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

Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

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)

Reduced use of fossil fuel energy sources and/or increased use of renewable energy

Reduce Energy Consumption

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

Producing building materials and finished and semi-finished building products for construction

Construction Materials and Products

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Regenerative materials

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

Alternative bio-based materials and inputs

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

Inform

Encourage workplace training

Build countries consume 13% of the global material footprint, while they account for almost 50% of the population. 

Examples include countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia such as: 
- Bangladesh
- Ethiopia
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- The Philippines
- Some small island states, ...

Minimal contribution to the overshoot of planetary boundaries: these countries contribute 20% of land use change, 30% of
freshwater use, 23% of phosphorus emissions to soil, and 11% of nitrogen emissions.

To find out what country profile your country belongs to, explore [this interactive story](https://circularity-gap.world) and search for your country on the final map.

Build

The need that represents the largest resource footprint, with 42.4 billion tonnes, is for construction and maintenance of houses, offices, roads and other infrastructure, especially in the developing world.

Housing

- Construction materials with recycled content
- Diversion of construction and demolition waste

Saving: 1.14 Gt emissions and 3.55 Gt material use 

🏠 Circular construction materials

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

Impacts

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Industries

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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

Whilst no two countries are the same, there are still obvious similarities between some of them, with discernible development patterns and parallels in evidence. Common problems and shared solutions help place unique country identities and individual issues in context.

Whilst this classification is far from clear-cut and exhibits some overlap, it does underline how the discourse on transitioning to a circular economy needs to account for both differences and commonalities, if we are to arrive at a more strategic and instructive analysis. It also allows to highlight a set of key themes that are likely to be central to the countries that fall under the respective profiles. 

Country profiles (Build, Grow, Shift)

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A framework to distinguish between different country profiles and their circular transition needs.

The framework consists of 21 complementary interventions, across six scenarios - one for each of the six societal needs we model. These interventions can mitigate climate impact by curbing GHG emissions

Note: interventions are currently focused on:
- 🏠 Housing 
- 🍎 Nutrition
- 🚗 Mobility
- 👚📺 Consumables
- 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ Healthcare
-  🔊 Communication

These 21 interventions are spread across six societal needs and wants, with a set of solutions. Within these solutions are strategies on ’how to get there'.  

The framework moves beyond incremental action and provides solutions that will require behavioral change (dietary shifts towards less meat consumption, for example) and the adoption of state-of-the-art technologies in the industry to mitigate emissions in hard-to-abate sectors (such as steel manufacturing). It illustrates how continued globalisation can benefit from the uptake of digital solutions. The combined interventions showcase the mitigation potential that begins where the current country pledges end; illustrating the additional impact our interventions can bring to the NDCs. In short, the interventions provide input for a more profound fundamental transformation than the more current pathways that make up the vast majority of NDCs. 

Together, the combined interventions can almost double the current global Circularity Metric of 8.6%, bringing it to 17%. 

This results in:
• Shrinking global material use and extraction by 28%. 
• Cutting global GHG emissions by 39%—fully closing the Emissions Gap as defined in our report and taking into account the updated NDCs.
• Allowing the world to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping at 1.5-degrees of warming by 2032.

*This framework was developed in the Circularity Gap Report 2021. Read more about it [here](https://www.circle-economy.com/resources/circularity-gap-report-2021)*






Global Circularity Gap Report

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An intervention-based framework for nations and stakeholders working towards circular countries

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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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 Kimchis, fresh vegetables, fruit, fish, seafood, meat, pickles, pancakes…. One of the many pleasures of dining out in South Korea is the selection of banchan, or side dishes, that accompanies most meals. 
But seldom — if ever — do all banchan get eaten. Diners take a few mouthfuls of this and that, then the meal is over. Just finishing the generous main dish is often enough of a challenge. For a first-time visitor, the joy of discovering so much variety on one table is quickly followed by bemusement at how much of it goes unconsumed. 
So what happens to it all?
Many Korean restaurants offer free, hearty side dishes called banchan. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
On the edge of a building site in Seoul’s eastern Gangdong District is a complex of green buildings. Hang around there for a while and you’ll see food waste trucks turning up from all over southern and eastern Seoul. The complex is operated Naen, a private contractor that recycles some three to four hundred tonnes of food waste every day into animal feed. 
Upon arrival at Naen, the waste is dropped into underground tanks, then carried by screw conveyors to a separator, where non-food content — mostly plastic bags — is removed. The waste is then squeezed in a conical screw press to get rid of as much moisture content as possible. Typically, food waste consists of 80 to 85 percent moisture. 
The orange “juice” squeezed out at this point is collected in another underground tank, then sent off to a wastewater treatment plant where it is fermented to produce methane. The methane is then used as fuel. 
The squeezed waste is then carried to steam dryers, where it is dried for three to four hours at 120˚C. Next, any remaining impurities are removed and the dried waste is powdered. The animal feed is ready. 
“A lot of businesses like ours sprang up after 2005, when the landfilling of food waste was banned,” said Naen official Lim Chang-ho. 
In fact, South Korea has a pretty strong handle on its food waste by global standards. Some 95 percent of food waste is currently recycled: into compost, animal feed, methane gas (through anaerobic digestion) or solid fuel. 
This is based on mandatory separation rules that see households and businesses nationwide throw out food waste in dedicated plastic bags sold in supermarkets, specially made buckets or even at computerized collection points.  Plenty to deal with 
Food constitutes a relatively small segment within South Korea’s waste scene: It makes up some 40 percent of household waste, but household waste accounts for only 13 percent of all rubbish thrown out in the country (the biggest source is construction material waste, at 48 percent). But in terms of sheer amount, masses of food waste are generated every day. 
According to the Ministry of Environment, an average South Korean throws out 930 grams of rubbish each day, 40 percent of which is food waste. That makes for more than 130 kilograms of per capita food waste a year. (In comparison, per capita food waste by consumers in Europe and North America was 95 to 115 kilograms a year, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.) 
In 2016, South Korea produced 14,388 tonnes of food waste nationwide every day, and 3,075 tonnes in Seoul alone. About two thirds of this are processed outside the capital; the rest is treated by five plants within the city limits, of which Naen is one. 
With all their screw conveyors and other moving parts, plants like Naen’s rely on consumers not to leave rogue items in their food waste that can put a literal spanner in the works. 
“We’ve had bowling balls, blankets and bricks in the past,” said Lim. “And once we found a fridge. But things have got a lot better now, thanks to government efforts to educate people better. Now we just get a few spoons and rice bowls here and there.” 
Each time a rogue item causes part of the plant to break down, the whole line has to be stopped for an hour or two while the problem is identified and fixed.
Meanwhile, local authorities are working to reduce food waste at the source. 
In 2013, Songpa, a district in southeastern Seoul, began introducing a radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based centralized system of food waste collection at multiple apartment complexes across the city. Residents were issued with unique electronic ID tags, which they use when depositing food waste at one of several hundred collection points. Machines weigh each deposit and charge each user accordingly.
Bins in Hwaseong that collect and weigh food waste using sensors. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Within four years, some 4,000 RFID collection points had been installed in apartment complexes and approximately 2,000 in non-apartment residential neighborhoods. In 2017, Songpa District authorities calculated that the system had reduced food waste by a total of 36,000 tonnes, or 25 percent of what was being thrown out in 2012, and achieved 7 billion won in budget savings. 
But some argue that solutions like RFID merely deal with the results of food waste, not the causes. 
“The RFID has nothing to do with actually reducing food waste,” said Lee Seok-kil of Korea Food Recycling Association. “It’s just another way of dealing with waste that already exists.” 
Lee says the best way to deal with the problem is education. “For example, a high percentage of food waste is due to people buying more food than they need, letting it go bad in the fridge, then throwing it away. And then there’s the Korean culture of serving more banchan than people can eat. In other countries you have to pay extra for side dishes, but that goes against Korean sentiment. We need more publicity to change this culture, but I don’t the the government has done enough on that front yet.”  Entomological enthusiasm 
Still, other innovative possibilities abound for exploiting the opportunities presented by food waste. One comes in the form of a large plant in Gimje, southwestern South Korea, that buzzes with some 2 billion black soldier flies. 
While flies are normally associated with poor waste management, these ones are working away in large, net-lined chambers to break down some 100 tonnes of food waste every day. 
Soldier fly larvae are raised for a little over two weeks on the food waste. After that, they are separated from their own excrement and dried. Oil is extracted from the larvae, then they are dried and pulverized for use as animal feed. Their excrement is used as fertilizer. 
Meanwhile, the oil squeezed from the larvae before drying is used as a natural additive to any animal feed as an immune system-boosting agent. 
“The animal feed made from the flies is high in protein, while the oil squeezed from them contains lots of [natural] antibiotic substances, which help boost animals’ immunity to disease,” said Kang Seung-ho of CIEF, the company that operates the Gimje facility. 
CIEF’s ultimate plan is to open 100 similar plants around South Korea, which, Kang said, could process the country’s entire food waste output. It’s a neat and profitable solution to a once-stinking problem. 
The South Korean government has embraced the potential of the nascent black soldier fly industry, amending regulations in October 2017 to legalize it as a means of large-scale food waste processing. The country’s Rural Development Administration has hailed the technology’s potential to create new insect-based industries and much-needed jobs for rural communities. 
In addition to its economic potential, using insects to produce high-quality animal feed on a large scale could replace other animal feed sources such as soybeans, the production of which is becoming increasingly notorious for its association with environmental damage and deforestation. 
Back at the consumer end of the chain, the most effective way to combat food waste is to avoid the fridge-to-bin phenomenon by buying only as much as you’re likely to eat. If you want to get really militant, you can ask restaurant owners why they serve more side-dishes than you can eat, but they probably won’t appreciate it. Other options include asking them to put leftover food in a container for you to take home and eat later. This is becoming more common and is generally welcomed. 
And don’t forget to look out for black soldier fly larvae-fed steaks in your local supermarket. Cover image: Food waste. (Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr, CC by 2.0) 

      When the required hectarage is reached, a Tom is deployed. Each plot within the pod will get three surveys over the course of the growing season.       Tom will accurately geolocate and analyse data on every plant in the field. The data is available in Wilma, our AI Advice Engine.        Access data that will talk to your sprayer, enabling you to reduce the costs of your herbicide and fertiliser.   

 We will offer our robots through a Farming as a Service (FaaS) model. So you can take advantage of robotic farming without any of the risks.What exactly is Farming as a Service?The service links together a series of robots with a clever ‘operating system’. It starts by collecting accurate and up-to-date information about a crop, plant by plant. We call this ‘digitising the field’.This information is then automatically analysed using data and advice from the world’s leading agronomists and the AHDB (the UK Government’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board). This is then used to give instructions on what should happen to each plant, and each patch of soil for other robots to carry out.Eventually, each process - from knowing when to plant, to all aspects of crop care, to knowing when to harvest - will be automated.How do the robots fit in? We will place a robot (Tom) on your farm to autonomously monitor your crop and soil, and keep an eye on weeds.Our other robots (Dick, Harry) take care of all the feeding, seeding, and weeding. When one of these robots is needed, it turns up and does its job. When it is finished, it is taken away. Click here to find out more about Tom Dick and Harry. 

Senegal

Gambia

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Arup is an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, architects, consultants and technical specialists, working across every aspect of today’s built environment.

ARUP

UNDP

Understanding the circular economy opportunities in a jurisdiction or company, requires merging a top-town system’s approach with bottom-up anecdotal evidence. Shifting Paradigms relies on a metabolic analysis to map out the systems flows, conversions and stocks of materials and energy. Rather than looking at the individual elements of a linear “take-make-waste” supply chain and aiming for incremental improvements, we focus on the systemic opportunities which can drive change.

The systems’ analysis is combined with information on the socio-economic, cultural and spatial context, with anecdotal evidence on existing circular economy initiatives and with regional development ambitions. By preference, Shifting Paradigms collaborates with in-country experts, supporting them with trainings on the circular economy, systems' analysis data collection and visualisation, circular design, business models, finance and policy.

Shifting Paradigms

Elementerre

Earthworks Construction

Worofila

<p>West African design collectives and construction companies are using traditional building materials and techniques to create more sustainable and carbon neutral structures. </p>