small_iclei.png

thumbnail_iclei.png

iclei.png

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>

large_Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

medium_Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

small_Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

thumbnail_Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

Circular Cities

large_eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

medium_eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

small_eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

thumbnail_eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

Policy case

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Providing public and private education and support services at any level or for any profession, and governmental and public administration services, including judicial, regulatory, and legislative activities, taxation, defence, public order and safety, immigration services, foreign affairs and the administration of government programmes

Education and Government Services

Providing electricity and gas services, including traditional and renewable energy generation, natural and manufactured gas and operating gas networks

Energy Utilities and Independent Power Producers

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

Rethink the business model

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

Institutional design to enable circularity

Review and update regulation

Charges and tariffs

Includes a variety of actions (e.g. campaigns, information sharing, public events) that encourage city residents and visitors to build sustainable practices into their daily lives

Enable sustainable lifestyles

Prioritize solutions that use the power of functioning ecosystems as infrastructure to provide natural services to benefit society and the environment; consider nature-based replacements for grey infrastructure.

Prioritise renewable resources 

Cities consume about 75% of global energy and emit between 50% and 60% of global greenhouse gases (UN-Habitat). To reduce the negative impact of their energy consumption, cities need to shift away from fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy sources. Such a shift will help cities work towards their climate change mitigation and adaptation action plans. Renewable energy technologies such as wind, water, solar, and geothermal can also help improve access to energy in vulnerable and marginalised neighbourhoods through, for example, decentralised, off-grid solutions.

Renewable energy technologies can harvest the energy in nature’s processes, such as wind, and solar radiation and geothermal heat, that can be replenished within a human lifespan. In contrast, fossil fuels are materials that are not replenished within a human lifespan and are combusted for energy, losing the fuel material and resulting in emissions.

Local governments can develop sustainable energy plans, considering different energy resources and requirements, to develop a robust strategy for the development of renewable energy technologies and infrastructure throughout the city. They can also institute specific legislation and tax systems to regulate energy production and consumption, incentivise research and development of cleaner, more efficient technologies. Via Power Purchase Agreements cities can buy renewable energy from green energy providers and fix the price in order to provide security to financial institutions to finance renewable energy infrastructure. Furthermore, increasing awareness and facilitating capacity-building on planning urban sustainable energy projects can help the uptake of clean energy across the city by different stakeholders—from citizens to businesses and institutions. Facilitating collaboration, then, will be crucial, since private companies operate most of the world’s energy systems.


⚡ Energy Systems

Communities

Governments

Cities consume about 75% of global energy and emit between 50% and 60% of global greenhouse gases ([UN-Habitat](https://unhabitat.org/topic/energy)). To reduce the negative impact of their energy consumption, cities need to shift away from fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy sources. Such a shift will help cities work towards their climate change mitigation and adaptation action plans. Renewable energy technologies such as wind, water, solar, and geothermal can also help improve access to energy in vulnerable and marginalised neighbourhoods through, for example, decentralised, off-grid solutions.

Renewable energy technologies can harvest the energy in nature’s processes, such as wind, and solar radiation and geothermal heat, that can be replenished within a human lifespan. In contrast, fossil fuels are materials that are not replenished within a human lifespan and are combusted for energy, losing the fuel material and resulting in emissions. 

Local governments can develop sustainable energy plans, considering different energy resources and requirements, to develop a robust strategy for the development of renewable energy technologies and infrastructure throughout the city. They can also institute specific legislation and tax systems to regulate energy production and consumption, incentivise research and development of cleaner, more efficient technologies. Via Power Purchase Agreements cities can buy renewable energy from green energy providers and fix the price in order to provide security to financial institutions to finance renewable energy infrastructure. Furthermore, increasing awareness and facilitating capacity-building on planning urban sustainable energy projects can help the uptake of clean energy across the city by different stakeholders—from citizens to businesses and institutions. Facilitating collaboration, then, will be crucial, since private companies operate most of the world’s energy systems.


large_gonz-ddl-a1Lm99Kkqtg-unsplash (1).jpg

medium_gonz-ddl-a1Lm99Kkqtg-unsplash (1).jpg

small_gonz-ddl-a1Lm99Kkqtg-unsplash (1).jpg

thumbnail_gonz-ddl-a1Lm99Kkqtg-unsplash (1).jpg

gonz-ddl-a1Lm99Kkqtg-unsplash (1).jpg

⚡  Harnessing renewable energy from natural processes

Impacts

small_climate-4803653_640.jpg

thumbnail_climate-4803653_640.jpg

climate-4803653_640.jpg

Industries

small_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

thumbnail_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

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

Policies

medium_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

small_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

thumbnail_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

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

large_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

medium_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

small_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

thumbnail_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

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

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

Austin

large_blob

medium_blob

small_blob

thumbnail_blob

blob

Austin 

Austin (USA) facilitates sustainable procurement for energy consumers with its GreenChoice program. The GreenChoice offering allows electricity consumers to make a green purchasing choice to help the environment, while also providing them with an attractive pricing scheme. This created an increase in demand for renewable energy, which helped in making wind energy cost-competitive.

Austin builds demand for renewables with GreenChoice

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

Increase Awareness

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

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

Training on the circular economy

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

Inform

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

 Education and Curriculum

Encourage workplace training

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

Redesign systems to lay the foundation for circular activities and enable the transition to a circular economy 

large_5R_Rethink.png

medium_5R_Rethink.png

small_5R_Rethink.png

thumbnail_5R_Rethink.png

5R_Rethink.png

Rethink

High-level changes to policy and practice (such as taxation systems, investment and procurement guidelines and criteria) that disincentivize activities that perpetuate linear economic systems, as well as vision-setting (goals, roadmaps) to catalyze
action on circularity across the city

Eliminate linear incentives and set goals and incentives for circularity

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

The food system nourishes populations and employs 50% of the global workforce, but:
- it currently drives a quarter of the overshoot on the climate change planetary boundary due to its greenhouse gas (GHG) production, 
- animal farming alone uses over one-quarter of all land, equivalent to the size of the Americas,
- nearly a quarter of freshwater resources are lost due to rampant food waste, and
- it is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss.

A circular food system must address the whole value chain, from production to consumption to waste management. The four key solutions for the food system are:
- Put healthier, satiating foods first: Prioritise satiating and healthy foods with a lower environmental impact—ideally shifting calories from meat, fish, and dairy towards cereals, fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
- Go local, seasonal, and organic: Prioritise the production and consumption of local, seasonal, and organic produce (sometimes in combination with GMO to reduce pests and disease loss on crops), which can lead to a significantly reduced need for chemical inputs, fuels, and processing services that contribute to environmental impacts.
- Mainstream regenerative agriculture: Scale up agricultural practices that regenerate ecosystems, recirculate nutrients and sequester carbon by design. 
- End avoidable food waste: Minimise food loss and valorise waste following the food waste hierarchy along the supply chain and at the consumer level through better management of transport and storage, more refrigeration and smart planning, and technology at the consumer and food service levels.



🍏 Food Systems

Businesses

When organic wastes are landfilled, the value and nutrients are lost and irrecoverable. Landfilling also causes additional environmental pressure, for example, the decomposition of food and organic waste in landfills emits greenhouse gases into the climate. Reducing the space required for landfills creates opportunities for better use. 

Local governments have an important role to play in the elimination of the landfilling of organic wastes. Municipalities with the legislative authority to do so can introduce legislation that bans organic wastes from being landfilled and fines non-compliance.

Municipalities can ensure that municipal organic wastes are collected and diverted from landfill by mandating certain processing techniques, for example, composting or anaerobic digestion. 
 


large_jacqueline-brandwayn-S8MSj5VzHxQ-unsplash.jpeg

medium_jacqueline-brandwayn-S8MSj5VzHxQ-unsplash.jpeg

small_jacqueline-brandwayn-S8MSj5VzHxQ-unsplash.jpeg

thumbnail_jacqueline-brandwayn-S8MSj5VzHxQ-unsplash.jpeg

jacqueline-brandwayn-S8MSj5VzHxQ-unsplash.jpeg

🍏  Phase out landfilling of organic waste


The business owner and manager are responsible. Typically, this is the person who manages the contract for trash and recycling services.
What do I need to do?
Submit plan
The person responsible for the trash and recycling must fill out an Organics Diversion Plan every year, beginning October 1. This organics plan is a report of how the property meets organics requirements. Items needed to fill out your plan:
service receipts for organics collection or donation (frequency and weight), and
a letter or email from Austin Resource Recovery. 

If you are unable to complete your plan, you will be able to save it and finish later.
If you contract for trash and recycling, you also need to fill out a recycling plan.
What am I reporting and how do I comply?
1. Divert organics
Divert discarded organic material from the landfill. You can decide what methods work for your business. Here are some ways you can divert organic material:

Reduce waste: Reduce organic waste by reducing purchasing sizes, making to order, etc.   


Donate food to people: Donate extra food to food banks, soup kitchens or shelters. Learn How to Donate Food


Donate food to animals: donate food scraps to local farms.


Compost: Compost on-site or contract with a private service provider to collect organics. Find a licensed hauler.


Create alternative programs: Develop innovative solutions, customized to your business, which divert organic material from landfills.

2. Provide access
Ensure employees have convenient access to methods of keeping organics (like food scraps) out of landfills.


Download the food-permitted business fact sheet in English or Spanish

3. Provide education  
Provide education on organics diversion to employees within 30 days of hire and every year thereafter. Education may be provided at team meetings, in print or electronically. Download our free example messages for organics emails and letters or for newsletter articles and websites.
4. Post signage  
Post informational, bilingual signs on or near organics diversion stations or containers. 
Make your own custom signs:

Print free resources:
Violations of the URO (Austin City Code Chapter 15-6) are a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by fines up to $2,000 per day, per offense. Contact us for free information, guidance and resources: email Austin Resource Recovery’s Business Outreach team or call 512-974-9727.


In Austin, the municipality provides employees working in restaurants with training on handling food waste in order to prevent restaurants from disposing of food waste in landfill.

Training on handling food waste

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 and gathering crop and animal products from land and water through farming, hunting, and fishing

Agriculture

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Use waste as a resource

'Regulate' changes the rules of the systems to achieve compliance through enforcement. 


Regulate

Bans

Eliminate waste by maximizing the recovery of resources at the end of the use phase so that they can be reintroduced into production processes


large_5R_Recover.png

medium_5R_Recover.png

small_5R_Recover.png

thumbnail_5R_Recover.png

5R_Recover.png

Recover

Incorporate extended use in project planning phases; create or update city policies to allow for extended use.


Design and regulate for separation and recovery

 Approximately 40 percent of food in the United States goes uneaten. Most of this wasted food ends up in landfills, and food is the largest single component of municipal solid waste in landfills, according to the 2019 report, “Bans and Beyond: Designing and Implementing Organic Waste Bans and Mandatory Organics Recycling Laws.”As more businesses, states and municipalities roll out sustainability initiatives, such as San Diego’s Zero Waste Plan that includes a 75 percent waste diversion goal by 2020, organic waste bans to reduce or divert food scrap from landfills are gaining momentum across the country.Some states—California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont—and municipalities—Austin, Texas; Boulder, Colorado; Hennepin County, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; New York City; San Francisco; and Seattle—have passed organic waste bans or mandatory organics recycling laws. Other states, such as Maryland, and localities are looking to pass similar legislation.“The issue is getting attention. I don’t think we’re done seeing these types of policies come into place,” says Lorenzo Macaluso, director of Green Business Services at Massachusetts-based environmental nonprofit Center for EcoTechnology (CET), which authored the Bans and Beyond report in collaboration with the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic.The legislative landscapeConnecticut was the first state to pass a commercial organic waste law in 2011, followed by California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont in 2014 and New York in 2019.Connecticut requires food waste generators, including supermarkets and food manufacturers, to divert their food waste to an organics processing facility. In January, the law extended to other businesses, which can comply by donating surplus food, using food scraps for animal feed, processing food scraps on-site or sending food scraps to a composting or anaerobic digestion (AD) facility.California’s mandatory commercial recycling law requires certain businesses to subscribe to organic waste recycling services. Massachusetts established its disposal ban through regulation. In 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) added “commercial organic material” to a list of several materials already barred from landfills.“Some of the bans are legislatively driven. Those often result more in a law [being passed]. Some are regulatory in nature,” Macaluso says. “New York went through a more legislative process, where it went through the governor’s office.”Rhode Island’s law requires certain businesses and institutions to divert organic waste to authorized composting or AD facilities, or a “facility that uses any other authorized recycling method, including on-site treatment and animal feed.”While Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law passed in 2012, the phased-in food scrap disposal ban began in 2014. By July, all individuals, businesses, corporations and public entities, in addition to commercial food waste generators, will be banned from disposing of food scraps. Prior to 2020, businesses and households were exempt from the law if they weren’t located within 20 miles of a processing facility.“We have over 100 transfer stations now across the state that offer food scrap collection,” says Josh Kelly, materials management section chief for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, which is part of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). “That was required because if you’re going to have a ban on something, you need to make it convenient for people.”New York’s food scrap recycling requirement passed in 2019 as part of the state’s 2020 budget process. The law, which will take effect in 2022, requires food scrap generators that produce more than two tons per week to donate food scraps. It also requires certain food scrap generators to divert food scraps to organic processing facilities.“Comparing where we are today to several years ago, there’s very significant advancement in the level of activity and awareness about food waste in a handful of states in the Northeast and California. There are also a rising number of jurisdictions either on a county or city level that have similar policies in place,” Macaluso says.Organic recycling ordinances have popped up in Hennepin County, Minnesota, which adopted new commercial organic recycling and new residential collection requirements in 2018. In Portland, Oregon, a city council ordinance will require businesses to separate and divert food waste in 2020.“I think across the board where these bans are happening, there’s significantly increased economic activity,” Macaluso says."I think across the board where these bans are happening, there’s significantly increased economic activity.” –Lorenzo Macaluso, director of Green Business Services at the Center for EcoTechnology.According to a MassDEP survey targeting organic waste haulers, processors and composters, all three sectors reported “significant growth” over the last decade. The ban supported more than 500 additional jobs across the sectors from 2010 to 2016 and nearly $175 million in industry activity. Processors planned the highest average capital investments for 2017, followed by haulers, and the analysis projects that growth to continue in Massachusetts.For haulers, organic waste bans by nature create increased demand for food waste collection services. According to a hauler survey conducted by CET, commercial haulers in Massachusetts reported their customer base grew from 1,350 in 2014 to 2,300 in 2018.Driven by the marketIn 2017, Vermont composting facilities collected more food scraps than ever before, a 9 percent increase from 2016, according to a 2019 Universal Recycling status report.In 2018, the legislature also made reasonable changes to the law to “address some concerns of different stakeholders,” Kelly says. The modifications included removing the hauler requirement to collect leaf and yard debris and postponing the food scrap hauling requirement to 2020.“There was a lot of debate around the food scrap hauling requirement,” says Kelly, whose team at DEC oversees implementing the ban. “We surveyed haulers and our municipalities and districts. We came back with results that showed haulers overwhelmingly don’t want to offer food scrap collection.”Another modification requires haulers to only provide pickup services to businesses and apartment buildings, unless another hauler can provide the service, Kelly says. The state now has more than 20 haulers offering food scrap pickup services.“If somebody is wanting to get into this market, then that could exempt the other haulers, but I will say they don’t really love the idea of another hauler providing a service, so they start to compete with each other,” he says.Before the ban went into effect, three of the state’s largest haulers—Casella Waste Systems, Gauthier Trucking and Myers Container Service—offered waste, recycling and food scrap collection services.Since the ban, new hauling companies, especially those focused on providing residential food scrap pickup services, have sprouted up. Starting in the summer of 2020, Got Trash and Ruggiero Trash Removal will debut food scrap collection services to residents across several Vermont counties. No Waste Compost, a rising hauler in the commercial and residential space, also reports doubling its customer base from 2018 to 2019, Kelly says.Vermont has also seen an increase in composting and AD facilities as well as in “traditional solid waste haulers owning and operating these facilities,” he says. Casella, Rutland, Vermont, is opening an organics recovery facility. Vanguard Renewables, Wellesley, Massachusetts, is also developing an anaerobic digestion facility in Salisbury and the construction of the Wyman Frasier Compost Facility is also underway in the state. These facilities didn’t exist before the ban, Kelly notes.“In Vermont’s experience with the food waste ban, it leads to businesses springing up to meet the demand,” Kelly says. He adds food rescue has increased 50 percent in Vermont since the ban went into effect.When Vermont passed its Universal Recycling Law, stakeholders worked with the state to develop a set of standardized recycling symbols residents and businesses could recognize, Kelly says, including an apple core on a green background to encourage composting and a whole apple on a purple background to encourage food donation and rescue. Since these symbols were released, haulers and solid waste companies have started displaying them on their trucks and collection bins.“We’re hopeful that the symbol is used universally for food scrap recycling,” Kelly says. “I hope 20 years from now, you see that apple core everywhere.”This article originally ran in the March issue of Waste Today.  

United States

Seattle

San Francisco

Portland

Boulder

New York

Hennepin

New York City government

San Francisco 

City of Seattle

City of Portland

City of Boulder

Hennepin County

Several municipalities in the US (Austin, Texas; Boulder, Colorado; Hennepin County, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; New York City; San Francisco; and Seattle) have passed organic waste bans or mandatory organics recycling laws. In Portland, Oregon, a city council ordinance will require businesses to separate and divert food waste in 2020.

Banning food waste from landfills

Due to the cancellation of plans to build a waste-to-energy facility in 1988,
and the rapidly diminishing capacity at its landfills, the city of Austin
decided to undertake a pilot scheme to determine the effectiveness of a Pay As
You Throw (PAYT) program. This pilot was successful, and led to the
implementation of a city-wide rollout for the PAYT system. Currently, stickers
for excess waste can be purchased at local stores for $4.00 each and affixed
to any extra bags placed outside the cart. Any unstickered bags are billed to
the customer's utility bill at a rate of $8.00 per bag.

 * Financial impact: in 2009, the city generated revenues of nearly $1.6 million dollars from unstickered waste and $152,200 from stickered waste

 * Material impact: Diversion rate increased from 9.8 percent to 35 percent with a decrease in waste sent to landfill from 20 kg to 12 kg

Read more at:

<http://www.waste360.com/Collections_And_Transfer/payt-program-increases-
diversion-201003>