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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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Business case

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

Increase Awareness

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)

Societal Services

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

Waste Management

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

Agriculture

Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities

Transforming waste products into materials and lower value products within other industries

Open loop downcycling

Make collected and sorted recyclables available for use by citizens, small businesses up to large scale industrial processes. 

Use recyclables

Other

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

Inform

Conduct research

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

Manage

Infrastructure

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

Information campaigns

**Harmonize with nature** by promoting infrastructure, production systems and sourcing that allows natural ecosystems to thrive




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Regenerate

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

Prioritize solutions that use the power of functioning ecosystems as infrastructure to provide natural services to benefit society and the environment; consider nature-based replacements for grey infrastructure.

Promote solutions inspired and supported by nature

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

Communities

Impacts

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Industries

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

Policies

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

Nace Sectors

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

Urban Opportunities

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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        wormenhotels   je wordt er vrolijk van   meer weten               blije wormen   vrolijke mensen   nieuwe wormenhotels               ondergrondse wormenhotels   maken impact   doe mee       



In een wormenhotel kunt u afval composteren. Dat is fijn voor het milieu en voor de natuur. Als 'wormenhotelier' verzorgt u samen met een groep buren het wormenhotel in uw straat of buurt.

In Amsterdam staan zo'n 75 wormenhotels, waar wormen compost maken van groente-  fruit- en klein tuinafval. U kunt zelf ook meedoen met een wormenhotel. Op de kaart vindt u alle wormenhotels in de stad met daarbij contactgegevens.
•   Kaart met wormenhotels in Amsterdam
Een wormenhotel brengt de buurt dichter bij elkaar
Alida Landbrug (foto) is hotelier van het wormenhotel vlakbij buurthuis Holendrecht, samen met een aantal buurtbewoners. Zo leerde ze haar buren beter kennen. Alida: “Het is fijn om samen te werken aan een mooiere buurt en straat.”
Ook interessant voor u?
Wilt u graag iets doen voor uw buurt? Alleen of samen met uw buren uw woonomgeving onderhouden of mooier maken? Dat kan! Bijvoorbeeld door het aanleggen van een geveltuin, adoptie van een afvalcontainer of het organiseren van een schoonmaakactie. Kijk voor meer voorbeelden op de pagina Meehelpen aan een groene en schone buurt.
Tips en informatie

Vragen? Neem contact op via wormenhotel@amsterdam.nl. Onze composteermeesters leren u graag alles over het composteren van groente en fruitafval. Zij begeleiden ook het gebruik en het onderhoud van de wormenhotels.
Op wormenhotel.nl is allerlei informatie te vinden over wormenhotels en composteren, en ook het laatste wormennieuws.
Het Compostgilde geeft informatie over composteren. Voor binnen of buiten, voor veel of weinig afval.

Page 2
In een wormenhotel kunt u afval composteren. Dat is fijn voor het milieu en voor de natuur. Als 'wormenhotelier' verzorgt u samen met een groep buren het wormenhotel in uw straat of buurt.

In Amsterdam staan zo'n 75 wormenhotels, waar wormen compost maken van groente-  fruit- en klein tuinafval. U kunt zelf ook meedoen met een wormenhotel. Op de kaart vindt u alle wormenhotels in de stad met daarbij contactgegevens.
•   Kaart met wormenhotels in Amsterdam
Een wormenhotel brengt de buurt dichter bij elkaar
Alida Landbrug (foto) is hotelier van het wormenhotel vlakbij buurthuis Holendrecht, samen met een aantal buurtbewoners. Zo leerde ze haar buren beter kennen. Alida: “Het is fijn om samen te werken aan een mooiere buurt en straat.”
Ook interessant voor u?
Wilt u graag iets doen voor uw buurt? Alleen of samen met uw buren uw woonomgeving onderhouden of mooier maken? Dat kan! Bijvoorbeeld door het aanleggen van een geveltuin, adoptie van een afvalcontainer of het organiseren van een schoonmaakactie. Kijk voor meer voorbeelden op de pagina Meehelpen aan een groene en schone buurt.
Tips en informatie

Vragen? Neem contact op via wormenhotel@amsterdam.nl. Onze composteermeesters leren u graag alles over het composteren van groente en fruitafval. Zij begeleiden ook het gebruik en het onderhoud van de wormenhotels.
Op wormenhotel.nl is allerlei informatie te vinden over wormenhotels en composteren, en ook het laatste wormennieuws.
Het Compostgilde geeft informatie over composteren. Voor binnen of buiten, voor veel of weinig afval.



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Amsterdam

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Municipality of Amsterdam

Wormenhotel

<p>Worm hotels can be a good way for the city of Amsterdam to deal with its biotrash on a decentralised basis. However, their implementation is somewhat hampered by efficiency problems due to the speed of the composting process, and the risk of climate bringing harm to the worms. The Foundation Buurtcompost and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences have developed a solution to this: a better worm hotel. It is situated underground, with the earth shielding the worms from climate, and equipped with a shredded that allows for more effective composting. The collaboration has also sparked a large amount of further research by the AUAS, ranging from the quality of compost to the social effect of neighbourhood worm hotels.</p>