Background: A renewed focus on waste management and waste-repurposing strategies has sparked interest in the circular economy and sustainable development. This transition reflects a growing movement across industries and among entrepreneurs to adopt sustainable practices while enhancing efficiency throughout the life cycle of goods and services. As consumer awareness of the origins of their purchases increases, demand for transparency and accountability in business practices rises. In Oceania, particularly the Pacific Islands, limited land, rising sea levels, and high import dependence pose challenges for recycling and sustainability. This research examines how various stakeholders adopt sustainable practices to manage resources responsibly and achieve socially aligned outcomes. Methods: Following the PRISMA protocol, the study systematically reviews circular practices and innovations in Oceania’s food and agribusiness sector, identifying existing gaps and potential future research opportunities. An illustrative case study highlights how entrepreneurs in this sector are effectively meeting social, environmental, and business objectives in a global market. Results: The study highlights strategic waste management initiatives, business model adaptation, and the creation of new markets and products while maintaining the integrity of core operations. Our findings show that entrepreneurial activities offer social and economic benefits that extend beyond local communities, creating a positive ripple effect. Conclusions: This research enhances our understanding of circular entrepreneurial behavior as community-driven activities in environmental development, highlighting that such behavior often grows with experience. By examining how entrepreneurs balance economic needs with other demands, we gain insight into their motivations for adopting circular practices. The study shows that reusing, repurposing, redesigning, and reducing waste can improve profits and expand markets by treating waste as a valuable resource. We conclude with recommendations for industry and government support mechanisms to foster progress in this area.

The Timber Circularity Project has established Australia’s first integrated national framework for understanding and enabling timber circularity. It has addressed the technical, regulatory, logistic and market barriers limiting greater recovery and reuse of end-of-life (EOL) treated timber and engineered wood products (EWP), creating the evidence, decision-support tools, and partnerships needed to support future policy reform and commercial implementation.

Through a three-year national research and industry collaboration led by the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life (NCTDDL) at the University of the Sunshine Coast and supported by Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) and industry and government partners, the project has provided the knowledge, tools and practical demonstrations needed to support the transition from linear timber waste management towards a more circular model of resource use.

This pilot project evaluated the feasibility of reprocessing decommissioned treated timber vineyard posts into reusable fence posts using Food and Beverage Australia’s (FABALs) mobile demonstration processing equipment. This equipment combines a hydraulic de-nailing system with a guillotine to slice off broken post ends (as shown in Figure 1) enabling the conversion of end-of-life (EOL) vineyard posts into repurposed fence posts. The mobility of the equipment enables processing to be undertaken at vineyards, reducing transport requirements.

The results demonstrate that the process is technically viable, with the equipment operating reliably under field conditions and producing structurally suitable posts for reuse.

The current and projected availability of end-of-life treated-timber vineyard posts in Australia has been assessed and mapped to enhance timber recycling and reuse potential by improving the visibility oftimber flows. While timber provides benefits such as low embodied carbon and renewability, chemically treated variants present significant challenges for reuse and recycling. This study addresses these barriers and aims to develop circular economy pathways for preservative-treated timber products in Australia, ultimately reducing the amount of timber sent to landfill. Data were collected through industry site visits, surveys, and publicly available sources. The inclusion of councils with existing circular economy strategies highlights regions that could develop into circular economy hubs, supporting new business opportunities. This map helps identify resource distribution, infrastructure, and regulatory constraints, enabling informed decision-making and fostering stakeholder collaboration.

Advancements in preservative treated timber and engineered wood products (EWP) have increased the strength, durability and longevity of timber, allowing greater high value use of wood in indoor and outdoor applications. However, the preservatives and adhesives that improve the performance of wood products also present major barriers to reusing, repurposing, or recycling this timber at end-of-life (EOL). With few alternatives to landfill or incineration, EOL timber products are currently underutilised, contributing to environmental impact and lost economic value.

As a low carbon, renewable resource, timber should play a vital role in Australia’s transition towards a circular economy (CE) and a net positive future. The Australian Government have committed to a national circular economy transition1, which will require the reintegration of manufacturing byproducts and EOL resources into the supply chain. A CE model for Australia could add $26 billion in gross domestic product each year by 2035, while saving 165 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2040.