Policy case

Providing residential and non-residential construction services, such as architectural, engineering, planning, real-estate, contracting, and inspection services

Construction and Real Estate Services

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

Construction Materials and Products

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

Material efficiency

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

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

Providing repair services or maintenance services for products or parts

Product maintenance, repair

Activities to clean, decorate, and restore products back to working condition for original or new purposes

Refurbishment, remanufacturing, renovation

Marketplaces or services that enable the second hand sale of products

Second-hand sale, distribution

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

Closed loop collection

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within the same industry

Closed loop upcycling

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

Using closed loop recycled materials

Transforming waste products into materials and lower value products within the same industry

Closed loop downcycling

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

Design for minimal waste

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

Design for resource efficiency

Designing products of multiple parts that can be easily disassembled

Design for disassembly

Designing products of multiple parts that can be easily exchanged

Design for modularity

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

Design for recycling

Designing products so they are able to be easily repaired

Design for repair

Designing products to be reused for the same or different purposes in multiple lifecycles

Design for reuse

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

Design for physical durability

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

Circular procurement

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

Cross-industry projects, pilots

Engaging in discussions with industry stakeholders to share circular economy best practices and push the industry towards greater circularity

Guidance, dialogue with industry stakeholders

Working together with industry peers to engage in business activities or exploratory projects that advance the circular economy

Joint industry ventures, projects, pilots

Facilitate discussions and meetings between internal team members to identify circular opportunities

Dialogue with internal stakeholders

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

Financial incentives tied to circular economy

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

Training on the circular economy

 Public Procurement

Industries

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

Policies

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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

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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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Europe

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ICLEI

BUS-GoCircular understands the importance of a green energy workforce within the construction sector. The 30 month-long project was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and started in September 2021.

BUS-GoCircular

This training material aims to help public procurers and policymakers better understand how they can stimulate demand for circular construction skills through public procurement.&nbsp; This slide deck can be used as a self learning tool, with links to other resources to learn more about the topic.&nbsp; This slide deck can also be used and adapted as needed to help to raise awareness among your colleagues and partners on how they can promote circular construction skills.

Training materials for public procurers on how to stimulate demand for circular construction skills

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

Product upgrade

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

Self-repair, spare part service

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

Open loop collection

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

Open loop downcycling

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within other industries

Open loop upcycling

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

Using open loop recycled materials

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

Design for recycling - mono-materials

Working together with customers to jointly create products fit for them

Co-creation

Engaging in discussions with customers to educate and raise awareness of the circular economy and explore circular opportunities together

Customer dialogue, marketing 

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

Advocacy for circular economy policy

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

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

Online platforms

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

Peer-to-peer online marketplaces

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

Inform

'Manage' influences the use and function of physical and material elements within the urban environment. 

Manage

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

Mobilise

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


Regulate

'Incentivise' sends market signals and support to businesses, citizens and governments to promote certain activities.

Incentivise

The EU has committed to making its built environment greener in the coming years. With the introduction of the “Fit or 55” package and the proposed revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, local infrastructure and building investments are becoming increasingly driven by requirements and opportunities to apply sustainable energy technologies and circularity concepts. However, the competencies and skills needed to support a successful transition to a low-carbon and circular built environment remain a key issue that local actors are struggling to solve.&nbsp;The EU-funded BUS-GoCircular project aims to address and overcome the challenges of stimulating demand for a circular construction skilled workforce, along with the hands-on capacity building to increase the number of skilled professionals within the workforce across the value chain. Local and regional governments can use a wide range of policy levers to stimulate this demand.Through good practice and replicable examples from Europe and beyond, this document aims to raise awareness among practitioners and policymakers about their ability to promote a more circular construction sector and upskill professionals. It also highlights the various levers at the disposal of local and regional governments and public administrations to support this transition.

Stimulating demand for circular construction skills - a guide for public authorities

Article / Report

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

Use waste as a resource

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

Upgrade, repair, and maintenance while in-use

Maximise lifetime of products in-use

Give products and parts another life after their end-of-use

Maximise lifetime of products after use

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


Strengthen and advance knowledge

Slow strategies aim to keep materials in use for as long as possible, for example through design for durability and repairability. A more circular economy is also a slower one: materials, components, and products—and even buildings and infrastructure—that we lock in stocks are made to last. This will lower material demand in the long run, in essence also serving to narrow resource flows.

Slow

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

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Public authorities have an important role to play in the transition towards a more circular built environment. They have a range of policy levers at their disposal to stimulate demand for relevant skills. The various competencies that local authorities can use directly (e.g., training for their own employees) and indirectly (e.g., embedding mandatory circular criteria in urban planning documents) to influence construction skills are outlined in this action plan for policymakers.