For a successful adoption of circular economy approaches in manufacturing, the combination of circular principles with the established lean production approach is essential. The basic idea of increasing value while reducing waste is the same. However, the practical integration of the concepts encounters potential conflicts that need to be addressed. This paper examines how the practical understanding of value creation and waste within a lean-shaped manufacturing environment influences the adoption of holistic circular principles. Therefore, qualitative data is collected through expert interviews and analyzed using the Gioia method. The findings show that the prevailing industrial understanding of value and waste is centered on process-based principles of lean production. Obstacles to the integration of circularity are the neglect of a circular economy’s ecological and holistic approach as well as the scope of interpretation in the application of both concepts in industrial practice. To overcome these obstacles, individual company characteristics and market conditions are identified as facilitators.