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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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Starter Kit collection

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Rampant material extraction is pushing the ecosystems of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to their limits. Over 11% of global raw materials are extracted within the region, yet it represents only about 8% of the world's population.

[*The Circularity Gap Report* (CGR) Latin America and the Caribbean](https://www.circularity-gap.world/lac), a first of its kind, demonstrates how the region can leverage the circular economy to tackle systemic inefficiencies in satisfying societal needs, conserve its unique natural wealth, and improve its people’s well-being.

To devise pathways for a circular transition, the report analysed the sectors where circular interventions could yield the most positive impact—environmentally, economically, and socially. This entails shifting to a circular food system, building a circular built environment, advancing circular manufacturing, transforming the energy system, reducing waste generation, and improve waste cycling.

[Circle Economy](https://www.circle-economy.com/) is a global impact organisation with an international team of passionate experts based in Amsterdam. We empower industries, cities, and nations with practical and scalable solutions to put the circular economy into action. Our vision is an economic system that ensures the planet and all people can thrive. To avoid climate breakdown, our goal is to double global circularity by 2032. Through the Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative, our mission is to deliver Circularity Metrics that measure the state of the global and national economy and identify key levers to transition to circularity. 

Latin America Collection

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Policy case

Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

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

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

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)

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

Save Water (SDG6)

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

Reduce Energy Consumption

Contributing to the improvement of biodiversity including species diversity, total number of protected species, and ecosystem health

Biodiversity

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

Agri/Food

Societal Services

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

Water and Sewage

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

While resources are in-use, maintain, repair and upgrade them to maximise their lifetime and give them a second life through take back strategies when applicable

Stretch the lifetime

Ensure that biological products are properly managed and preserved

Maximise lifetime of biological products

Managing and enriching biological products such as soil, land, etc.

Management, enrichment

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

Manage

Infrastructure

'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

Roadmaps and strategies and targets

Govern the Transition

Institutional design to enable circularity

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

Incentivise

Public-private partnerships

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

Economic Frameworks

Redesign systems to lay the foundation for circular activities and enable the transition to a circular economy 

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Rethink

Use longer and more often by extending and intensifying use of existing resources, products, spaces and infrastructure

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Reuse

Do better with less by using and supporting infrastructure, processes and products that are designed to minimize material, water and energy use and waste generation from production to end of use


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Reduce

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

Facilitate cross-collaboration by engaging city departments, industries and businesses on ambitious, closed-loop circular projects.

Support closed-loop systems and cross-sectoral synergies

Maintain and repair city-owned spaces and infrastructure to increase longevity, and support opportunities for residents to do the same for privately owned items and property

Support reuse, repair, remanufacturing, maintenance of existing resources, products, spaces & infrastructure

Ensure that infrastructure and built assets in the city are designed and upgraded to be as resource-efficient as possible.

Design infrastructure and the built environment for resource efficiency

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

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

Cities consume about 75% of global energy and emit between 50% and 60% of global greenhouse gases (UN-Habitat). To reduce the negative impact of their energy consumption, cities need to shift away from fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy sources. Such a shift will help cities work towards their climate change mitigation and adaptation action plans. Renewable energy technologies such as wind, water, solar, and geothermal can also help improve access to energy in vulnerable and marginalised neighbourhoods through, for example, decentralised, off-grid solutions.

Renewable energy technologies can harvest the energy in nature’s processes, such as wind, and solar radiation and geothermal heat, that can be replenished within a human lifespan. In contrast, fossil fuels are materials that are not replenished within a human lifespan and are combusted for energy, losing the fuel material and resulting in emissions.

Local governments can develop sustainable energy plans, considering different energy resources and requirements, to develop a robust strategy for the development of renewable energy technologies and infrastructure throughout the city. They can also institute specific legislation and tax systems to regulate energy production and consumption, incentivise research and development of cleaner, more efficient technologies. Via Power Purchase Agreements cities can buy renewable energy from green energy providers and fix the price in order to provide security to financial institutions to finance renewable energy infrastructure. Furthermore, increasing awareness and facilitating capacity-building on planning urban sustainable energy projects can help the uptake of clean energy across the city by different stakeholders—from citizens to businesses and institutions. Facilitating collaboration, then, will be crucial, since private companies operate most of the world’s energy systems.


⚡ Energy Systems

Businesses

Governments

Water system refers to the water supply network for storing and supplying water for use by the community.

One of the greatest challenges of a city is to provide its inhabitants with safe, clean water from a limited fresh water supply. Improving the city’s water infrastructure efficiency, such as minimising leakages, reduces the strain put on the limited supply, which in turn, helps to ensure inhabitants gain access to clean and affordable water.

The water infrastructure of a city typically consists of components such as surface water diversions, wells, pumps, transmission pipes and canals, treatment and storage facilities, and distribution network elements (Burian et al.). Options for improving the efficiency of the system include investing in water loss reduction systems, creating and following a regular maintenance program, and better matching water supply and demand (Global Water Partnership).

Cities can improve the efficiency of their water system infrastructure by conducting a water audit, in which all water flows are traced and losses in the system are identified to map where the most efficiency improvements can be gained. Alongside this, asset management can be used to create a short-term and long-term strategy of investing in new equipment, refurbishing existing equipment and developing maintenance programmes to ensure infrastructure is as efficient as possible, and leaks are minimised. Such management programmes create financial transparency amongst all stakeholders and provide useful long-term planning for larger infrastructure changes (US EPA)

💧 Water Systems

Water is not only at the core of different public services cities provide, including application and sanitation, water also acts as a carrier of nutrients and energy which can benefit other urban systems. However, Global demand for freshwater will exceed viable resources by 40% by 2030, if we continue with business as usual ([ARUP](https://www.arup.com/-/media/arup/files/publications/w/water_and_circular_economy_whitepaper.pdf)). Exploring the synergistic link between water, food and energy in urban systems becomes central to sustainable development and the sustainable management of water. Urban changemakers in all three areas should start taking a more holistic approach to water management—from water resource management, to ecosystem protection and water supply and sanitation ([UN Water](https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-food-and-energy/)).

Bringing circularity within the food-water-energy nexus means recognising all urban water flows—drinking water, stormwater, wastewater and source water—as potential resources for use across these three sectors. Circular water systems can maximise synergies between food water and energy systems by protecting water availability to maintain agricultural production in water scarce regions, or by recovering energy from wastewater treatment, replacing fossil fuels used for cooking or heating. Solid organic matter, or biosolids, recovered from a sewage treatment can also be used as a fertiliser, preventing harmful chemicals from polluting water streams so that water sources are clean and safe to drink.

Local governments can govern the food-water-energy nexus by looking holistically at the city’s infrastructure. They can update city plans to integrate Green Blue Infrastructure (GBI) which can provide tangible benefits to each dimension of the food-water-energy nexus. Parks, green walls, waterways and greenways can, for example, provide food, water, fibre and fuel to support the urban ecosystem. Moreover, bringing different actors together, from the department of water resources, food safety, as well as energy and planning, is at the heart of any form of integrated planning. To spur cross-sectoral collaboration, for instance, cities can convene different actors on dedicated platforms and facilitate effective communication between different city departments and public organisations. Embedding a nexus strategy in municipal policy may lay a foundation for cross departmental budgeting and program implementation.


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💧 🍏 ⚡  Supporting solutions that maximise synergies between food water and energy systems

One of the greatest challenges of a city is to provide its inhabitants with safe, clean water from a limited fresh water supply. Improving the city’s water infrastructure efficiency, such as minimising leakages, reduces the strain put on the limited supply, which in turn, helps to ensure inhabitants gain access to clean and affordable water.

The water infrastructure of a city typically consists of components such as surface water diversions, wells, pumps, transmission pipes and canals, treatment and storage facilities, and distribution network elements ([Burian et al.](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123847034005098)). Options for improving the efficiency of the system include investing in water loss reduction systems, creating and following a regular maintenance program, and better matching water supply and demand ([Global Water Partnership](http://www.cawater-info.net/policybriefs/pdf/tec_brief_4_water_efficiency.pdf)).

Cities can improve the efficiency of their water system infrastructure by conducting a water audit, in which all water flows are traced and losses in the system are identified to map where the most efficiency improvements can be gained. Alongside this, asset management can be used to create a short-term and long-term strategy of investing in new equipment, refurbishing existing equipment and developing maintenance programmes to ensure infrastructure is as efficient as possible, and leaks are minimised. Such management programmes create financial transparency amongst all stakeholders and provide useful long-term planning for larger infrastructure changes ([US EPA](https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-water-infrastructure/things-local-officials-should-do-sustainable-water-infrastructure)).

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💧  Improving water infrastructure efficiency

The water consumed by households must be of a sufficiently good quality to safely drink, bathe and clean with. However, the quality of water required for each of these needs differs significantly. For example, potable or drinking water must be of a higher quality than the water used to flush a toilet or irrigate a garden (so called “greywater”).  It is possible to significantly reduce our overall water consumption by using and reusing non-potable water sources for lower quality purposes—a strategy particularly relevant for drought-stressed cities.

Greywater reuse systems can be applied at household level to collect water from showers and baths, filter and treat it, and then recirculate it to flush toilets or irrigate gardens. Alternatively, a sports centre can collect greywater from showers and hand basins and process it to be used to irrigate an adjacent sports field or community garden.

Cities can encourage the uptake of greywater reuse systems through awareness campaigns, regulations and financial incentives. Awareness campaigns can show the potential environmental and financial benefits of installing greywater systems. Regulations can be in the form of building codes and requirements in which the installation of a grey water reuse system is compulsory, unless practically infeasible. Financial incentives are usually in the form of rebates for installing such a system. Municipal governments can also lead by example and procure such greywater reuse systems in municipal or city-run buildings, such as municipal offices or schools. This can not only improve the water-efficiency of such buildings, but can also showcase the benefits of the systems, and support local market demand.



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💧  Grey-water reuse systems

Much of the wastewater generated by homes, industries, and businesses must be treated before it is released back into the environment. This is because it contains nutrients and other substances that can be harmful to the environment and human health, as well as to aquatic fauna and flora. These nutrients can cause oxygen depletion in water bodies, beach closures and contamination of drinking water. However, if the nutrients are recovered, they can often be put to beneficial use. 

For instance, biorefineries use wastewater as a source of raw materials, generating products of value from waste nutrients and simultaneously producing clean water for reuse or discharge. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus can be converted into environmentally friendly fertilisers, and used for ecological restoration and agricultural purposes. Biosolids from wastewater can be used as fuel for heating, replacing fossil fuels and reducing the amount of biosolids sent to landfill. 

Local governments have an important role to play in providing pipes, water management and treatment infrastructure to ensure that water is safely handled. They can also play a role in monitoring privately run facilities to ensure compliance with environmental performance standards. Finally, cities can connect stakeholders to match supply and demand for non-potable water, energy and nutrients recovered from wastewater.


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💧  Recovery of nutrients and chemicals from wastewater and sludge

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

Impacts

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Industries

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

Policy Instruments

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

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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

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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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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Also available in: Español Editor’s Note: Efficiently investing in wastewater and other sanitation infrastructure is crucial to achieve public health benefits, improve the environment, and enhance quality of life. Safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are an essential part of preventing disease and protecting human health during infectious disease outbreaks, including the current COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more: www.worldbank.org/wastetoresource The Bogotá River is located in the Cundinamarca Department of Colombia. It starts at an elevation of 3,400 meters in Villa Pinzon Municipality, and flows 380 km before joining the Magdalena River at an elevation of 280 meters in Girardot Municipality. The Basin covers 6,000 km2 and includes 45 municipalities and the Bogotá Capital District. The Basin provides hydropower generation and water for irrigation in the upper basin and receives wastewater discharges from nearly 10 million people in the lower basin. In this area, 26 percent of Colombia’s total economic activity is generated. The Bogotá River (Río Bogotá) used to play an important role, back in the 40s, in providing the residents of Colombia’s largest city with essential water supply and sanitation (WSS) services. But since 1950s, wastewater discharges from domestic and industrial sources, as well as from urban runoff and the dumping of solid waste, severely polluted the river over the years. As a result, the river stopped being used as a source of water supply for the population of Bogotá and turned into a source of pollution, health issues and environmental degradation. Moreover, sediment contamination and torrential rains contributed to massive floods in 2010-2011 that caused displacements, increased environmental pollution and casualties. Improving the sustainability, quality and resilience of wastewater services in Bogota is essential to ensure that the city’s inhabitants can rely on resources stemming from wastewater treatment for years to come. Though this is no small feat, designing and implementing an array of impactful initiatives that build on circular economy principles can help set the stage and make this goal more attainable. Some of these principles have been incorporated in the cleanup process of the Rio Bogota. Principle one: river basin planning As a first step, the Government of Colombia through the Corporacion Autonoma Regional Regional de Cundinamarca (CAR) – the regulatory authority in the region – and with technical support from the World Bank, led the development of a basin management plan focused on flood control, wastewater management and water quality restoration. Developing the basin management plan, however, was especially complex given the multifaceted approach that had to be undertaken and the different stakeholders that make decisions related to water use in the basin. Numerous steps were incorporated to ensure that it was comprehensive and left no stone unturned. These steps include building partnerships, characterizing the watershed, defining management goals, formulating potential solutions, developing and implementing a watershed and M&E plans. Plenty of management alternatives were simulated and finally combined into an investment schedule to attain the river restauration and flood control objectives sought out for the basin. This is where collaboration between the World Bank and various stakeholders in Bogota came most in handy. The World Bank helped finance the Rio Bogota Megaproject with two concrete items: upgrading the El Salitre wastewater treatment plant and the development of flood control structural and non-structural measures along 68 kilometers of the river.


Bogotá

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Government of Colombia

Corporacion Autonoma Regional de Cundinamarca (CAR)

Bogotá Water and Sewage Agency 

Municipality of Bogotá

<p>The Bogotá river has been severely contaminated due to uncontrolled wastewater discharges from domestic, industrial sources, urban runoff and illegal dumping of solid waste. Most of the initiatives so far have thus been focusing on valuing waste streams resulting from water treatment processes and ecosystem regeneration.</p>

Smarter wastewater interventions through circular economy principles in Bogotá

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

Productivity

<p>The national strategy for the circular economy (also known as ENEC) was formulated in 2019, with the aim of creating a new model of economic development in the country; that includes the valorization of resources, optimizing efficiency in the production and consumption of materials, the correct use of resources such as water and energy, reduce the carbon footprint, increasing the benefits for new business models, the promotion of industrial symbiosis, and the consolidation of sustainable cities.</p>