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This collection was curated by the Circle Economy team from Knowledge Hub case studies for businesses, local and national governments around the world to find inspiration in practical examples of the circular economy. 

Visit the <a href="https://circle-economy.com" target="_blank">Circle Economy website</a> for more information and for more publications on the circular economy.

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Circle Economy

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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

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Replace freshwater with less impactful alternatives and enact water efficiency measures

Regenerative water

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

Providing water and sewage services, including water collection and distribution, water treatment systems and sewage treatment facilities

Water and Sewage

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

Social Impact

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

Reduced use and withdrawal of water and rate of recycling and reuse of water

Save Water (SDG6)

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

National government

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

Manage

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.

Browse case studies by type of implementing stakeholder.

Implementing 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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 One of the most pronounced effects of a changing climate is the increase in extreme weather and other  natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. These disasters are not spread evenly: of the 30 countries most affected by changing weather, 26 are least developed countries.  To put it another way, 423 million people living in extreme poverty are considered likely to experience the impacts of a changing climate. The tragic events of hurricane Matthew in Haiti are just the most recent example. The need to develop disaster resilience is now core to development programs working with the poor. When it comes to electricity access, centralized energy grids are often the first to fail when a disaster hits - they are vulnerable to any break in a chain which transmits large amounts of power across a wide area. A centralized system is filled with ‘choke points.’ Outages during disasters hamper recovery efforts and mean whole communities can be left without power. Decentralized generation has a role to play in increasing resilience to disasters – in all countries, not just those with energy access challenges. Decentralization means that the entire network is not interrupted when one weak point fails. A grid linked mini-grid, for example, can disconnect and continue to operate uninterrupted, or at a household level a solar home system or solar lantern can be safeguarded relatively easily by the householder, weathering the storm. Resilience to disaster includes recovery speed: decentralized generation means that re-building efforts can focus on the highest priorities, for example quickly rebuilding a hospital’s mini-grid. In contrast a centralized grid requires resurrecting the entire network in order to power essential services. Decentralized is modular and fast; central grids are large and slow. Private ownership of mini-grids, by communities, entrepreneurs or companies, also means that there is a local trained workforce on hand to restore power more quickly when disaster strikes. Our partner, Sigora International, operates a ‘microutility’ (a group of connected mini-grids) in Haiti. When Hurricane Matthew landed it left 5,000 customers without power. But due to a large workforce of local technicians Sigora was able to restore power in 55 hours – long before the rest of the country. “Micro-grids clustered to form a larger network allow us to both achieve economies of scale and maintain multiple independent points of failure. Each micro-grid has emergency generation that gets activated in the event of a natural disaster The combination of multiple points of failure, on-call staff and having a company-wide hurricane outage plan allowed us to have our grid completely repaired and to fully restore power to all our customers with 55 hours,” said Sigora International founder Andy Bodgan. Those who have contributed the least to climate change will increasingly pay the highest price. Energy planners have a responsibility to ensure electricity access is resilient in the face of this new reality through the use of decentralized generation.  

Tanzania

Government of Tanzania

World Bank

The government of Tanzania, in collaboration with the world bank, is implementing a policy scheme for efficient water use. The project is intended to benefit small holder famers in the country. Rapid population growth and urbanisation is having an increasing impact on urban policy and development—and the World Bank notes that any strategies must be underpinned by water security, stemming from improved water management. Tanzania has formed a policy, legislative and institutional framework that aims to bestow the state custodianship of water and create a hierarchy of water use priorities. The project will also address social issues by carrying out activities that aim to close gender gaps in water use decision making, as well as improve livelihood resilience in agriculture, by supporting public sector accountability. Success of the project will be measured by numerous indicators, including the number of people under increased measures for drought risk mitigation, farmers reached with agricultural assets or services and farmers reached with alternative livelihood activities.&nbsp;

Tanzanian government and World Bank scheme for improved water management


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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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Communities

Public-private partnerships

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

Incubator and investment programmes

Governments

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Grant funding

Using renewable energy like solar, wind, etc. or renewable fuels like biomass, etc.

Renewable energy, fuels

Businesses

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 

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

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

Tanzania has launched a US $350m solar powered water supply project that will alleviate the suffering of Makang’wa Village residents in Chamwino. The residents have lived without proper water services for over 50 years.Implemented by the Dodoma Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (Duwasa), the project will benefit over 7,000 households in Makang’wa Village and neighbouring villages in Chamwino. Duwasa Managing Director David Pallangyo said the authority started implementing the project on September 19, 2019, saying the project had to be completed in two months but the timeframe had to be extended by 30 days due to arrival delays of solar panels and a water pump from abroad.Construction works involved the renovation of a water tank, 13 water drawing points in the village and installation of a solar panel. The project has the capacity to produce 336,000 litres a day. Mr. Pallangyo said that all Makang’wa villagers will now have access to water supply.Also Read: Madagascar to receive US $72m for Jirama Water III projectWater supply network extension projectAdditionally, the government disbursed US $100m as advanced funds to implement a water supply network extension project to reach more households in Makang’wa and neighbouring villages. Tanzania’s Deputy Minister for water Jumaa Aweso directed officers under his portfolio to conduct a feasibility study for the water supply extension project and seek two water sources to end water scarcity in the area. “Water supply network should now be extended to neighbouring villages to ensure more people have access to water supply,” he said.Mtera MP Livingstone Lusinde commended the government for the water project, saying it had addressed water scarcity in the area and would help the villagers improve food security by engaging in irrigation schemes.If you have a comment, more information on this post, pictures please let us know in the comment section below and we’ll be in touch.If you have any enquiries regarding this post please put them below and we’ll endeavor to be of assistancereport this ad

Chamwino

Dodoma Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (Duwasa)

Tanzania has launched a US $350m solar powered water supply project that will alleviate the suffering of Makang’wa Village residents in Chamwino. The residents have lived without proper water services for over 50 years. With the renovation of a water tank, 13 water drawing points in the village and the installation of solar panels and water pumps, the project will benefit over 7,000 households.Additionally, the government disbursed US $100m as advanced funds to implement a water supply network extension project to reach more households in Makang’wa and neighbouring villages.