Business case

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

Increase Awareness

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)

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

Chemical and Plastic

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

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

Design for cyclability

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

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

Design for recycling

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

Design for reuse

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

Guidance, dialogue with industry stakeholders

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

Advocacy for circular economy policy

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

Mobilise

Govern the Transition

Institutional design to enable circularity

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

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 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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At Plastics Recycling World Expo on 3-4 June 2020 in Essen, Germany, a delegation of the Ghanaian plastics and recycling industry will discuss development priorities. In this article, the group’s technical partner in the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia outlines progress being made in Ghana’s plastics recycling sector.  Even though the waste collected in Ghana more than doubled nationwide between 2006 and 2013, the share still remains at a low level. According to the Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report from 2018, even in cities only around one-third of the growing quantities of waste is taken to dumpsites and the few sanitary landfills whose capacities are becoming increasingly scarce. A considerable portion is simply burnt under an open sky. Due to poor solid waste management, plastic waste like sachet water bags, water bottles, food boxes from Styrofoam and any amount of plastic bags is widespread on roadsides, clogging drains and littering beaches, causing health and flood risks. To turn such challenges into opportunities, the Ghanaian government is determined to leapfrog from waste disposal to a circular economy. In October 2019, as the first African nation, Ghana formally joined the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum and supported, amongst others, by the Development Programme of the United Nations (UNDP).Since 2007, the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia has maintained a partnership with Ghana, bringing together government institutions, universities, local governments, NGOs and companies from both sides. The German technical cooperation, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has played a prominent role in shaping the collaboration around climate and resource protection through projects supported financially by the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia. Against this background, it was more than logical that GIZ took up the request from the Ghanaian Ministry for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) to develop a project on sustainable management of plastics and to convene an international stakeholder forum in January 2018 in Accra. The main aim: To discuss with competent stakeholders the ministry’s first draft of a national plastics policy and to contribute experience gained in this field in Germany. Looking back, this forum has generated a strong momentum and raised public awareness for the urgency of tackling the challenges related to plastic littering the environment. As part of the project, GIZ piloted in collaboration with the local NGO Environment360 and with informal scrap dealers in Kumasi an incentive and take-back scheme to test a viable business model for recovering PET bottles littering the environment for recycling. PET bottles were chosen because even the informal waste pickers did not show interest in collecting them due to their volume and low weight. Having successfully tested the scheme, it can now be used for upscaling and including other types of plastics as well. To make representatives from private and public sector more familiar with the political framework conditions and technical options for managing the plastic value chain in a circular economy, GIZ organized in June 2018 a technical visit for a delegation from Ghana to North Rhine-Westphalia. On the occasion of WACEE’19, the West African Clean Energy and Environment fair and conference in Accra, MESTI and GIZ convened a second stakeholder forum on 8 November 2019. The aim was to discuss how the different stakeholders are contributing already to recovering and recycling plastics and the challenges they are facing for upscaling: plastic producers, food and beverage industry, recyclers, waste collectors, NGOs, start-ups, and local governments. The challenges plastic recyclers are facing are diverse: they range from plastic material that is not coded or locally recyclable, and extremely high interest rates for financing investments in recycling technology and high import taxes, to poor collection infrastructure and the absence of an extended producer responsibility system. In spite of these obstacles, the Ghanaian industry is recognising the potential of recycling and is becoming increasingly interested in plastic waste as a secondary raw material. To promote recycling and second-life solutions to reduce the impacts of post-consumption waste on the environment, a group of eight international companies from the chemical as well as food and beverage industry has taken the initiative and founded the Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprise (GRIPE), established under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI). The Plastics Recycling World Exhibition 2020, taking place on 3-4 June 2020 in Essen, Germany, which is Europe’s leading focused event for plastics recycling, provides an excellent opportunity to get to know innovative technological solutions and to establish business contacts. Within the scope of the project, GIZ will therefore invite a delegation of the Ghanaian plastics and recycling industry to the trade-show. For meetings, the delegation will have its own exhibition booth and will be discussing the potential for co-operation in a specific side-event.Although Ghana has still a long way to go, important steps have been initiated to pave the way towards a circular economy. Progress can even be witnessed at Accra’s beaches where more and more PET bottles are collected for recycling. For more information contact [email protected]

Approximately 13 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the oceans annually, equivalent to one garbage truck load every minute. Even worse, the Pew Charitable Foundation estimates the volume of plastics finding its way into the world’s oceans will triple by 2040.
Some experts believe the solution lies in creating circular economies, which eliminate single-use plastic in favor of organic materials or plastics that can be recycled and reused. But that requires significant investment and infrastructure. 
In Africa less than 20 percent of plastics are recycled currently, far below European Union targets of 50 percent by 2025. In lieu of formal recycling operations, waste pickers collect litter and sell it to middlemen, who aggregate plastic waste and sell it to recyclers abroad.
But Ghana - with a 5 percent recycling rate - has emerged as a regional front runner committed to creating a domestic recycling industry that protects both the environment and impoverished, mostly-female, community of waste pickers. Last fall, Ghana became the first African country to join World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP).  At a recent World Economic Forum Sustainable Development Impact Summit event, Plastics: From Global Vision to Local Action, panelists representing a coalition of government, manufacturers, technology providers, and non-profit organizations discussed how Ghana is driving change.
“We see plastic waste as a threat to our way of life and danger to environment,” said Oliver Boachie, Special Advisor from the Ghanaian Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI). “But we also look at this as an opportunity.” 
Since 2018, the government has been working on a plastics waste program that aims to clean up environment, create jobs in plastics value chain, make resources available to manage plastics and ensure no one gets left behind. 
Global software provider, SAP SE, is also a member of GPAP and has collaborated with MESTI, private industry and local non-profits to create a technology solution that will help. 
“The recycling systems in Ghana are very analog so we’re building a digital system to connect everyone and track the volumes and types of plastic, where it goes, and the prices paid across the value chain,” said Maggie Buggie, Chief Business Officer of SAP Services.
With a foundation of reliable data, the government and private companies can determine where to invest resources and build recycling plants, while also monitoring waste pickers’ wages and living conditions. 
“By connecting the informal economy of waste pickers to the formal economy, we can ensure they receive a fair wage – and later on – get services like training or childcare,” said Buggie.
Making the Invisible Visible: Improving Pickers lives
Waste picking is a means of survival for poor, urban communities across Africa, South East Asia and Latin America. In Ghana, they recover at least 218 tonnes daily or nearly 12 percent of the total plastic waste generated.
But they have little visibility into the market price for what they’ve collected, which leaves them vulnerable to exploitation by middlemen. With the SAP solution, they will have mobile access to the average price for different kinds of materials. The government can use this data to monitor wages and take action to support pickers, for example, investing in social services that raise pickers’ living standards.
Jeffery Provencal founded rePATRN, a social enterprise that works with pickers. “We’re on the verge of an absolute game changer. We have a lack of data and the SAP solution is the best thing for it – one platform that provides all that data,” said Provencal. “We can find an efficient way to deal with the material, monetize it, and empower the waste pickers. So everyone wins.”
Private Sector Partners To Achieve Sustainability Goals 
Adwoa Coleman, Africa Sustainability and Advocacy Manager for Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, explains how technology will help the Ghanaian government and manufacturers achieve their sustainability goals. 
“We have a goal that one million metric tons of plastics will be collected, recycled or reused by 2030,” said Coleman. “Data is critical to establishing a market where plastic can be bought and sold, depending on where that’s happening. Harnessing that data in one app will help fuel the circular economy and ensure that collected materials are reused.”
But success requires cooperation. “Stakeholder collaboration is important – we (not only) have the government, private sector and NGOs, but also the collector and recycler. To succeed, we need to all be at the table,” she said.
Coca Cola also has big environmental ambitions. For example, it wants all its packaging materials to be recyclable by 2035 — and has a specific perspective on what that means in West Africa. “Exportation of plastic and packaging waste out of Africa is not sustainable,” said Clement Ugorji, vice president for public affairs, communications and sustainability. “We need the domestic capacity for collection and recycling and reuse on the continent. That’s the only way to achieve a truly circular economy for Africa.”
For its part, SAP believes its experience in the region developing its SAP Rural Sourcing Management (an application that supports small-holder farmers and improves visibility across agricultural value chains) gives it an advantage. Since plastic pickers and rural farmers face similar issues, applications like this will help all parties succeed.
The plastics recycling pilot project will run in Accra and several smaller cities in Ghana. Building on what is learned during this first stage, the coalition hopes to expand across Ghana, West Africa and eventually the entire continent and other regions. 

 	 Government will join the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), a new initiative created by a coalition of influential public and private leaders to fast-track plastic pollution action around the world.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disclosed this Wednesday at a press briefing said President Akufo-Addo, and the Environment Minister, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng will formally launch the initiative on October 1 in Accra.
GPAP is hosted at the World Economic Forum.
Ghana, under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI) is in the process of adopting a National Plastic Management Policy that will leverage the comprehensive management of plastics to drive sustainable development, green job creation, and environmental protection.
Therefore, Ghana has been selected as a natural first engagement in Africa for the Global Plastics Action Partnership.
As one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and a leading political and economic force in Africa, Ghana has the potential to catalyze a new era of plastic action across the continent.
The Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership will launch in close coordination with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s ‘Waste’ Recovery Platform, which will promote sustainable waste recovery in Ghana through connecting stakeholders across the waste management chain.
The Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership and the UNDP ‘Waste’ Recovery Platform will support the existing work being carried out by the government of Ghana, as well as successful initiatives being led by entrepreneurs and civil society actors at the local level, to accelerate the reduction of plastic waste and pollution in Ghana.
About the Ghana National Plastics Management Policy
– Ghana’s first National Plastics Management Policy aims to use the comprehensive management of plastics across their life-cycle and value-chain as a vehicle for sustainable development, enabling a shift towards a plastics circular economy.
– The Policy lays a foundation to enable the creation of an entirely new industry for redesigning, recovering and recycling plastics, preventing pollution of our environment and communities and creating many new jobs in the green economy.
– The Implementation Plan of the National Plastics Management Policy starts with a national communication strategy to change our behaviour on how we manage plastics. The next focus will be on mobilizing finances and innovation to enable new business models for sustainably managing plastics and supporting communities and companies to coordinate and plan for a circular plastics economy. Lastly, the implementation of the Policy establishes robust frameworks for good governance and shared accountability across society.
– The Ghana National Plastics Action Partnership will be supporting the Government of Ghana to implement its ambitious roadmap for a circular plastics economy, captured in the National Plastics Management Policy.
About the Global Plastic Action Partnership
– The Global Plastic Action Partnership envisions a world free of plastic waste and pollution. It represents one of the most powerful and concerted efforts working internationally to address this issue, bringing together public, private, and civil society leaders to translate commitments into concrete action.
– The goal of the Ghana NPAP is to dramatically reduce the country’s plastic waste and pollution, and to fast-track progress towards zero leakage of waste into the environment, especially the ocean. The Ghana NPAP will support the government and businesses in transitioning to a circular economy for plastics, which will fundamentally change the way plastics are manufactured, used, and re-used.
– The transition to a circular plastics economy will spur job creation in the manufacturing and innovation industries, promote public health and wellbeing, boost tourism and investment, and support Ghana’s progress towards achieving a number of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Source: https://www.myjoyonline.com 

Ghana

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages.

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Coca Cola

Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 2014. 

Nestle 

Government of Ghana

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does.

World Economic Forum

Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP)

Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprise (GRIPE)

Association of Ghana Industries (AGI)

Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England.

 Unilever

Guiness Ghana

Fan Milk

Voltic

PZ Cussons

In October 2019, Ghana formally joined the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum. Additionally, to promote recycling and second-life solutions to reduce the impacts of post-consumption waste on the environment, a group of eight international companies from the chemical as well as food and beverage industry has taken the initiative and founded the Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprise (GRIPE), established under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).

Circular plastics in Ghana

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This collection comes from the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>, an initiative of Circle Economy.

The workforce is an essential lever for transforming our economy from linear to circular. The Circular Jobs Initiative aims to maximise the employment opportunities offered by the circular economy. It provides practical support and insights to businesses and governments that want to adopt circular strategies that have a positive social impact.The Circular Jobs Initiative works through three focus areas: 

- Upskilling the workforce

- Quality of work

- Inclusive job opportunities 

CJI has defined circular jobs as any occupation that directly involves or indirectly supports one of the strategies of the circular economy. It distinguishes between three types of circular jobs: core, enabling and indirectly circular jobs.

**Core circular jobs** are all jobs that ensure the closure of raw material cycles, including jobs in repair, renewable energy, waste and resource management. 

**‍Enabling circular jobs** are jobs that remove barriers for and enable the acceleration and upscaling of core circular activities, including jobs that arise in leasing, education, design and digital technology. 

**Indirectly circular jobs** are jobs that occur in other sectors that do not play a direct role in furthering the transition to the circular economy but can still adopt circular strategies. They include jobs that provide services to core circular strategies, including jobs in information services, logistics and the public sector.

The Knowledge Hub Collection includes examples of circular jobs, publications, reports, case studies and policies different organisations, governments and businesses are already using to advocate for a person-centred circular economy. 

Visit the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>

Visit the <a href="http://jobsmonitor.circle-economy.com/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Monitor</a>

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Circular Jobs Initiative

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Policy case

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

Jobs

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

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

Incentivise

Public-private partnerships

Economic Frameworks

 The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has launched the Ghana National Plastics Action Partnership, which seeks to stop the growth of global plastic pollution, and also ensure, amongst others, that plastics do not find their way into the country’s marine bodies. Speaking at the launch of the initiative on Tuesday, 1st October, 2019, at the Labadi Beach Hotel, President Akufo-Addo noted that the menace of plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing challenges facing mankind today. With the menace affecting the day-to-day activities of the human race, the President indicated that confronting this challenge demands the active partnership and co-operation of all nations. “When I took office in 2017, I requested the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, headed by its Minister, the globally acclaimed Ghanaian scientist, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, to develop an effective strategy to meet the challenges associated with the management of plastic waste in Ghana,” he said. The President continued, “The result is the National Plastics Management Policy of Ghana, whose blue-print has attracted the attention of the global community, and has led us to this exciting partnership with the World Economic Forum.” Ghana’s Plastic Management Policy, he explained, is not focussed only on how to address plastic waste, but takes also a holistic view of the entire value chain of plastics, and seeks to achieve several objectives. Amongst them are to develop a working circular economy framework for plastics in Ghana; to reduce Ghana’s reliance on the use of plastics and promote their replacement with green alternatives; to nurture the development of new business models for job creation throughout the value chain; to develop systems and infrastructure across the country that will ensure that we are not littering our plastic waste, but using them as resources for value-addition; and to ensure that Ghana has a long-term and sustainable means of funding plastic waste management. Through Ghana’s partnership with the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), President Akufo-Addo was confident that progress will be fast-tracked in Ghana “towards that collective goal, which is to achieve zero leakage of plastic waste into our oceans and waterways.” The President, thus, pledged the full commitment of the Government of Ghana towards the successful implementation of the programme, that will be outlined under National Plastics Action Partnership (NPAP). “Whilst the eventual outcome of NPAP will be owned by the people of Ghana, it is my expectation that its example will contribute to the resolution of this problem on the African continent, and be a shining example of the global achievements of GPAP,” he added. President Akufo-Addo, in his address, also applauded the initiatives being taken by private sector operators to build plastic waste recycling plants, to create bio-fuels that are being used as alternatives to fossil fuels that pollute the environment, and produce building blocks that are used to construct roads and pavements. He also acknowledged the efforts being made by civil society and the media to raise awareness of efficient waste management, and existing opportunities for waste recovery in our country. “Government is ready to partner with all stakeholders, especially private sector and academia, to drive investment and research into this area. I believe that there is the need for significant behavioural change, and I am happy with the prominence that has been given to it in the implementation plan of the draft National Plastics Management Policy,” he added. President Akufo-Addo thanked the Ghana Office of the United Nations Development Programme is to be saluted for facilitating the establishment of the “Waste Recovery Platform” for Ghana, and also the Governments of the United Kingdom and of Canada for their commitment and financial support for the GPAP initiative. He reiterated that “Ghana, after this process, will make best efforts to be a model for other countries in the region and on the continent on issues related to plastic management.”  	

UNDP

Ghana’s first National Plastics Management Policy aims to use the comprehensive management of plastics across their life-cycle and value-chain as a vehicle for sustainable development, enabling a shift towards a plastics circular economy. The Policy lays a foundation to enable the creation of an entirely new industry for redesigning, recovering and recycling plastics, preventing pollution of the environment and communities and creating many new jobs in the green economy.

Ghana’s first National Plastics Management Policy 

Article / Report

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 ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

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

Operating networks and software that enable the exchange and broadcasting of information, such as entertainment and internet software, television, cable, satellite or radio broadcasting systems, and cellular, wireless and/or fixed-line telecommunications services

Software and Communications

Consider opportunities to create greater value and align incentives that build on the interaction between products and services

Rethink the business model

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

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

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

Inform

Integrate principles of circularity into primary, secondary and tertiary curriculum and conduct workplace trainings

 Education and Curriculum

Data, knowledge & information sharing

Conduct research

Visions and Ambitions

Roadmaps and strategies and targets

 Convene Towards Action

Advocate for circular change

Raise awareness and run information campaigns about  strategies for and impacts of the circular economy in different contexts.

Communication and awareness

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


Strengthen and advance knowledge

 Conceived at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali in 2016, and launched at COP 23 in Bonn, the Alliance was founded by three countries Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa along with UN Environment and the World Economic Forum. The 17th Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), which took place in Durban, in November 2019, called for the widespread adoption of the circular economy on the continent. AMCEN is committed to replicate, scale-up and use circular approaches as part of Africa’s transformation efforts, in line with African Union “Agenda 2063”, and to support the work of the Alliance.  Ambition of the African Circular Economy Alliance To spur Africa’s transformation to a circular economy which delivers economic growth, jobs and positive environmental outcomes at the national, regional and continental levels. Context African countries with their vast untapped natural resources and fast-growing population, have the chance to leapfrog to a low-emission and climate-resilient development model by adopting circular economy principles that enhance social inclusivity. An effective circular model for Africa must emphasize green innovations and job creation to seize local and cross-border market opportunities, as well as enhancing climate resilience through economic diversification.    Objectives  Share best practices for the creation of legal and regulatory frameworks, the building of partnerships and the financing and creation of circular economy projects. Advocate for and raise awareness of the circular economy at a national, regional and global level. Bring about new projects and partnerships within individual or multiple countries.
 Activities  Facilitate seminars, trainings and workshops in the Member Countries on the topic of circular Economy. Encourage partnerships and sister projects in the Member Countries. Facilitate partnerships and sister projects in African and non-African countries. Develop a group of African leaders who champion the circular economy. Create coalitions to implement on the ground projects on the circular economy and initiate pilot projects in Member Countries.
 Membership & Eligibility The Alliance is open to membership from national institutions and public sector entities, international organizations, funding institutions and research centers. Current member countries include: Governments of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. Current strategic partners include the African Development Bank, Africa Circular Economy Network, Global Environment Facility, Government of Finland, PACE, UN Environment, UN Development Programme and World Economic Forum. Private sector membership will not be sought in the initial phase, although the Alliance will work closely with the private sector by way of consultation and collaboration on specific projects or activities. Contact Information ACEA Secretariat: acea@dalberg.com   

It is essential for Africa to revalue its waste in order to reduce the effects of the pollution it generates, which in turn has an impact on the health and well-being of populations and economic growth. Not to mention the economic interest in recovering material resources available at the places of consumption and production, whose recycling almost systematically generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in general than production from the extraction of virgin raw materials. This observation guided the second summit of the African Circular Economic Alliance (ACEA), which was held on the 14th of November 2019 in Durban, South Africa. The work focused in particular on the adoption of the charter that the organisation wishes to adopt.
The text sets out the terms and conditions for membership and eligibility to join the Alliance (reserved only for public sector organisations). It also shows the provisions concerning the ACEA management board. The organisation has two co-chairs who serve for a five-year term. Currently held by the Environment Ministers of Rwanda and South Africa, this function consists of overseeing the strategy and direction of the Alliance, leading the secretariat and technical committee, and guiding the process of identifying and welcoming new members.
South Africa and Rwanda launched ACEA in November 2017 at COP23 in Bonn, Germany. The two countries will be joined in June 2018 by Nigeria at the first ACEA Summit in Helsinki, Finland.
Africa could save up to $186 billion a year through the circular economy
The vision of the ACEA is to build a restorative African economy that generates the well-being and prosperity of all its people through new forms of economic production and consumption, which maintain and regenerate its resources. Taking part in a public conference at Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in Cocody, Ivory Coast, on October 17, 2019, the co-founder of ACEA, Alexandre Lemille, said that the circular economy could save Africa over $186 billion, just by changing the way we consume.
Also present at the conference was Michel Benoît Coffi, Secretary General of the Abidjan Autonomous District Council Bureau, representing the Governor of Abidjan in Ivory Coast. He presented the plans for a circular economy project in his district. “The transformation of organic waste into agricultural substrate or bio-methane and the recovery of 16% of dry waste should create 42,000 new jobs”. He also pointed out that 35 to 45% of water bills can be saved if shower water is used to evacuate faeces…
Boris Ngounou


  The World Economic Forum is playing a crucial role in spurring Africa’s transformation to a circular economy that delivers economic growth, jobs and positive environmental outcomes.  Conceived by the World Economic Forum and the Government of Rwanda in 2016 and then launched in 2017, The African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA) is a country-led platform, that aims to lead advocacy projects, undertake policy research and support high-impact circular-economy projects. Co-chaired by the environment ministers of Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa, with 10 member countries from across the African continent, the ACEA has given rise to a multi-donor trust fund with initial capital of €4 million. The Africa Circular Economy Support Programme (ACESP) will fund circular economy entrepreneurs and circular economy activities in countries that have joined the alliance.    In a circular economy, all resources are used to their highest value and reused continuously rather than being thrown away.  The size of the economic opportunity from rethinking how resources are used is vast. For example, there is 100 times more gold in a tonne of smartphones than a tonne of gold ore, but many phones are not properly recycled, wasting these resources. Accenture has valued this global opportunity at $4.5 trillion.  Africa is well placed to profit from this opportunity. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that there are 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 on the continent. This number is expected to double by 2045, providing a potential demographic dividend for fast economic growth if enough jobs are created.  The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) calculates that for every 10,000 tonnes of used goods, putting them in landfill would create six jobs, recycling them would create 36 jobs, and reuse and repair could create up to 296.    The ACEA was first conceived in collaboration with the Rwandan Ministry of Environment at the World Economic Forum on Africa in 2016. Rwanda has long been a leader in circular economy and was one of the first countries in the world to ban plastic bags. At the World Economic Forum on Africa in 2017, South Africa and Nigeria joined the alliance as co-chairs and ACEA was born. The Forum used its multistakeholder platform to bring the parties together and continues to provide financial and in-kind support. However, the ACEA is a country-led programme fully governed by the co-chairs. It is supported by a number of strategic partners including the Forum, the AfDB, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Government of Finland and the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy, with financial support from the Danish and Finnish governments and the Nordic Council.  The ACEA secretariat has already begun researching how circular economy approaches can aid sustainable economic growth across Africa and the findings will be presented to all environment ministers as part of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in 2021.    One ACEA project is a collaboration with the Forum’s Regional Action Group on Africa and the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance, a coalition which includes Diageo, Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé. This collaboration will spark collaboration between companies and policy-makers working on building a PET bottle-to-bottle recycling industry on the continent, which will reduce waste and also create jobs.  If your organization is undertaking research on the circular economy in Africa, or if you have a high-impact project with ambitious growth targets, consider reaching out to the ACEA using the link below. You can also use the links below to find out how the World Economic Forum’s Circular Economy Initiative brings together private, public, civil society, and expert stakeholders to accelerate the circular economy transition.  
   
    
    
 
 

South Africa

Nigeria

Rwanda

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

Our mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

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United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Government of Rwanda

Government of Nigeria

Government of South Africa

PACE is a global community of leaders working together to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Our focus is on the areas that require deep collaboration between business, government and civil society, creating a space for leaders to work in partnership and overcome challenges together.

PACE - Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy

The Alliance was founded by three countries: Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa along with UN Environment and the World Economic Forum which is a country-led platform, that aims to lead advocacy projects, undertake policy research and support high-impact circular-economy projects. One objective of this alliance is to share best practices for the creation of legal and regulatory frameworks, the building of partnerships and the financing and creation of circular economy projects which is done, for instance, by facilitating seminars, trainings and workshops in the member countries on the topic of the circular economy.

The African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA)

CAT Africa

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

Productivity

Scalability

Producing agricultural products and processing them into food and beverageproducts for consumption

Agri/Food

Producing and gathering crop and animal products from land and water through farming, hunting, and fishing

Agriculture

Solidify definitions and create frameworks to support the understanding of the circular economy across contexts and maintain cohesive systems of data sharing, processing and storing.


 Knowledge Management

  The first half of 2020 has been marked with the food market and agri-dealer closures, trade blockages, labor shortages, manufacturing and processing plant closures, shortages of certain food products as buying patterns shifted and bulk buyers such as restaurants or canteens faced closures, and other logistical and tactical issues. As the pandemic has progressed and implications have expanded beyond the immediate healthcare needs to the broader societal, economic and knock-on implications of this crisis, global, regional and local food systems have begun to face immense pressures that threaten to undermine nutrition at a mass scale and provoke food shortages as primary food production is implicated. COVID-19 has also laid bare the food system’s underlying injustices and inequities.

 However, the crisis has also brought widespread awareness of tools that are currently underutilized by the food and agriculture sectors, and which – if leveraged intentionally and inclusively – can have a seismic impact on the food system’s ability to respond and rebound in times of crisis. One such tool is data.

 This report seeks to advance the actionable understanding of an emerging set of approaches for data-driven food systems across stakeholders. It explores opportunities for data to enable better decision-making, advance business, product and partnership models, and empower stakeholders across the value chain. It highlights examples showcasing these models in practice. And it recognizes that for our food systems to be better prepared and more resilient in the future, we will need to promote a culture of data that allows for success and scale, and which is supported by key enablers, including policy, capacity building, infrastructure and connectivity, and mobilizing leadership.

 This report forms part of a series of outcomes stemming from the COVID Action for Food Systems – Africa multistakeholder efforts launched by African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Economic Forum. It was developed as an output of the Data and Information Platforms working group, and was supported by the World Economic Forum’s Food System Initiative (Platform for Global Public Goods) and the Shaping the Future of Digital Economy and New Value Creation platform.
 

Africa

Dalberg

African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD)

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

By utilizing these emerging data-driven solutions for food and agriculture and viewing them as part of a wider economic enabling framework, partnerships can be leveraged and scaled. Data from satellite and geospatial operators, ICT and telecommunications providers, e-commerce and logistics companies, and finance providers could all be brought to bear, alongside data from other actors who intersect the food space, such as the mining sector’s land utilization patterns. These corresponding data sets brought together in a joint ecosystem that informs the wider economic and societal development can thereby create a much greater transformational effect.