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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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Policy case

 Fiscal Frameworks

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

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

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Reuse

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

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

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

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

Save Water (SDG6)

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

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

Water and Sewage

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

Ecological Impact

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

Incentivise

Governments

Includes a variety of actions (e.g. campaigns, information sharing, public events) that encourage city residents and visitors to build sustainable practices into their daily lives

Enable sustainable lifestyles

Communities

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

Rethink the business model

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

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

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

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Rethink

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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Guelph

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City of Guelph

The Canadian city of Guelph has long been considered a leader in water sustainability and conservation in Canada. With climate change, a constrained supply of groundwater as their primary drinking water source, and increasing provincial population growth, it became necessary for the city to further increase water efficiency. The city responded by introducing rebates for installation of greywater reuse and rainwater harvesting systems, which reduce demand on the water supply by allowing homes and businesses to use water that would otherwise enter sewage or stormwater systems.

Guelph offers rebates for greywater reuse and rainwater harvesting

Producing transportation equipment for the movement of goods and people by air, rail, sea, and land, including airplanes, spacecraft and military equipment, ships, boats, rail locomotives and rolling stock, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, and related equipment, as well as repair services for such equipment

Transportation Equipment

Producing and providing leisure and personal products and services for consumers, such as cleaning products, sports equipment and toys, personal and beauty care products, as well as domestic and personal services such as caretaking, cleaning, hairdressing and other beauty treatment, funeral and related activities

Personal Products and Services

The demand for transport is rising globally—but current modes are heavily material- and fossil-fuels-intensive. Emissions from the transport system could grow by 60% by 2050, and transport is the number-one user of oil worldwide. GHG emissions result not only in warming global temperatures, but also in ocean acidification, which has severe consequences for entire ecosystems and further destabilises our climate. The transport system also drives land-use change and biodiversity loss through the development of infrastructure—also releasing harmful pollutants into the ocean. Key circular solutions:

- Embrace and enable car-free lifestyles
- Invest in high-quality public transport
- Rethink unnecessary air travel
- Electrify remaining vehicles

🚌 Mobility Systems

Implement innovation programmes

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

 
 Guelph’s ReCycle bike reuse programFor more information Drop off your old bike at Guelph’s Waste Resource Innovation Centre for free.
Donations must be in working condition.
If you can’t drop it off, you can order a large item pickup for your bike and we will add it to our inventory.
We do not issue tax receipts for donations.
You can also put unwanted bikes at the curb during Guelph’s Goods Exchange Weekends
Pickup a bike for free
Guelph residents can take up to two bikes per year from the centre.
Bicycles are available all year-round. Sizes and styles vary based on donations.
There is no fee, but we ask you to sign a waiver stating that you won’t sell the bike, and that the City is not responsible for any future repairs.
If you arrive on foot, please come to the administration office. Do not walk through the gates.
For bikes that don’t work
Non-profit organizations interested in working with us to repair or refurbish unusable bikes can contact us.
Drop your bike off and we’ll recycle the metal parts.
For more information
Solid Waste Resources
519-767-0598
TTY: 519-826-9771
[email protected]

 A city program that reuses and recycles unwanted bicycles is giving out over 400 free bikes a year. Those looking for a new, used set of wheels should consider checking out the City of Guelph’s ReCycle Bike Reuse Program. Through the ReCycle Bike Reuse Program, residents can either donate a working bike, or pick up a bike for free at the Waste Resource Innovation Centre. Being open year-round, the program aims to reduce waste and extend the life of the bikes. “We’re really pleased to offer this service to the city for no cost and hope that people will consider participating," said Heather Yates, supervisor of environmental programs at the City of Guelph. “We’re always so thrilled that people would consider donating their bike as opposed to looking to waste that." Created by a city staff member in 2012, Yates explains the program has seen between 400 to 500 donated bikes go to residents each year. “It’s an ongoing and pretty successful program that takes care of itself in a number of ways,” she said. The program was put on hold when the pandemic hit in 2020, but has since reopened. Yates estimates around 400 bikes were donated and given out in 2020 compared to 487 bikes in 2019. “If we’re thinking about 2019 compared to 2020, we’re kind of on par based on what’s available,” said Yates. With a demand for bikes rising across Canada, Yates mentions people in need of transit in Guelph always benefited from using this type of program. “As our understanding of COVID has changed, people are feeling more comfortable again with reused goods,” she said, “Even before the pandemic, we’ve always had more people looking for bikes than the donation of bikes that were available on site." “For Guelph, those donated bikes make a difference to some people, even for just regular transportation." Yates adds the community has been very generous in contributing to the program over the years. Residents can pick up a bike anytime throughout the year. “I was at the public drop-off a few weeks ago and there were three or four bikes there that people were ... just taking turns, taking a look at what is there," she said. When picking up a free bike from the program, Yates explains the city will need people to sign a waiver prior to the exchange to confirm they won't sell the bike. Residents who are getting rid of an old bike can drop it off for free at the Waste Resource Innovation Centre. Those who are not able to drop off an old bike can arrange for a large item pick-up with the city on its website. "We're just trying to facilitate a goods exchange in a meaningful way that can help the community," said Yates. While the City of Guelph is only accepting working bikes for the program, residents are still encouraged to bring in broken bikes. The city will either recycle the metal parts of these bikes, or team up with a local non-profit to fix them. “To repair and refurbish some of the unusable bikes that might come through these streams as well, especially knowing the demand right now,” she said. 

Guelph, Canada, has a created the ReCycle bike reuse program. Residents can bring old bikes (in working condition) to the city's Waste Resource Innovation Center; every Guelph resident is entitled to take two bikes per year from the center free of charge. [1] As of May 2021, while the City of Guelph only accepts working bikes for the programme, residents are still encouraged to bring in broken bikes, as the city has plans to either recycle the metal parts of these bikes or team up with a local non-profit to fix them. [2]

"ReCycle": Bike refurbishment in Guelph 

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

Biodiversity

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

Agriculture

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

Infrastructure

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

Use waste as a resource

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

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

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

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

Manage

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

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

Businesses

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

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)

Lystek Inc.

Guelph (Canada) is investing in innovation and partnering with businesses to convert organic waste, including crop by-products and used cooking oil, into valuable products for use on local farms and in the broader bio-economy. Moreover, together with Lystek Inc., the City converts biosolids generated each year by the its tertiary wastewater treatment facility and turns them into a commercially viable liquid organic fertiliser to be used by farms in the surrounding area of the wastewater treatment facility.