Business case

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 health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

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

Innovation

Scalability

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)

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

Societal Services

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

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

Construction Materials and Products

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

Chemical and Plastic

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Use waste as a resource

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

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

Regenerative materials

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

Valorise waste streams - closed loop

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within other industries

Valorise waste streams - open loop

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

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

Design for cyclability

Designing products that are made to last and to ensure longer use

Design for durability

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

Material efficiency

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

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

Design for minimal waste

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

Design for recycling

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

Design for physical durability

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

Mobilise

Visions and Ambitions

Impacts

small_climate-4803653_640.jpg

thumbnail_climate-4803653_640.jpg

climate-4803653_640.jpg

Industries

small_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

thumbnail_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

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

Policies

medium_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

small_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

thumbnail_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

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

large_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

medium_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

small_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

thumbnail_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is reviving the need for Benin to set up a factory to manufacture bricks from plastic waste. “If Benin could acquire the capacity to produce these bricks locally, it would enable it to reduce the deficit in school infrastructure, especially in the most disadvantaged areas, to contribute to poverty reduction by improving revenues of women and young people involved in the recycling of plastic waste and to fight against plastic pollution,” says Claudes Kamenga, UNICEF’s resident representative in Benin. This UN official was speaking on August 4, 2020 on the occasion of the inauguration of three classrooms built with recycled plastic bricks in Ladji primary school in Cotonou, Zoungo primary school in the commune of Ouinhi and Louho primary school in Porto-Novo.
To build these classrooms, UNICEF had to import the raw material from Colombia. Hence its recommendation, the second of its kind, for a Beninese factory producing recycled plastic bricks. First approached on this subject in December 2019, the Beninese government had examined Unicef’s proposal with great interest, and the Council of Ministers had agreed to carry out the project by adapting it to the Beninese context.
Ecological and economic benefits
In addition to plastic pollution control, the production and use of recycled plastic bricks has many economic advantages. Recycled plastic bricks are inexpensive, durable and easy to assemble. Their use for classroom construction requires only one week’s work using local labour, with no special qualification requirements. Unlike traditional classrooms, recycled plastic brick classrooms are 40% less expensive and do not require water or cement for assembly.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), recycled plastic bricks are considered a godsend for Benin, because the West African country does not have enough classrooms. In 2018, in the Atacora department in north-west Benin, the secondary education department had a deficit of 424 classrooms.
Côte d’Ivoire is the first African country to experiment with recycled plastic bricks. Launched in July 2019 with the support of UNICEF, this initiative will have enabled several thousand children to gain a place in school for the very first time in their lives.
Boris Ngounou


The project to build a brick manufacturing unit from plastic waste in Benin is gradually taking shape. The location of the site, which is to house the debris sorting and processing centre, has recently been unveiled. It is located in Agbalilamè Houègo, a village in the commune of Sèmè-Kpodji, in the Agblangandan district of south-eastern Benin.
The site of the brick-making unit was made available by the town hall of Sèmè-Kpodji, in the department of Ouémé. The land covers an area of 1000 m².
The future plant for sorting and processing plastic waste into bricks will be built by the Sèmè City Development Agency in Benin, with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It will reduce the overflow of plastic waste on the country’s streets, produce cheaper, lighter and more environmentally friendly construction materials, etc. After Côte d’Ivoire, Benin will be the second country in Africa to host such a facility.
The role of the first brick manufacturing unit in Côte d’Ivoire
Construction work on Africa’s first modular plastic brick plant, based in Côte d’Ivoire, started in 2019. It was launched by UNICEF, in partnership with the Colombian social enterprise Conceptos Plasticos. “This plant will be at the forefront of intelligent and scalable solutions to address some of the key educational challenges facing children and communities in Africa,” said Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF.
To date, the modular plastic bricks from this plant have already been used to build several classrooms. “One of the main challenges facing Ivorian schoolchildren is the lack of classrooms. Thanks to this project, in some areas, kindergarten children from poor neighbourhoods could attend classrooms with less than 100 other schoolchildren. Children who never thought there would be a place for them in school will also be able to learn and grow in a new and clean classroom,” said Aboubacar Kampo, UNICEF’s representative in Côte d’Ivoire.
Characteristics of recycled plastic bricks
The bricks are made entirely of plastic and are fire-resistant. They are 40% cheaper and 20% lighter than clay bricks. Recycled plastic bricks last hundreds of years longer than conventional building materials. They are also waterproof, well insulated and designed to withstand high winds.
According to UNICEF, Côte d’Ivoire needs 15,000 classrooms to meet the needs of children without learning opportunities. The centre for manufacturing bricks from plastic waste is expected to build 500 classrooms for more than 25,000 children over the next two years, with the possibility of increasing production beyond that. “Once fully operational, the plant will recycle 9,600 tonnes of plastic waste per year and provide a source of income for women living in poverty in a formalized recycling market,” says Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s Executive Director.
The recycled plastic is collected from polluted areas in and around Abidjan, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire. More than 280 tonnes of plastic waste are produced every day in the capital and barely 5% is recycled. The rest is dumped in the landfills of low-income communities.
Inès Magoum


Africa

Seme-Kpodji

Benin

large_blob

medium_blob

small_blob

thumbnail_blob

blob

Sèmè City Development Agency 

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

A waste sorting and a processing plant to transform plastic waste into bricks was built in Agbalilamè Houègo, a village in the commune of Sèmè-Kpodji, in the Agblangandan district of south-eastern Benin. These bricks are made entirely of recycled plastic and are 40% cheaper and 20% lighter compared to clay bricks. Additionally, they are waterproof, fire resistant, well insulated and designed to withstand high winds. After Côte d’Ivoire, Benin will be the second country in Africa to host such a facility.