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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

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

Increase Awareness

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)

Societal Services

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

Provide guidance or professional training to educate employees to use circular economy principles

Training on the circular economy

'Inform' increases the overall levels of awareness and builds the necessary skills and knowledge around the circular economy to foster long-term change.

Inform

Integrate principles of circularity into primary, secondary and tertiary curriculum and conduct workplace trainings

 Education and Curriculum

Circular Economy in school programmes

Raise awareness and run information campaigns about  strategies for and impacts of the circular economy in different contexts.

Communication and awareness

Information campaigns

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

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

Incorporate extended use in project planning phases; create or update city policies to allow for extended use.


Design and regulate for separation and recovery

Ensure that household and business waste is collected and appropriately sorted (by type, label, etc.) to allow for maximum recovery of value.


Collect and sort waste to facilitate recovery

Managing municipal food wastes at scale may require complex and costly infrastructures to collect, transport and process these residual materials. Large-scale composting facilities are challenging to place and zone appropriately in space-scarce cities.

Community-based initiatives, for example, community composting, can provide a localised solution to managing urban food wastes. Community composting initiatives are small(er)-scale solutions that are distributed throughout the city, located close to the sources of food waste, reducing the need for complex logistics and collection systems. Community composting schemes can take a variety of forms, for example, in-vessel composting (IVC), as well as vermicomposting (which utilises insects to break down organic materials). Community composting initiatives can generate valuable by-products for use in (urban) agriculture, in gardens and in parks, as well as support community building. 

Local governments can support the development and implementation of community composting schemes through the provision of equipment and infrastructure, for example,  composting boxes. The formation of public-civic partnerships can help formulate the relationships and validate the valuable role such activities can play in the management of organic waste streams. Awareness raising can be facilitated through collaboration with schools. 


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🍏  Community composting

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

Governments

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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 Supported by the LIFE Programme of the European Union. This website does not necessarily reflect the views of
the donors. 

                   trasmettiamo conoscenza in modo appassionato e in sintonia con le esigenze ed i programmi formativi della scuola         I nostri progetti non sono “calati” dall’alto ma vengono formulati in collaborazione ed in sinergia con gli Insegnanti coinvolti, privilegiando l’interazione con le attività didattiche ordinarie.  In questo modo definiamo con precisione gli argomenti da sviluppare, lasciando ampio margine di gestione in proprio degli argomenti di progetto al corpo docente.
Le nostre proposte includono sempre un’attività di aggiornamento e di formazione degli insegnati, per arricchire le conoscenze dei docenti e dare loro le competenze ed i materiali per sviluppare anche autonomamente percorsi didattici su diverse tematiche. Le nostre proposte focalizzano su tre tematiche principali:                          Lavorariamo trasversalmente con le diverse classi ed età degli alunni, cercando di limitare gli interventi dei ns. esperti in classe per lasciare ampio spazio al ruole dei docenti ordinari.
I nostri progetti prevedono sia momenti di aula (didattica convenzionale) che attività esperenziali (gioco, bricolage) e attività sul territorio in cui è inserita la scuola.                                                                    Gli obbiettivi e le finalità del progetto realizzato nell’A.S. 2016/2017 sono:

comprendere il problema dei rifiuti;
rendere i bambini consapevoli dell’importanza del rispetto del proprio quartiere, una terra condivisa;
creare un contesto autentico e motivante a scuola;
creare un processo di interazione/condivisione anche con le famiglie;
lavorare a scuola in modo interdisciplinare, aumentando la collaborazione tra gli insegnanti

Altereko ha curato la stesura del progetto didattico con le insegnanti, realizzato un seminario di orientamento e formazione iniziale e svolto diversi interventi mirati con e nelle classi. Dopo il primo anno, il tema dell’economia circolare e dell’ambiente è entrato a fare parte stabilmente nel programma didattico della Scuola e negli anni successivi sono stati svolti

laboratori sul vermicompostaggio ed il funzionamento del suolo
un esprienze di realizzazione di un orto scolastico didattico

Il progetto è stato realizzato nell’A.S. 2016/2017 e ha coinvolto tutte le classi della Scuola.         Marco Ricci è l’autore principale del Manuale edito da CCAC (Climate & Clean Air Coalition) l’Agenzia delle Nazioni Unite che promuove la riduzione dei gas clima alteranti attraverso una migliore gestione dei rifiuti organici.
Il Manuale è edito in Portoghese ed Inglese e funge da documento guida per gli insegnanti che vogliono svolgere un progetto di compostaggio domestico nella propria scuola.
Il Manuale è stato adottato dalla Città di San Paolo (Brasile) nell’ambito della strategia di riduzione degli scarti organici.
Consultalo qui                CF e PIVA: 04309340232
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Cookie policy -  Stato attuale: AccettatoStato attuale: Negato         via Boccioni n°2, 37131 Verona, Italy           it.linkedin.com/in/riccieco           

      A handbook for schools on waste management focused on the organic fraction which aims to:  Emphasize the important role that schools play as a waste generator as well as an educational agent sensitizing the future generations on solid waste management; demonstrate the potential for reduction of waste and GHG emissions from schools through source separation, reuse, and recycling of organic waste. Empower teachers and school directors by providing technical knowledge on waste and particularly on organic waste management: characteristics, treatment techniques, challenges, and benefits; Present cases of schools in Sao Paulo that have been successful in managing  the organic fraction of their waste; Encourage schools that do not yet take actions to start activities regarding managing waste particularly the organic fraction; Spread waste management education wide across schools in Sao Paulo and eventually in others countries by providing a handbook in a comprehensive approach
 The target audience of the Handbook is teachers who intend to introduce the topic of recycling organics by means of composting in schools, but also to improve the separation of quality dry recyclables. It provides a general overview about the opportunities and possibilities to teach about composting, practical information about how to sort organic waste in schools and how to manage the composting process with children between 3 and 14 years old. The Handbook is also available in Portuguese.   

      By properly disposing of organic waste, São Paulo’s 1,500 municipal schools can prevent emissions equivalent to 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.            

 
           The City of São Paulo has launched a manual designed to encourage schools to separate and recycle organic waste with the aim of reducing both food waste and emissions of greenhouse gases, like methane, from decomposing organic waste. The Handbook for Schools on Organic Waste Management aims to empower teachers and school directors by providing technical knowledge on organic waste management, including: characteristics, treatment techniques, challenges and benefits. It emphasizes the important role schools play in waste generation and in influencing future generations to manage waste properly.   The potential for schools to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions by source separation, reuse, and recycling of organic waste is high. São Paulo’s 1,500 municipal schools serve 245 million meals, generating 30,000 tons of food waste, every year. Green waste from gardening and grounds maintenance adds another 15,000 tons of organic waste annually. If the 45,000 tons of organic waste are composted locally the city can prevent the equivalent of approximately 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere. At the launch Bruno Covas, Vice Mayor of São Paulo, said the project provided multiple benefits for the city including the building of important partnerships, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, better treatment of solid waste, and the creation of more conscious citizens. Mr Covas hopes that the schools initiative will encourage more schools, in São Paulo, across Brazil, and internationally, to properly manage waste. “Global warming is an issue that demands the most attention and care, and the contribution of environmental education in schools is important to prepare the next generation of citizens,” Mr Covas, said. “In schools we not only form new citizens, but create the opportunity for them to take home what they’ve learned and teach others how we can live in society, and think about the natural resources that we have to leave for our children and grandchildren."            

 
 The Vice Mayor of São Paulo, Mr. Bruno Covas, speaking at the launch 
  
   São Paulo’s Municipal Education Secretary, Alexandre Schneider congratulated the schools taking part saying the experience of helping to develop the materials contributed to making the world a better place. "We want to bring this experience to the more than 1,500 municipal schools here in São Paulo,” Mr Schneider said. “It is our role to bring the whole process of vigorous environmental education to work on issues related to the environment and sustainability. We want children to be able to learn English, math, Portuguese, but we also want to form citizens with these values ​​we have in our network, which we need to preserve and carry forward." The publication also features exemplary cases of organic waste management, such as that of EMEI Dona Leopoldina, in Lapa, which has 230 students and generates about 300 kg of organic waste, which is treated and processed into compost to fertilize the local vegetable garden. Mr Gilberto Natalini, São Paulo’s Secretary of Environment said the handbook will be distributed throughout the city and should have a significant result. 
     

 
 Mr. Bruno Covas (3rd from right) Vice Mayor of São Paulo launches the school handbook on organic waste management. 
  
   “Solid waste is one of the many environmental and urban challenges of a city, and organic waste is a priority issue that needs to be addressed because it accounts for half the current volume generated and sent to landfills,” Mr Natalini said. “It is our dream, and I am sure that with the help of all, we will move forward and prevent all this material from going to landfills.” The handbook was developed by the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), a non-governmental and non-profit organization for the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), whose Municipal Solid Waste Initiative works with cities around the world to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants like methane and black carbon from waste.  Its production is part of the CCAC’s technical assistance to the city, which is implemented by ISWA with local coordination by the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies (Associação Brasileira das Empresas de Limpeza Pública e Resíduos Especiais or ABRELPE). 
     

 
 Mr. Alexandre Schneider and Mr. Bruno Covas examine samples of fresh compost and fertiliser produced by schools' compost initiatives 
  
   Mr Carlos Silva Filho, President of ABRELPE, and Vice President of ISWA, said the project has been very interesting and ambitious for a city the size of São Paulo. “The school handbook demonstrates the potential local initiatives can have on climate change by improving organic waste management and composting. The 1,500 municipal schools of São Paulo have the potential to contribute 4% of São Paulo State's 2020 emission reduction target,” Mr Silva Filho said.  “We are very proud of what we have achieved so far and to provide further assistance to São Paulo as part of the CCAC.” The Handbook for Schools on Organic Waste Management was launched on 18th of April 2017 at the Municipal Secretariat of Education, in São Paulo, Brazil, with participation of around 50 representatives from schools and municipal staff. 

             Our Expert Assistance is a no-cost service that connects you to an extensive network of professionals for consultation and advice on a range of short-lived climate pollution issues and policies.   Experts will provide guidance on technological options, mitigation measures (like those carried out by our initiatives), funding opportunities, application of measurement tools, and policy development. Request assistance         

São Paulo

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Municipality of São Paulo

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition is a voluntary partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, scientific institutions and civil society organizations committed to protecting the climate and improving air quality through actions to reduce short-lived climate pollutants.

Climate and Clean Air Coalition

The International Solid Waste Association is an international network of waste professionals and experts from around the world whose mission is “To Promote and Develop Sustainable and Professional Waste Management Worldwide and the transition to a circular economy.”

International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)

Altereko

<p>São Paulo, Brazil, realised a handbook on composting in schools to support local teachers who intend to teach composting practices. Home composting is encouraged by the government of São Paulo as part of the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, which delivered compost bins to houses.&nbsp;</p>