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Circle Economy and ICLEI have partnered up to initiate the go to knowledge hub of case studies about the circular economy in cities. The Cities Collection is a repository of case studies that demonstrate the role of cities in the circular transition, and includes policies, business cases and research articles. Cases in the Collection flow into an ecosystem of digital products which support users in transitioning cities to circularity, for example [Ganbatte](https://ganbatte.world/cities/) and <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/" target="_blank">ICLEI Circulars</a>, both part of the <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/circle-lab-for-cities/" target = _blank">Circle Lab for Cities Programme.</a>




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Circular Cities

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Policy case

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

Producing electronics products for businesses and consumers, including cellular phones, personal computers, printers, servers, electronic computer components and peripherals, TVs, audio equipment, as well as household appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines, etc.

Electronics and Appliances

Collection programmes that process products and parts for reuse or recycling within other industries

Open loop collection

Make collected and sorted recyclables available for use by citizens, small businesses up to large scale industrial processes. 

Use recyclables

Implementation of strategies to collect recyclable waste in order to make it accessible and available to be used as an input in industrial processes (big or small). These are door-to-door collection (higher recovery rates but more costly intensive), drop-off schemes (cheaper but less effective, more common in cities with high housing density), or a combination of the two, and their corresponding incentive schemes. 

Collect recyclables

Infrastructure for citizens or cities to sort waste and extract recyclables, including incentives and pay-as-you-throw policies, as well as clear and targeted communications campaigns.

Sort recyclables

Collection of waste arising from commercial and industrial actors

Collect non residential

Collect organic waste generated by households and related businesses for use in, for example, composting and anaerobic digestion facilities.

Collect organic

Solutions at all stages of the Electronics Value Chain

Zero Waste Electronics

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

Ensure that household and business waste is collected and appropriately sorted (by type, label, etc.) to allow for maximum recovery of value.


Collect and sort waste to facilitate recovery

Manufactured goods, such as vehicles, textiles, appliances and equipment and their associated production processes are big employers but:
- production processes often rely on fossil fuels and currently drive one-third of the overshoot on the climate change planetary boundary due to its GHG production, 
- material- and energy-intensive industrial activities are linked to deforestation and drive 15% on both the land use and freshwater planetary boundaries, 
- manufacturing goods results in substantial amounts of hazardous industrial waste and leaks chemicals into the environment.

Here, circular solutions must tackle the full value chain, but material demand must also shrink: this will necessitate a societal shift to favouring sufficiency over excess and reducing consumption to sustainable levels. Our four key solutions for manufactured goods are:
- Mainstream industrial symbiosis and efficiency : Achieve process improvements, scrap diversion and reduction in yield losses through greater industrial symbiosis and efficiency. Foster tighter collaboration within and between industries to deliver powerful material and emissions savings.
- Extend the lifetime of machinery, equipment, and goods: Maximise the lifetime of goods that serve our daily needs to bring a number of environmental benefits. 
- Buy what's needed: Reduce the number of purchases of common electronic goods, appliances, and other equipment to sufficiency levels. 
- Eschew fast fashion in favour of sustainable textiles: Drastically reduce new clothing purchases. All used clothing should go on to be repaired, reused or, if needed, recycled appropriately. Prioritise natural and local textile manufacturing, as well as higher-quality and more durable garments. 




👕📱 Consumer Goods

Governments

Designing products with a single material type to more easily recycle them after use

Design for recycling - mono-materials

Extraction and reuse of parts from end-of-life products for use in new products

Part recovery

Decentralised services that rely on the power of the crowd or the community

Crowd-based services

Working together with stakeholders and parties in other unrelated industries to implement circular economy strategies and opportunities

Cross-industry projects, pilots

Designing products to remove any barriers to recycling and enable easy recyclability

Design for recycling

Marketplaces or services that enable the second hand sale of own-brand products

Own brand second-hand sale

Utilising data and models to to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Data analytics, modelling

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

Allowing customers to alter and modify certain features of the product

Customisation

Designing products so they are able to be easily repaired

Design for repair

Developing or utilising online marketplaces to enable the peer-to-peer exchange of products and services

Peer-to-peer online marketplaces

Providing repair services or maintenance services for products or parts

Product maintenance, repair

Integrate principles of circularity into primary, secondary and tertiary curriculum and conduct workplace trainings

 Education and Curriculum

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within the same industry

Closed loop upcycling

Ensure that biological products are properly managed and preserved

Maximise lifetime of biological products

Installing sensors to gather data from products and services to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Sensors, monitoring systems

Using <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/information-on-chemicals" target="_blank">materials that are not toxic or hazardous</a>.

Non-toxic materials and inputs

Recover waste energy or generate fuels and energy from waste streams

Energy recovery from waste

Connecting products and services into the internet of things to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Internet enabled, connected operations

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

Providing products through leasing, rental, or pay-per-use models instead of sales

Leasing, rental, pay per use

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

Selling parts of modular products that can be exchanged or replaced

Sale of exchangeable parts

Using waste materials that have been processed and recycled to produce new products within the same industry

Using closed loop recycled materials

Using bio-based materials such as bioplastics, mushroom-based materials, etc.

Alternative bio-based materials and inputs

Deliver services through business models that ensure maximum value

Service business models

Preserving and conserving biological products such as food, forests, etc.

Preservation, conservation

Providing upgrade programmes or upgrade services for products or parts of products

Product upgrade

Provide guidance or professional training to educate employees to use circular economy principles

Training on the circular economy

Designing products to increase consumer’s emotional attachment and ensure longer use

Design for product attachment, emotional durability

Selling high quality, long-lasting products

Sale of durable, long-lasting goods

Developing or utilising online platforms to enable circular economy opportunities through information, product or service offering

Online platforms

Generating energy from waste through processes such as anaerobic digestion, gasification, incineration, etc.

Generating energy from waste

Takeback and return of products from customers after end-of-use

Takeback programmes

Work together throughout the supply chain, internally within organisations and with the public sector and communities to increase transparency and create joint value

Team up to create joint value

Marketplaces or services that enable the second hand sale of products

Second-hand sale, distribution

Putting in place purchasing guidelines for procurement departments and evaluating suppliers on circular economy principles

Circular procurement

Deliver products through business models that ensure maximum value

Product business models

Designing products so they use as little materials, water, energy, etc. as possible during use

Design for resource efficiency

Designing products that are made to last and to ensure longer use

Design for durability

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

Using waste materials that have been processed and recycled to produce new products within other industries

Using open loop recycled materials

Working together with customers to jointly create products fit for them

Co-creation

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within the same industry

Valorise waste streams - closed loop

Employ online platforms to connect and improve information sharing between stakeholders

Digital platforms

Using <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/raw-materials/specific-interest/critical_sv" target="_blank">materials that are not considered critical</a>.

Non-critical materials and inputs 

Utilise bio-based, reusable, non-toxic and non-critical materials

Regenerative materials

Enacting measures that optimise material use such as 3D printing, etc.

Material efficiency

Providing services where customers are charged only when they use it

Payment per use

Providing products through sharing between consumers, customers, etc.

Peer to peer sharing

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Engaging in discussions with government bodies and policymakers to push for regulations that support the circular economy

Advocacy for circular economy policy

Employ technologies to gather and analyse data to provide insights on resource use

Data and insights

Collection programmes that process products and parts for reuse or recycling within the same industry

Closed loop collection

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within other industries

Valorise waste streams - open loop

Engage and guide customers and consumers to ensure circular use of products

Customer / consumer collaboration

Consider opportunities to create greater value and align incentives that build on the interaction between products and services

Rethink the business model

Providing services through a subscription plan with regular payment schemes

Subscription-based services

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

Replace energy sources with less impactful alternatives and enact energy efficiency measures

Regenerative energy

Use digital, online platforms and technologies that provide insights to track and optimise resource use, strengthen connections between supply chain actors, and enable the implementation of circular models



Incorporate digital technology

Providing DIY repair kits or spare part programmes for enabling self-repair

Self-repair, spare part service

Replacing freshwater use with rainwater, fogwater, seawater, etc.

Alternative water use

Recovering and reusing waste heat, gas, etc. for energy

Recovery and reuse of waste energy

Designing products so they produce as little waste as possible during production

Design for minimal waste

Designing to enable multiple uses and lifecycles of a product and its materials

Design for cyclability

Enacting measures that optimise water use

Water efficiency

Converting fossil fuel based operations to electric

Electrification

Designing products of multiple parts that can be easily exchanged

Design for modularity

Selling parts of modular products that can be refilled

Sale of refillable parts

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within other industries

Open loop upcycling

Engage internally to guide employees and facilitate greater knowledge sharing between internal divisions

Internal collaboration

Designing products to resist damage and wear, and serve a long and useful life.

Design for physical durability

Integrating circular economy thinking into employee evaluations that are tied to professional compensation

Financial incentives tied to circular economy

Transforming waste products into materials and lower value products within other industries

Open loop downcycling

While resources are in-use, maintain, repair and upgrade them to maximise their lifetime and give them a second life through take back strategies when applicable

Stretch the lifetime

Designing products that can easily breakdown and degrade in the environment

Design for bio-degradability

Enacting measures that optimise energy use

Energy efficiency

Key elements of the circular economy

<p>The Canadian city of Toronto offers residents a curbside e-waste collection service, created to encourage waste diversion and recycling as well as keeping electronics out of landfills. The service does not cost residents an additional premium and devices of all shapes and sizes can be collected.</p>