Business case

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

Increase Awareness

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

Jobs

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

Engage with the local community where facilities or offices are located

Community collaboration

Collection programmes that process products and parts for reuse or recycling within the same industry

Closed loop collection

Impacts

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Industries

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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

   26 June 2019 - Wits University  A Johannesburg-based pilot will formally integrate reclaimers (waste pickers) into the recycling economy of South Africa for the important service they provide. On World Environment Day, observed on 5 June 2019, Unilever South Africa, the African Reclaimer Organisation (ARO) in partnership with  Wits University announced their upcoming pilot project: ‘Building an inclusive circular economy: recycling with reclaimers. The Johannesburg-based pilot will formally integrate reclaimers – also known as waste pickers – for the important service they provide and is designed to demonstrate the benefits reclaimers provide with their separation at source services.
The recycling rates across South Africa are on the rise, due to the great focus on recycling by government, industry, reclaimers, corporates and conscious consumers. The latest statistics released by the national industry body PET Recycling Company (PETCO), have shown that, “98 649 tonnes of post-consumer PET plastic bottles were recycled in 2018 alone (a 6% increase from 2017), saving 612 000 cubic metres of landfill space and lessening the country’s carbon emissions footprint by 148 000 tonnes. An average of 6.2 million PET plastic bottles were collected for recycling across South Africa every day last year, creating 68,000 income-generating opportunities for small and micro-collectors.”

The announcement was made at a panel discussion which key stakeholders including the Department of Environmental Affairs, the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan, the recycling industry (Packaging SA) as well as project partner representation from consumer goods company (Unilever South Africa), ARO, WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment, Globalizing and Organizing) and Wits. Hosted by ARO members (reclaimers), the discussion explored the impact reclaimer integration could have on South Africa’s ‘circular economy’, a restorative and regenerative model where materials constantly flow around a ‘closed loop’ system, rather than being used once and then discarded.
The panelists reviewed the industry wins and also discussed a major gap within the South African circular economy – which is the need to recognise, support and value the 60,000 – 90,000 informal reclaimers who sift through waste to salvage the recyclable materials that many throw away. These reclaimers earn their livelihood by collecting and selling recyclable material to recycling companies and together, collect approximately 80-90% of postconsumer paper and packaging collected in South Africa for recycling companies to reuse and have extended the life of landfills and saved municipalities up to R750 million a year in landfill airspace.
Dr Melanie Samson, Senior Lecturer in the Wits School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies said that “reclaimers are already central to the recycling economy. Integration isn’t about bringing them in; rather it is about integrating reclaimers into our understanding of the recycling economy.”
Samson says that the pilot project is significant as it is the first time that reclaimers will be paid. “This is the first concrete step to implement the Guideline on Waste Picker Integration for South Africa,” she added.
The core aim of the pilot project, headed up by ARO and due to launch in September 2019, is to work closely with reclaimers and residents in the Brixton and Auckland Park communities to demonstrate that reclaimers can provide an efficient, cost effective separation at source service.  The project will aim to increase collection rates of recyclable material from households and offices, improve the livelihoods for the reclaimers through recognition and compensation for their collection work, as well as overall community behaviour change on waste management and perceptions of reclaimers.
Unilever has collaborated in this pilot because they believe in the long-term opportunities for building a more inclusive circular economy. Luc-Olivier Marquet Executive Vice President of Unilever South Africa said that “the backing and funding of this pilot project forms part of Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) that has ambitions to reduce the company’s environmental impact by half by 2030 (across various areas including Greenhouse gases, water use, waste & packaging as well as sustainable sourcing),” he added that “Unilever has committed to 100% reduction in our single use plastic packaging by 2025, with our flagship brand, Sunlight Dishwashing Liquid, leading the way for this ambition having recently launched their 100% recycled and recyclable bottles.”
Luyanda Hlatshwayo, Reclaimer and Organising Committee Member from ARO, said, “reclaimers work long hours in tough conditions to collect recyclables. But we receive only a small income from the sale of the materials we collect. We believe that if reclaimers are recognised and compensated for our collection work, and if households’ separate recyclables from their waste, we will together achieve higher collection rates of recyclable material as well as improved livelihoods for reclaimers. We hope this project will be the start of a leap forward for reclaimers.”
In addition to funding the reclaimer service fees Unilever and Sunlight will be focused on supporting the reclaimers and ARO in the ongoing need to educate and encourage the pilot project communities to play their part in sustainability practices and to support the project. The long-term benefits and goals for Unilever are to encourage South Africa to recycle and understand the role of reclaimers to help drive the system forward in order to increase recycling while reducing waste to landfills. 

     We are waste reclaimers. We collect, sort, transport and sell materials, saving the state and private industry millions and extending the life of landfills. We perform a vital environmental service, removing thousands of tons of discarded materials every year. We are men and women with families who work hard to make a living. We support our children to fund their schooling, we feed and clothe them and we never collect waste. We collect that which is of value but is discarded by many in society. We look forward to meeting residents, industry and government and to make our struggles and contributions to society known. With ARO we are no longer in the shadows and we look forward to meeting you.        We want South Africa to increase its recycling rates and for informal recyclers to be paid for the free labour they provide, which is the foundation of the recycling economy worth hundreds of millions of rands. We also want to work with residents to make ourselves known as people who share your streets and also want to remove the stigma that our work brings.    Click Here To Donate Or Contact Us To Get Involved   Support our cause by following our social media pages & inviting your friends to follow our social platforms so we can spread awareness on the reclaimer’s valuable role.   We are passionate about our cause, and teaching our youth about recycling is vital for a greener future. Make a booking with us to come do a talk at your local school.   Please show your support for our valuable reclaimers by donating to the Back-A-Buddy campaign set up to support reclaimers during the COVID-19 Lockdown.                                

South Africa

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Johannesburg

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Unilever 

City of Johannesburg

African Reclaimers Organisation

Waste pickers will be officially integrated into South Africa's recycling economy as part of a pilot project called the African Reclaimers Organisation (ARO), based in Johannesburg. The program aims to enhance the collection of recyclable materials from homes and offices, boost reclaimers' livelihoods by reimbursing them for their work and change public attitudes toward waste management and reclaimers.

Circular Waste Management Initiative in Johannesburg Employing Waste Pickers 

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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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Societal Services

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

Use waste as a resource

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

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

ARO is a membership-based democratic organisation of reclaimers working with reclaimers in residential areas and landfills. We sort, collect and sell recyclable materials. Currently we have a membership of over 5500 reclaimers in and around the City of Johannesburg. We represent and defend the interests of reclaimers, and ensure that they are able to partake fully as members of society in the recycling economy and in looking after the environment. Click Here To Donate Or Contact Us To Get InvolvedSupport our cause by following our social media pages & inviting your friends to follow our social platforms so we can spread awareness on the reclaimer’s valuable role.We are passionate about our cause, and teaching our youth about recycling is vital for a greener future. Make a booking with us to come do a talk at your local school.Please show your support for our valuable reclaimers by donating to the Back-A-Buddy campaign set up to support reclaimers during the COVID-19 Lockdown.

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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Africa Global Recycling (AGR) is a waste recycling company that transforms waste into new resources. The company sorts and recycles various types of waste, like paper, metal, plastic and WEEE. AGR converts the waste into secondary raw materials and sells these to their clients to make new products. Also, the company offers consulting services to support their customers in the implementation of sustainable development approaches

Africa Global Recycling (AGR) - Integrated recycling service

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

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

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ARO is a membership-based association of waste pickers in residential areas and landfill. They sort, collect and sell recyclable materials. The organisation represent and defend the interests of their members, and ensure that they are able to participate as members of society in the recycling economy and in environmental protection. The organisation runs outreach programmes to educate the youth about recycling and its benefits.