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Rampant material extraction is pushing the ecosystems of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to their limits. Over 11% of global raw materials are extracted within the region, yet it represents only about 8% of the world's population.

[*The Circularity Gap Report* (CGR) Latin America and the Caribbean](https://www.circularity-gap.world/lac), a first of its kind, demonstrates how the region can leverage the circular economy to tackle systemic inefficiencies in satisfying societal needs, conserve its unique natural wealth, and improve its people’s well-being.

To devise pathways for a circular transition, the report analysed the sectors where circular interventions could yield the most positive impact—environmentally, economically, and socially. This entails shifting to a circular food system, building a circular built environment, advancing circular manufacturing, transforming the energy system, reducing waste generation, and improve waste cycling.

[Circle Economy](https://www.circle-economy.com/) is a global impact organisation with an international team of passionate experts based in Amsterdam. We empower industries, cities, and nations with practical and scalable solutions to put the circular economy into action. Our vision is an economic system that ensures the planet and all people can thrive. To avoid climate breakdown, our goal is to double global circularity by 2032. Through the Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative, our mission is to deliver Circularity Metrics that measure the state of the global and national economy and identify key levers to transition to circularity. 

Latin America Collection

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Policy case

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Efficiency gains on operations or transactions either through cultural or technological shifts

Productivity

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

Innovation

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)

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

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

Generating energy from waste

Innovation-oriented public procurement

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

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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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Bogotá will become the first city in Colombia and the second in Latin America with a Waste-to-Energy Plant —a model that is also being implemented in parallel in Mexico City— in which inorganic waste is decomposed through heat. This process is beneficial for the environment, since it generates low CO2 emissions and makes waste management efficient by converting waste into energy. “For those who believed that our Climate Action Plan and the POT were just regulations, today we show you another result. We are on the Doña Juana public where we now have two technologies at work; the first is the Biogas plant, the second is the burying of garbage. The latter is harmful as it produces leachates, methane, and greenhouse gases,” said the Mayor, Claudia López.Bogotá’s representative added: “Today we are announcing to the city that we will now have a third technology to treat waste that will reduce the environmental impact and generate energy for the city. With this new plant we are fulfilling our promise to residents of Ciudad Bolívar, Usme, and Tunjuelito, who asked us to stop taking waste to their boroughs to bury it there. We are not going to continue to expand Doña Juana.”Here, a tweet in which Mayor López, recalls that with this Waste-to-Energy Plant she fulfills a promise she made to Bogotá:Transformar Doña Juana en un parque de innovación tecnológica con energías limpias, que brinde beneficios para la comunidad del sur de la ciudad, fue mi compromiso como candidata, hoy es mi promesa cumplida como Alcaldesa y parte de #LaBogotáQueEstamosConstruyendo! pic.twitter.com/CQ5iR22WvW
— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) May 11, 2022The process begins today with the publication of the contract pre-specifications, which will be available on the SECOP II public procurement platform for 20 business days. Subsequently, the final bid specifications will be published and the public tender will be held, to be awarded in September of this year.“This is an achievement that passed through the government program, through the Development Plan, and through the POT. Now, it is a reality. This model has already been implemented in other parts of the world and now we’re doing it here, in Bogotá. Now we can proudly tell our people that we are treating waste differently,” said Luz Amanda Camacho, director of the Special Administrative Unit of Public Services (UAESP, as the acronym in Spanish).In this tweet, Mayor Claudia López, shares that as of May 11, the tender to build this technological innovation park will open:Bienvenidos a otra meta cumplida del POT y del Plan de Acción Climática de Bogotá! Hoy abrimos licitación internacional para tener una nueva tecnología de procesamiento de residuos en Doña Juana: la termovalorización, que transforma residuos en energía limpia. pic.twitter.com/WEl1stlRc3
— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) May 11, 2022The plant, which will be built in the Doña Juana Innovation Park, will be implemented in modules. The first module will come into operation in December of next year, and by 2027, it will transform between 2400 and 3000 tons of waste every day, generating more than 128 megawatts of energy, enough to power all public lighting in Bogotá or more than 40,000 homes in the city.Additionally, the ashes resulting from the combustion of waste will be sold as construction materials. In this way, the use of one hundred percent of the treated material is guaranteed, as is the reduction of the generation of leachates that affect the subsoil and the Tunjuelito River. In addition, thanks to the emissions cleaning system, the Waste-to-Energy Plant together with Biogas Colombia will reduce the emissions of polluting gases to the ozone layer by 66 percent, compared to what is produced today with the burying of waste.This plant will become a benchmark for other cities in Colombia and the region, by contributing to changing the current model of waste treatment and promoting the circular economy in Bogotá, contributing to the fight against climate change.“The management of public waste with this plant will reduce the production of methane and greenhouse gases, in addition to lowering emissions and their impact. The leachates that contaminate the Tunjuelo river basin will also be reduced,” confirmed the Secretary of Environment, Carolina Urrutia.The financial model proposed by the UAESP for this process includes the sale of both the energy generated and the ashes resulting from the plant’s operations, with the aim of obtaining the necessary income for its continued correct functioning, avoiding an increase in cleaning fees paid by citizens.“Today we buried 6200 tons of waste in Bogotá, now with the Biogas plant and the Waste-to-Energy plant, this waste will be transformed into energy. This model will contribute to the circular economy and will not affect the rate that we currently pay for cleaning,” added the director of the UAESP. This important project is added to the portfolio of waste management initiatives carried out by Bogotá’s Recycling Organizations, as well as the organic waste treatment pilot projects, and of special note, the reduction of 7000 tons per month of demolition and construction waste, the result of illegal dumping at so-called critical points.District receives resources for Gas generated in Doña JuanaDuring the event, the Mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, and the director of the UAESP, Luz Amanda Camacho, toured the Biogás Colombia plant and verified the process that is carried out to convert the gases generated by buried waste into electrical energy.At the end of the tour, the manager of Biogás Colombia, Helmuth Gallego, presented the Mayor with a check for 2.475 billion pesos, product of the profits generated from the sale of energy during the first half of 2021. This money will be invested entirely in actions to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants in Doña Juana’s area of influence. 

Bogotá

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City government of Bogota

Muncipality of Bogotá

The Brazilian city of Curitiba is a model of transit-oriented planning. Curitiba’s mobility plan built the foundation for more sustainable communities by institutionalizing the principle of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), which calls for urban development to be dense, mixed-use and highly accessible via public transit.&nbsp;The city encourages public transportation use with affordable pricing, transfer terminals and prepayment stations. Car-free zones and limited parking in central areas discourage driving.

Curitiba, Brazil, is a model of transit-oriented planning

Article / Report

Mexico City's Vertical Garden project, know as 'Via Verde’, is turning the pillars of a busy motorway green in an effort to deal with high levels of air pollution and improve the city’s landscape. Around 60,000 m2&nbsp;of vertical gardens will be installed on more than 1000 pillars of a busy motorway, covering a distance of 27 km. This citizen-led initiative, funded by donors and local government, runs in collaboration with the Mexican workshop&nbsp;VERDEVERTICAL&nbsp;and turns Mexico City into an international model. In a city where 6 out of 10 residents suffer from a respiratory disease due to bad air quality, these gardens will be a new green lung which will generate oxygen, absorb pollutants and even help moderate traffic noise.

Mexico City's vertical gardens for pollution reduction

Addresses climate change and youth unemployment.

Growing green - fostering a green entrepreneurial ecosystem for youth

Supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI), ICLEI’s EcoLogistics project (2017 - 2021) aims to increase the capacity of governmental and non-governmental actors to build strategies and policies to promote low carbon and sustainable urban freight in Argentina, Colombia and India, involving nine cities and regions: • Argentina: Córdoba, Rosario, Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz (Santa Fe) • Colombia: Capital District of Bogotá, Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley (AMVA), Manizales • India: Kochi, Shimla, Panaji

Creating Sustainable Cities Through Low-carbon Freight

Mexico City has committed close to $200 million in public funds to be spent on recycling infrastructure by 2024. The Mexican capital also plans to co-finance additional infrastructure through public-private partnerships.Mexico City published its “Zero Waste” strategy earlier this year. By 2024, the City aims to triple the amount of recycled waste – including construction and demolition waste – and reduce waste going to landfills by 70%.This ambitious plan is in line with policies in high-income regions, such as the European Union, and shows that emerging markets see the benefit in achieving a circular economy.

Mexico City Cleans Up Act With $200 Million for Zero Waste

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Business case

Wastewater in the community was simply dumped in people's backyards and would flow down to the nearby river. Vermifilters were constructed in the backyards of 2 houses, each connected to the wastewater flow of 2 households, to treat this water and create by-products from it. Local products were included in the construction of these backyard-sized filters, as well as concrete for these prototypes. The by-products are clean water usable for watering crops, fertilizer soil and compost from the worm-layer, and possibility of new income for the women of the community who take care of it, since they can sell this fertilizer to farmers or other interested parties, empowering their function in the community as well.

De-centralized wastewater treatment in an informal settlement near Pereira, Colombia

In Bogota, a city of over 7 million inhabitants, an increasing number of concerned and mobilised citizens are engaging in community-based "Pacas" are popping up in public parks. This composting method was first developed by Colombian environmentalist, Guillermo Silva Pérez, and is now the basis for a network of nearly 80 sites across the city, where officials from the city government of Bogota, neighborhood associations, academia and volunteers from all ages and backgrounds are gathering organic waste and turning it into densely packed blocks of fertile soil for the parks themselves.

Community-based biodigester bales take over public parks in Bogota

The national strategy for the circular economy (also known as ENEC) was formulated in 2019, with the aim of creating a new model of economic development in the country; that includes the valorization of resources, optimizing efficiency in the production and consumption of materials, the correct use of resources such as water and energy, reduce the carbon footprint, increasing the benefits for new business models, the promotion of industrial symbiosis, and the consolidation of sustainable cities.

The national strategy for circular economy in Colombia. 

By implementing a waste-to-energy plant, Bogotá will become the first city in Colombia that produces energy out of decomposing inorganic waste through heat.

From waste to energy, Bogotá advances toward sustainable infrastructure. 

After years of managing waste problems, the municipality of Bogotá approved the implementation of an innovation park that will include a waste-to-energy plant. Being the first of its class in the country, it is expected to reduce the amount of waste that will be disposed of in the landfill “Doña Juana”.