Policy case

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

Regenerative materials

Replace freshwater with less impactful alternatives and enact water efficiency measures

Regenerative water

Engage with the local community where facilities or offices are located

Community collaboration

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

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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 The population of the Dagoretti district of Nairobi has risen dramatically in recent years, growing to more than twenty times the size from 1969-2009. Overcrowding has strained resources, and many are vulnerable to malnutrition and other poverty-related illnesses due to food insecurity, a lack of access to health facilities and a scarcity of jobs. Young people are particularly affected, as 37% of the population are under 17 years old and many live on the street. What we were doing to help Urban Gardening was a multi-sector, comprehensive, integrated intervention in the Dagoretti district. Aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals and Kenya Vision 2030, the project aimed to ensure that those in the Dagoretti district had guaranteed access to food, their fundamental human right. Working with farmer groups and schools, we helped young people and families to grow their own food and eat a reliable and nutritious diet. By developing high-quality produce and improving access to markets, we helped vulnerable groups, such as unemployed youth, to increase their income and improve food security in the long term. Farm Africa was supporting community members to include environmental conservation techniques and good agricultural practice in their urban agricultural systems while sharing nutritional knowledge to improve community understanding of the links between nutrition and health. Who did we working for? This project set up urban gardens for community groups and schools - school gardens are managed by parents, teachers and class councils. The gardens include rainwater harvesting systems, greenhouses and surficial wells and drip irrigation systems. Groups also received livestock, training in organic farming practices, and access to new markets and micro-enterprises to boost incomes and food security. We’re also worked with local government authorities on land planning for urban agriculture and the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions on food security. Who did we work with? Farm Africa was working in a consortium with Amref Health Africa and Kenyan government partners to reduce malnutrition, increase incomes, and promote sustainable farming and soil conservation. Amref Health Africa funded the project and expanded it to support a further 3,900 people. 

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Nairobi

City of Nairobi

Kenyan Government

Farm Africa

Amref Health Africa

Case study about an urban gardening project in Nairobi, that provides residents with necessary tools, shares knowledge, installs rainwater harvesting systems and the like.

Urban gardening project in Nairobi

Article / Report

Article on successful urban agriculture initiatives in Nairobi during the covid-19 pandemic. Emphasises the importance of short supply chains.

Successful urban agriculture initiatives in Nairobi

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

Jobs

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

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

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within other industries

Valorise waste streams - open loop

Implement innovation programmes

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


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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

Managing municipal food wastes at scale may require complex and costly infrastructures to collect, transport and process these residual materials. Large-scale composting facilities are challenging to place and zone appropriately in space-scarce cities.

Community-based initiatives, for example, community composting, can provide a localised solution to managing urban food wastes. Community composting initiatives are small(er)-scale solutions that are distributed throughout the city, located close to the sources of food waste, reducing the need for complex logistics and collection systems. Community composting schemes can take a variety of forms, for example, in-vessel composting (IVC), as well as vermicomposting (which utilises insects to break down organic materials). Community composting initiatives can generate valuable by-products for use in (urban) agriculture, in gardens and in parks, as well as support community building. 

Local governments can support the development and implementation of community composting schemes through the provision of equipment and infrastructure, for example,  composting boxes. The formation of public-civic partnerships can help formulate the relationships and validate the valuable role such activities can play in the management of organic waste streams. Awareness raising can be facilitated through collaboration with schools. 


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🍏  Community composting

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

Communities

Governments

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

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

Policies

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to 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

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A case studying focusing on community-based waste management to meet environmental goals in Nairobi. Women's groups in informal settlements have created systems for composting organic waste and earning income from selling the compost.

Community-based waste management in Nairobi

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

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)

Societal Services

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within the same industry

Valorise waste streams - closed loop

Industry peers to industry peer collaboration to create joint value and identify synergies

Industry collaboration

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

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

Inform

Conduct research

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

Process waste into valuable industrial inputs or consumer products; distribute processed waste to users.

Process waste and ensure its re-entry into industry at its highest value

Uncollected solid waste is one of Nairobi’s most visible environmental problems. Many parts of the city, especially the low and middle-income areas, don’t even have waste collection systems in place. In high income areas, private waste collection companies are booming. Residents pay handsomely without really knowing where the waste will end up.The Nairobi county government has acknowledged that with 2,475 tons of waste being produced each day, it can’t manage. Addis Ababa Ethiopia has a similar size population but only generates 1,680 tons per day.Nairobi’s current waste disposal system is fraught with major problems. These range from the city’s failure to prioritise solid waste management to inadequate infrastructure and the fact that multiple actors are involved whose activities aren’t controlled. There are over 150 private sector waste operators independently involved in various aspects of waste management. To top it all there’s no enforcement of laws and regulations.Nairobi’s waste disposal problems go back a long way and there have been previous efforts to sort them out. For example in the early 1990s, private and civil society actors got involved, signing contractual arrangements with waste generators. They often did this without informing or partnering with the city authorities.More recently other strategies were put in place, some of which left parts of the city clean. They worked for a period, but unfortunately they weren’t sustainable because no institutional changes were made.But there’s hope on the horizon with a new Nairobi Governor – Mike Sonko Mbuvi. He should learn from the mistakes of the past and put a new regime in place that addresses the structural problems that have plagued the city. This would include an improved improved collection and transportation plan that incorporates the private sector.Learning from the pastIn 2005 John Gakuo took over the management of city affairs as the Town Clerk. During his tenure (2005-2009) he made a deliberate effort to introduce new approaches.When he took over the city only had 13 refuse trucks. They were able to collect a paltry 20% of the waste produced by the city. To overcome this, the authorities contracted private waste collection firms to collect, transport and dispose waste at Dandora dump site which is the biggest and the only designated site. This quickly boosted the total waste collected with levels oscillating between 45%-60%.Other changes included:The development of a proper waste collection and transportation schedule with market operators. This meant waste from open-air markets was brought to identified collection points on specific days.A weighbridge to measure amounts of waste disposed at Dandora was introduced. An important way to know disposal levels vis-a-vis collection and generation.Enforcement officers were deployed to prevent dumping in parts of the city that were notorious for waste accumulation.Over 2,000 arrests were made, making residents aware that indiscriminate dumping was illegal and punishable under the city authority laws.All these efforts paid off – for parts of the city. For example, the heart of the city, the Central Business District, was cleaned up and waste was brought under control.But crucial elements that would have ensured that the changes were sustainable were left out. For example, no new physical infrastructure, like the construction of waste transfer centres and proper landfills, were built, nor was new equipment bought.After Gakuo’s regime, the next one worth a mention is Evans Kidero’s regime (2013 – 2017). It can be credited for trying to fast-track the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Master Plan which assessed the waste management problem of Nairobi and developed projects that could be implemented to ensure a sustainable system was in place.This ensured that while the private sector needed to help with waste collection and transportation, the government was key to institutionalising waste management services.Thirty waste collection trucks were bought and serious investment was made into heavy equipment. And in an effort to streamline waste collection a franchise system of waste collection was rolled out. This involved dividing the city into nine zones to make it easier to manage waste.The franchise arrangement gave private operators a monopoly over both waste and fee collections, but relied heavily on the public body for enforcement of the system.The franchising system failed due to a lack of enforcement by the city. In addition, in-fighting broke out between the private waste collection firms that had individual contracts with waste generators and the appointed contractor.But other changes introduced during this period were more successful and had longer lasting effect. For example new laws were introduced designed to create order in the sector. These included the solid waste management act in 2015. This classified waste and also created a collection scheme based on the sub-county system. It also put penalties in place.In addition, in 2016, 17 environment officers were appointed and posted to the sub-counties to plan and supervise waste management operations alongside other environmental issues.These changes planted the seeds of an efficient and working waste management system. But the regime fell down when it come to enforcement. This meant that the gains that had been made were soon lost.What needs to be doneExpectations are high for the new regime that has taken over. It should look to fast-track the following programmes:Implement an improved collection and transportation plan that incorporates private sector and civil society groups;Establish a disposal facility to reduce secondary pollution from the city’s dumps;Decommission the Dandora dump site;Implement the re-use, reduction, and recycling of waste;Establish intermediate treatment facilities to reduce waste and its hazards;Create an autonomous public corporation;Put in place legal and institutional reforms to create accountability;Implement a financial management plan, andImplement private sector involvement.Nairobi can fix it’s waste disposal problems. All it needs is focused attention, good governance and the implementation of systems that ensure changes outlive just one administration.Leah Oyake-Ombis, Part-time lecturer and Director of the Africa Livelihood Innovations for Sustainable Environment Consulting Group, University of NairobiThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Article highlighting the waste crisis in Nairobi and presenting strategies to improve the situation, including the reuse and recycling of waste, waste treatment, and private sector involvement.

Strategies to improve waste management in Nairobi

Business case

 Keiran Smith and Karim Debabe in front of the brand new Intarema 1108 TVEplus RegrindPro made by Erema. The machine processes up to 500 kg/h of HDPE and up to 600 kg/h of PP plastic from household waste to produce recycled pellets.
Photo credit: Mr. Green/Erema Massive international interest is being attracted by a business idea in Nairobi, Kenya, which is unique in the plastics industry. Starting in 2014, the start-up company Mr. Green Africa has succeeded in establishing a collection and sorting system for plastics from industrial and household waste in the greater Nairobi area. The company is interested in upgrading the waste collection system to provide the many “waste pickers” with fair and stable pay. Today, Mr. Green Africa is an important employer in the region with over 100 permanent employees and almost 2,000 “waste pickers”.
As of February, the young entrepreneurs have expanded their business model and no longer sell only washed flakes, but now recycle directly on site at their plant in Nairobi. The Institute for Polymer Materials and Testing at the Johannes Kepler University Linz carried out material analysis in advance to specify the recycling technology needed to achieve high quality recyclate despite the level of contamination of the input material. In the end they chose to go the Intarema 1108 TVEplus RegrindPro with laser filter by Erema.
“When choosing the recycling technology, the decisive factor for us was that HDPE and PP material can be processed on the same line. With HDPE we collect all types of packaging, including canisters and bottles, which are often contaminated with paper labels and printing inks. Despite different input materials and their varying quality, we have to meet the demands of our customers and deliver a consistent quality of recyclate output,” explains Mr. Green Africa CEO Keiran Smith. 
Following their initial discussions it was clear to Erema Group CEO Manfred Hackl that Erema definitely wanted supply technology to Mr. Green Africa. “Keiran Smith and Karim Debabe captivated me with their business idea from the very first second. As far as I know, setting up a company with such an effective social impact is unique in the plastics recycling sector and could serve as a model for other regions,” says Hackl. 
Regional buyers for the recyclate were quickly found, such as Unilever Africa. The packaging of the new Sunlight scouring powder, which was launched at the beginning of the year, consists 100 percent of material recycled by Mr. Green. “The launch of the first truly circular plastic packaging for Sunlight scouring powder in Kenya is a great win for the environment and goes a long away in our quest to ensure that plastic only remains in our economy and stays clear of the environment,” says Bruno Witvoet, President Unilever Africa.
 

Mr. Green Africa

Article on Mr. Green Africa, a startup that collects and sorts plastic waste from residential and industrial areas of Nairobi. They aim to improve the lives and work of waste pickers by paying a fair wage.

Nairobi startup helping waste collection and improving lives

Pilot project on plastic waste management in Nairobi

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

Increase Awareness

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

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Cross-departmental collaboration and engagement

Public-private partnerships

Public-civil partnerships

Extended Producer Responsibility

Businesses

This strategy seeks to bring together in a form of a working partnership key plastic waste management stakeholders namely (City Council of Nairobi, relevant Government Ministries, regulatory agencies, business associations, plastic manufacturers, retailers, research institutions, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), youth groups, informal waste recyclers, community based organizations (CBOs), consumers, donors, and the media) into a functional Plastic Waste Return Scheme and/or buy back scheme that will facilitate the collection and returning for reuse, recovery and recycling all categories of plastics that find their way into the city environment under what is being referred to here as the “Expanded Stakeholder Responsibility”. Key components of this strategy include the Rapid Results Initiative, stakeholder participation, public education and awareness; capacity building and technological support; setting up of plastic waste recycling demonstrations; information dissemination on best available practices; policy dialogue and analysis; good environmental governance and networking; prudent financial management; actual plastic waste recycling; revision of our education curricular and undertaking of R&amp;D in plastic waste recycling.&nbsp; The production of this comprehensive plastic waste management strategy for the city of Nairobi has been as a result of a long consultative and participatory process that involved plastic manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, consumers, regulators, policy makers, municipalities, NGOs, and the public.

Replace energy sources with less impactful alternatives and enact energy efficiency measures

Regenerative energy

 Green buildings are at times defined as buildings that are "not as bad" or "notably better" than the average with regard to impact on the environment. More technically,  a green building is one whose construction and lifetime of operation assure the healthiest possible environment while representing the most efficient and least disruptive use of land, water, energy and resources. Green design calls for buildings to lessen their energy needs.California's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) points out key elements in green buildings and construction:Have substitute energy sources that are not abusive to the environment.The site should be well suited to take advantage of mass transit.Consider alternative energy sources, minimizing the electric loads and installing high-efficiency lighting systems.Select sustainable construction materials that promote resource conservation and efficiency.Water efficiency can be attained bydual plumbing to use recycled water non-potable uses.These are closely related to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a rating system created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It can be used to identify buildings as high performing on environmental and energy dimensions. Some of the key features of LEED include: pollution prevention during construction, community connectivity, alternative transportation for building occupants, habitat restoration and open space protection, water use reduction, energy performance tracking, refrigerant management, promotion of sustainable building materials, and improved indoor environmental quality.Kenya is slowly joining the league of countries employing green or environmentally sustainable architecture in real estate development. The move is largely informed by the dwindling natural resources such as fossil fuels and water, resources that were once thought as inexhaustible.Strathmore Business School was awarded the Best Green Building Development in Africa by the African Real Estate and Housing Finance (AREHF) Academy Awards. The building is completely fitted with indoor air quality designed to meet LEED standards with optimum relative air changes controlled using evaporative cooling air units. Rain water is utilized as it is collected and channeled to an underground tank. LED lighting is connected directly to Photovoltaic Solar Louvers.Pope Paul VI Learning Resource Centre at The Catholic University of East Africa has almost all the features of a green building including an intricate cooling system with no single mechanical air conditioning system in the complex.Sandalwood Waterfront, a conglomeration of artistically designed villas, has rainwater collected from the roofs stored in three small lakes within the centre of the property. The water is then used to keep the grass in the expansive gardens green all year round.The UNEP Nairobi building features six thousand square meters of solar panels making it the first solar powered UN office in the world. Prompting the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to hail the new building as "a living model of our sustainable future."In conjunction with public, private, academia and civic sectors, Green Africa Foundation recently created the Green Africa Building Standards, Certification and Rating Systems aimed at mitigating the impact of buildings on occupants and the natural environment. Through their rating system a "Green Mark" award certificate can be given to all types and sizes of buildings which respect green best practices.These designs are also expected to reduce global warming since current unsustainable buildings in many parts of the globe contribute to at least fifty percent of the world's carbon emissions.However, the full realization of green technology is being hampered by lack of properly trained personnel in the field.What future lies ahead for green buildings in Africa? What legislative action should be taken towards having green buildings prioritized in Africa?Credits: Images by Angela Kariuki. Data linked to sources. 

Article detailing several sustainable construction projects in Nairobi, including the UNEP Nairobi building—the first solar-powered UN building in the world.

Sustainable Construction projects across Nairobi 

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

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

Reduce Energy Consumption

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

Construction and Real Estate Services

Designing to enable multiple uses and lifecycles of a product and its materials

Design for cyclability

Data, knowledge & information sharing

Increase efficiency and promote local economic growth by shortening supply chains and connecting local producers to consumers.


Support local low-impact circular economies

The built environment, including housing, commercial buildings, and the necessary infrastructure for mobility, is essential for our livelihoods, but:
- the extraction of minerals used to produce construction materials is responsible for a quarter of global land use change,
- approximately 40% of global GHG emissions can be attributed to buildings’ construction, use and demolition, and
- construction and demolition processes drive nearly one-third of all material consumption. 

Making the built environment more circular must prioritise a heavy reduction in material use—while also closing the loop on materials and bringing secondary and renewable material choices to the fore. Our four key solutions for the built environment are:
- Make the most of what already exists: Make the most of existing materials by reusing, repurposing, upgrading and renovating following circular approaches. Where new builds are needed, use secondary materials and be as efficient as possible with urban planning solutions that follow circular design principles so that buildings can be reused, repurposed, and easily disassembled in the future.
- Be as energy efficient as possible: From the design phase, utilise circular strategies to create material- and energy efficient buildings. Couple these designs with a rollout of clean energy solutions, and prioritise energy-efficient appliances and retrofitting. 
- Utilise secondary materials: Maximise the high-value reuse of buildings and components where possible. Ideally, enable the utilisation of construction and demolition outputs and ensure that as much of it as possible is recycled to avoid the need for virgin materials, such as sand and gravel.
- Prioritise circular materials and approaches: Transition to using renewable wood, timber or cross-laminated timber instead of steel and concrete, or move to other locally available materials. Utilise mainstream modular construction and prioritise lightweight frames and structures to reduce cement and steel use, as well as green roofs where possible.



🏢 Built Environment

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

Volume 105, May 2017, Pages 2803-2810Sulstainable building designDownload full text in PDFView Abstract

Study evaluating a sustainable residential project in Nairobi, focussing on the use of local materials and built-on-site materials. The study posits that this strategy leads to significant cost reductions and energy saving.

Building with local materials in Nairobi 

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

Incentivise

 NAIROBI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to promote construction of green buildings in order to enhance sustainability in the construction industry, a senior government official said on Tuesday. James Macharia, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, told journalists in Nairobi that to support the use of green housing initiatives, the Kenyan government has embarked on the provision of enabling environment through development of policies and regulatory frameworks. "The Built Environment Bill 2017 and the Housing Bill 2017 when enacted will go a long way in ensuring safety and environmental sustainability in the building industry," Macharia said during the launch of the Kenya Building Research Centre Strategic Plan (2017-2022). He said green houses are ideal for the country as they use minimum water and energy resources. Macharia noted that the housing sector is responsible for a significant portion of the green house gas emissions in Kenya. In addition, Macharia noted that the widespread adoption of a green construction industry will enable Kenya to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, which recognizes the crucial role the building and construction sectors play in climate change mitigation and adaptation processes. He noted that the government is keen to provide incentives for the private sector to uptake green buildings given that the construction industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. According to the ministry, the uptake of green houses is low due to the perception that they are very costly. "The truth is that green buildings are cheaper in the long run because they have lower maintenance costs," Macharia said.  

Kenya

Kenya aims to promote the construction of green buildings in order to enhance sustainability in the construction industry. In order to do so, the government has created an enabling regulatory and policy environment along with encouraging the private sector through incentives. This effort will not only lower emissions but also be less depleting to water and energy resources, along with possibly making construction cheaper since these buildings have lower maintenance costs.

Kenyan government encouraging green construction projects

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

Danida

A research project on circular industrial symbiosis in Ruaraka industrial zone on the outskirt of Nairobi.

Research project on circular industrial symbiosis in Nairobi

Paper on sustainable logistics practices from supermarkets in Nairobi.