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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

Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the social fabric of the community and well-being of the individuals and families.

Social Impact

Impact on increased knowledge and understanding as a result of the case study

Increase Awareness

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)

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

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

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

Regenerative materials

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

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

Design for minimal waste

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

'Inform' increases the overall levels of awareness and builds the necessary skills and knowledge around the circular economy to foster long-term change.

Inform

Data, knowledge & information sharing

'Mobilise' sets the direction of and builds momentum towards long-term change, while also determining how this direction is determined and governed.

Mobilise

Visions and Ambitions

Roadmaps and strategies and targets

 Convene Towards Action

Advocate for circular change

Use longer and more often by extending and intensifying use of existing resources, products, spaces and infrastructure

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Reuse

Do better with less by using and supporting infrastructure, processes and products that are designed to minimize material, water and energy use and waste generation from production to end of use


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Reduce

Maintain and repair city-owned spaces and infrastructure to increase longevity, and support opportunities for residents to do the same for privately owned items and property

Support reuse, repair, remanufacturing, maintenance of existing resources, products, spaces & infrastructure

Put enablers in place that allow circular businessesto grow, thrive and innovate (e.g. incubators, start-up funding, partnerships, innovation deals, business capacity building and testing groundsfor new business models).


Support circular and resource-efficient business innovations

Businesses

Governments

Circular water systems in cities will also depend on new business models shaping innovations and new activities. For example, water operators can determine the shift towards circular business models (e.g. fostering water reuse, decentralised water solutions, etc.).

Cities can explore innovative financing and other support measures—for instance, building the adequate expertise in water resource and efficiency management or innovation challenges—for circular business models in water systems. Simultaneously, they should develop the right policy, institutional, regulatory frameworks to promote scale up these models. Fostering these new business models with additional revenue streams would, in turn, attract the private sector to close the funding gap needed for the circular transition.


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💧 Circular business models for water systems innovation

Single-use packaging is very common in food services and retail, and its expanded use in recent years has led to multiple health, sanitation and environmental problems—polluting public spaces, waterways and surrounding ecosystems. 

However, this is a relatively new phenomenon, and there is a lot that can be done to shift away from non-biodegradable materials and encourage a return to reusable containers. Reusable containers can be used, washed and reused multiple times to reduce waste generation.

Commonly, the implementation of reusable food and drink containers relies on a strong collaboration with businesses to adopt and facilitate such schemes. Local governments can play an important role in promoting and supporting these behaviours through, for example, raising awareness about alternatives through campaigns and promoting participating businesses. Experimental zones can also be used to test and encourage the use of reusable containers. Local governments can, in partnership with regional and national governments, regulate the use of certain single-use materials and packaging in the city.

However, caution is warranted: with their often higher per-unit impact when compared with single-use alternatives, implementing reusable container schemes must be balanced with behaviour change away from a throw-away mindset to ensure that these containers are used multiple times, otherwise the expected environmental impact may not be realised. 


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👕📱 Reusable products and containers

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

Impacts

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A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policy Instruments

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

City Stakeholders

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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               On 29 May 2019, the operator from Paris, Eau de Paris launched a new initiative to tackle single-use plastic pollution and make Paris the first city with plastic waste-free water through a change of habits and citizen mobilisation.  Noting that, each year, in France, 8,7 billion litres of water are bottled and consumed* and only one in two bottles is recycled*, and considering that bottles are one of the first sources of ocean pollution, the ‘Paris de l’eau zero déchet plastique’ (zero plastic waste water action) concretely includes:  a call to Parisians to sign the commitments of the manifesto for zero plastic waste water: 
Drink tap water at home, at work and in restaurants  Consume water from Paris’ fountains instead of buying bottled water  Carry a reusable bottle to drink water when exercising or on-the-go  Maintain and fix taps to avoid wastage  Defend the principle of water for all and without plastic waste 
a series of commitments by Eau de Paris to foster tap water consumption
the creation of an ‘Action Tank’ in collaboration with the Surfrider Foundation Europe and Gobilab, which will identify the issues that hamper widespread tap water consumption by type of uses and of users and to propose concrete solutions to foster the consumption of no-plastic-waste water. 
President of Eau de Paris and of Aqua Publica Europea, and Deputy Mayor of Paris, Célia Blauel highlighted that “Paris' water, consumed at the tap or at the fountains, is not only healthy, it is also a militant act. Drinking a water without packaging helps reduce waste by 7kg per person and per year”.  Throughout the summer, Eau de Paris will be deploying the action during the many events that the operators partners with to provide tap water, starting with the WeLoveGreen festival.  More information on: parisdeleau.fr/ Sources
[1] European Federation of Bottled Waters
[2] PlasticsEurope 
     
      
       
       
   
       

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Paris

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Municipality of Paris

Aqua Publica Europea

Eau de Paris

<p>To tackle single-use plastic pollution, Eau de Paris, the operator from Paris, with the support of the municipality of Paris and within the association Aqua Publica Europea is making Paris the first city with plastic waste-free water through a zero plastic waste water action.</p>