CAT Africa

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

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (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

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 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

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

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

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

 Convene Towards Action

Advocate for circular change

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

 Too much plastic and not enough schools are scourges of modern life many countries face. Now a factory in West Africa will try to tackle both by transforming old flip-flops and car tyres into bricks to build classrooms.

 The factory in Ivory Coast will be the first of its kind in Africa and aims to produce enough plastic bricks to build 500 classrooms across the country by 2021, funded by the UN children's fund UNICEF and a Colombian social enterprise.

 With millions of tonnes of plastic ending up in landfills and oceans each year, engineers and architects are coming up with novel ways to make use of the durable commodity.

 Shipbuilders on Kenya's Lamu island have built traditional boats from recycled plastic and in Malawi, houses are built with dirt packed into plastic sacks to help preserve the country's fast disappearing forests.
      Children and teachers in a preschool built using plastic bricks in Gonzagueville, a suburban of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.      Now, plastic garbage is being used to build schools.

 "It works like Lego," said UNICEF's head of communication in Ivory Coast, Sophie Chavanel.

 The interlocking bricks - cheaper and lighter than many conventional building materials - require no cement, are fire retardant and stay cool in hot weather, she said.

 It will cost an estimated $14,500 to build each plastic-brick classroom, and they are badly needed.

 Less than one in two adults can read and 15,000 classrooms are required to accommodate the number of children who currently have no place to learn, according to UNICEF.

 Most existing schools are built from mud brick, which erode in the sun and rain.
  A legion of local women who make a living collecting plastic waste will supply the factory in Abidjan.

 "By turning plastic pollution into an opportunity, we want to help lift women out of poverty and leave a better world for children," said Isabel Cristina Gamez, CEO of Conceptos Plasticos, the plastic recycling company building the factory.

 Africa was estimated to have 4.4 million metric tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste in 2010, a figure scientists warned could rise to 10.5 million tonnes in 2025 if nothing is done. Globally, it was an estimated 32 million tonnes.

 But plastic waste is increasingly being used by entrepreneurs, said Alain Elong, an engineer in Cameroon who set up his own collection and recycling facility, RED-PLAST, in 2012.

 "We have started making floor tiles out of recycled plastic waste," he said, adding that the tiles can also be used to pave roads where there is no asphalt.

   A weekly update of what’s on the Global Agenda   

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



        In an innovative partnership, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and a Colombian social enterprise announced on Monday that it had broken ground on a first-of-its-kind factory to convert plastic waste in Côte d'Ivoire into modular, easy-to-assemble, low-cost plastic bricks for classrooms in the West African country.

   
“This factory will be at the cutting edge of smart, scalable solutions for some of the major education challenges that Africa’s children and communities face,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “Its potential is threefold: more classrooms for children in Côte d’Ivoire, reduced plastic waste in the environment, and additional income avenues for the most vulnerable families.”
Côte d'Ivoire needs 15,000 classrooms to provide children with a place to learn. 
Partnering with plastic and rubber waste recylcing  company Conceptos Plasticos, UNICEF is using recycled plastic collected from polluted areas in and around Abidjan to build 500 classrooms for more than 25,000 children over the next two years, with the potential to increase production beyond.  
“One of the major challenges facing Ivorian school children is a lack of classrooms,” said UNICEF Representative Aboubacar Kampo, who has championed the project from its inception. 
Classrooms either don’t exist or are overcrowded, making learning a challenging and unpleasant experience.
“In certain areas, for the first-time, kindergartners from poor neighborhoods would be able to attend classrooms with less than 100 other students”, he elaborated. “Children who never thought there would be a place for them at school will be able to learn and thrive in a new and clean classroom.”
While more than 280 tons of plastic waste are produced every day in Abidjan alone, only about five per cent is recycled. The rest ends up mostly in low-income communities’ landfill sites in. 
Plastic waste pollution exacerbates existing hygiene and sanitation challenges
And improper waste management is responsible for 60 per cent of malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia cases in children – diseases that are among the leading causes of death for Ivorian children.
The bricks will be made from 100 per cent plastic and are fire resistant. They are 40 per cent cheaper, 20 per cent lighter and will last hundreds of years longer than conventional building materials. They are also waterproof, well insulated and designed to resist heavy wind.
 

   
 Become a formalized recycling market. 
 Recycle 9,600 tons of plastic waste a year. 
 Provide a source of income to women living in poverty in.  


   “Sometimes, embedded deep within our most pressing challenges are promising opportunities,” said Ms. Fore.
To date, nine classrooms have been built in Gonzagueville, Divo and Toumodi using plastic bricks made in Colombia, demonstrating the viability of the construction methods and materials.
“By turning plastic pollution into an opportunity, we want to help lift women out of poverty and leave a better world for children”, said Isabel Cristina Gamez, Co-Founder and CEO of Conceptos Plasticos.
     Alongside investment to build in Côte d’Ivoire, plans are also under way to scale this project to other countries in the region, and potentially beyond. West and central Africa accounts for one-third of the world’s primary school age children and one-fifth of lower secondary age children who are out of school.
“This project is more than just a waste management and education infrastructure project; it is a functioning metaphor—the growing challenge of plastic waste turned into literal building blocks for a future generation of children”, concluded the UNICEF chief.

  
  Children and teachers in preschool are very happy with their new classes in Gonzagueville, a suburban of Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire.

 

     
       


Ivory Coast

Abidjan

Bogotá

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

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Conceptos Plasticos

<p>The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Colombian social enterprise, Conceptos Plasticos, had broken ground on a first-of-its-kind factory to convert the plastic waste in Côte d'Ivoire into modular, easy-to-assemble, low-cost plastic bricks for classrooms. The factory has the capacity to transform more than 9,000 tons of recovered plastic into  building material for more than 600 classrooms.</p>

Smart, scalable eco-brick schools made out of plastic for children in Ivory Coast

Conceptos Plasticos - Schools made out of plastic eco-bricks

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This collection is part of Footprints Africa's work to build a comprehensive database of circular economy initiatives in Africa. 

This is a result of the collaboration with the <a href="https://www.acen.africa" target="_blank">African Circular Economy Network (ACEN)</a>, as part of the programme to support the circular economy transition in Africa. Footprints Africa's vision is that businesses can be a force for good at scale. Their mission is to advance sustainable, scalable and inclusive approaches to development of local African economies. Footprints Africa supports SMEs to adopt future-friendly practices, such as those inspired by the circular economy, to address the challenges of growth and create jobs. 

This open-source dataset features well over 500 cases and 200 examples of policies and laws and intent to collect inspiring examples of initiatives from across Africa, in order to inform the global dialogue, which is largely focused on the European and American context. 

To learn more about Africa's initiatives and content to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, visit https://www.footprintsafrica.co/



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Footprints Africa

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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)

Archetypes

CE Materials

Materials

Nace Sectors

Topics

Urban Opportunities

Whilst no two countries are the same, there are still obvious similarities between some of them, with discernible development patterns and parallels in evidence. Common problems and shared solutions help place unique country identities and individual issues in context.

Whilst this classification is far from clear-cut and exhibits some overlap, it does underline how the discourse on transitioning to a circular economy needs to account for both differences and commonalities, if we are to arrive at a more strategic and instructive analysis. It also allows to highlight a set of key themes that are likely to be central to the countries that fall under the respective profiles. 

Country profiles (Build, Grow, Shift)

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A framework to distinguish between different country profiles and their circular transition needs.

Browse case studies by type of implementing stakeholder.

Implementing stakeholders

It is 2050.  Full systems change has taken place. This wouldn’t have been possible without the immediate action and radical steps taken from 2020 onwards. Many targets had to be identified in the early 2020s and achieved by 2030 to ensure that the 2050 goal happened in full. A sense of urgency, turbo stakeholder collaboration, supportive government regulation and clear, data driven targets enabled the mindsets and systems change needed to transform to a fully circular textiles ecosystem.

A circular economics model underpins what we have created. It reflects and supports a living organism made up of makers, users and restorers, interacting across vibrant and interconnected networks. Checks and balances, alongside transparency and accountability, ensure a healthy system. Financial, environmental, and social metrics have the purpose of serving communities and the planet. There is shared ownership of profit and loss – across all three metrics – throughout the value chain.

This is what we’ve achieved over the last 30 years:

WCTD Themes

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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

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An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

Test Framework

Challenges

Based on the ongoing ISO standardisation process, a taxonomy has been defined under which to cluster indicators to measure circularity. 

ISO Taxonomy

If managed well, the transition to the circular economy will have multiple benefits for the labour market, including the opening up of job opportunities, raising job standards and reducing inequalities through a global redistribution of value. But a positive transition to circularity for work and workers must be underpinned by three pillars: upskilling the workforce, quality of work and inclusive job opportunities. Find out more and explore cases that illustrate these pillars below.

Circular Jobs Initiative Pillars

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A positive transition to circularity for work and workers must be underpinned by three core pillars.

This is a survey that dives into understanding the policy environment around specific circular solutions. 

The survey is divided into five sections, based on the five key elements of the Circular Cities Action Framework. 
Each section asks 2-3 questions to explore which policies may or may not be present within your city to support a transition towards a circular economy. 

You are not alone! Each question provides some practical examples from cities around the world that have adopted a certain policy to support their transition. This can help to compare with your city - is your city doing something similar?

The survey answers should be based on your current knowledge, and not illicit additional research - ! Please make use of the Not sure option as appropriate.


Ganbatte Cities Policy Tracker [Food]

Ganbatte Cities - Policy tracker policy instruments

Policy Tracker - TEST

Africa

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Footprints Africa supports SMEs to adopt future-friendly practices, address the challenges of growth and create jobs, using supply chains as a tool for development. 

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<p>The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Colombian social enterprise Conceptos Plasticos have broken ground on a first-of-its-kind factory to convert plastic waste in Côte d'Ivoire into modular, easy-to-assemble, low-cost, plastic bricks for classrooms. The factory has the capacity to transform more than 9,000 tonnes of recovered plastic into building materials for more than 600 classrooms.</p>