

Seaweed is already an important livelihood for many coastal communities. Through our work, we have also been exploring how it can create additional value through seaweed-based bio-stimulants for terrestrial agriculture.

After WCEF, we found ourselves looking beyond the product itself.

It struck as that the seaweed farmer is part of the story. So is the farmer who uses the bio-stimulant. So also, are the local organizations, government partners, technical teams, and markets that connect them.

Resources matter, but so do the people and systems connected to them.

Where the loop ends and begins… again

“Before we even get to reuse or repurpose, we have to look back on how we design in the first place”, Gemma said as she continued her reflection.

That insight opened up bigger questions. How do we design livelihood opportunities? How do we design partnerships? How do we build value chains so that more value stays within communities?

These questions are not ours alone to answer.

I also realized that we are not alone facing these challenges in terms of implementations. I saw how important local governance, partnerships, and going deeper beyond the surface are.

Goliat added.

As we left Mahatma Mandir during sunset, I reminisced how we came to India expecting to learn how to close the loop. It left me thinking even more about where the loop begins.

Perhaps it begins with a design decision. Or a community finding a new way to create value from what is already around them. Perhaps with a partnership that makes an idea possible.

And as I board the plane back to the Philippines, a question slipped into my luggage…what if we designed for circularity right from the very beginning?

Article written by Gemma Golliat, Country Representative, and Wyslly Sombrero Ala, Communications, at CODESPA Philippines.