Article / Report

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 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

Direct and indirect effects that increase revenues or the potential for new revenues, for example from new products, customer segments, partnerships or business models

Revenue Potential

Scalability

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

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Use waste as a resource

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

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

Utilise bio-based, reusable, non-toxic and non-critical materials

Regenerative materials

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within the same industry

Valorise waste streams - closed loop

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

Engage with the local community where facilities or offices are located

Community collaboration

Enacting measures that optimise material use such as 3D printing, etc.

Material efficiency

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within the same industry

Closed loop upcycling

Designing products so they produce as little waste as possible during production

Design for minimal waste

Working together with the community and engaging them in the company operations

Joint product development

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

Inform

Encourage workplace training

Extra-curricular education

Implement innovation programmes

'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

Metrics and indicators to measure progress

 Convene Towards Action

Advocate for circular change

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

Incentivise

 Direct Financial Support

Incubator and investment programmes

Public-civil partnerships

Awareness raising events

Economic Frameworks

Information campaigns

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

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

Manufactured goods, such as vehicles, textiles, appliances and equipment and their associated production processes are big employers but:
- production processes often rely on fossil fuels and currently drive one-third of the overshoot on the climate change planetary boundary due to its GHG production, 
- material- and energy-intensive industrial activities are linked to deforestation and drive 15% on both the land use and freshwater planetary boundaries, 
- manufacturing goods results in substantial amounts of hazardous industrial waste and leaks chemicals into the environment.

Here, circular solutions must tackle the full value chain, but material demand must also shrink: this will necessitate a societal shift to favouring sufficiency over excess and reducing consumption to sustainable levels. Our four key solutions for manufactured goods are:
- Mainstream industrial symbiosis and efficiency : Achieve process improvements, scrap diversion and reduction in yield losses through greater industrial symbiosis and efficiency. Foster tighter collaboration within and between industries to deliver powerful material and emissions savings.
- Extend the lifetime of machinery, equipment, and goods: Maximise the lifetime of goods that serve our daily needs to bring a number of environmental benefits. 
- Buy what's needed: Reduce the number of purchases of common electronic goods, appliances, and other equipment to sufficiency levels. 
- Eschew fast fashion in favour of sustainable textiles: Drastically reduce new clothing purchases. All used clothing should go on to be repaired, reused or, if needed, recycled appropriately. Prioritise natural and local textile manufacturing, as well as higher-quality and more durable garments. 




👕📱 Consumer Goods

Businesses

Communities

Mixed household waste - consisting of textiles, electronics, organic and other consumer goods - can be contaminated and difficult to separate, and hence limit the  recovery of materials and value.

Source separation reduces the upstream sorting cost and ensures that downstream recyclers receive clean feedstock, thus improving their ability to capture the value from post-consumer material streams. Source separation systems can take a variety of forms, such as providing a distributed network of collection points throughout a city for residents to drop off various types of waste materials. The most successful examples of this include: collection of electronics, plastics, waste oil, fabrics, metals, bulky goods, paper, cardboard, batteries, amongst others.

Local governments can support the implementation of the solution by developing and providing the necessary infrastructure throughout the city or engage in public-private partnerships to provide source separation systems. What is more, information campaigns can help to inform residents on which types of consumer goods can be recovered, and the most effective means of disposal. 


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👕📱  Source separation and collection systems for consumer goods 

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

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

Archetypes

CE Materials

Impacts

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Industries

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Materials

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

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

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

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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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The Scottish Government has launched a new Manufacturing Plan, which contains £70 million new funding for manufacturing and the circular economy. Bespoke support and a new Centre of Excellence to help Scotland’s manufacturers innovate and expand have been announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Supported by £70 million of investment, a new strategy for manufacturing - A Manufacturing Future for Scotland - outlines how the government will work with industry and with higher and further education institutions to stimulate innovation, improve productivity and increase investment in Scottish manufacturing in order that it can better compete globally. The funding, includes £30 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and will enable companies to capture new opportunities presented by a move to a more circular economy. The ERDF allocation is part of a targeted approach investing European funding to develop a resource-efficient, greener and more competitive economy in Scotland. This includes a Circular Economy Investment Fund to help manufacturers develop innovative technologies, business models and infrastructure, from the proof of concept stage through to implementation. It will also introduce a new Circular Economy Service, offering development support to businesses seeking to redesign their processes and products. The Circular Economy Investment Fund and Service, to be delivered by Zero Waste Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, will help small to medium-sized businesses and other organisations, develop innovative technologies, business models and infrastructure – from proof of concept stage through to implementation. It will also offer development support to businesses seeking to redesign their processes and products, and implement resource efficiency measures.     Created By:       

India

Philippines

Vietnam

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The Incubation Network sources, supports and scales innovative solutions that tackle plastic pollution. Together with their diverse network of key partners, they work to optimize land-based plastic waste management, and advance a circular economy in South and Southeast Asia.

The network is an initiative by The Circulate Initiative and SecondMuse.

The Incubation Network

The Incubation Network launched the Equality in Plastics Circularity program that will support a cohort of solutions to advance gender equality within plastic waste management and recycling systems.8 projects located in India, Philippines, and Vietnam were selected, and US$220,000+ in financial assistance were provided across all projects.

Gender Equality in Plastics Circularity program in Asia

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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>

Circular Cities

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Business case

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Using waste materials that have been processed and recycled to produce new products within the same industry

Using closed loop recycled materials

Public-private partnerships

   Kashtakari Panchayat was registered in 2010 primarily to support waste pickers and their families and their collectives. The support ranges from direct financial assistance to indirect support in the form of training, facilitation and research. KP would best be described as a bridge, connecting people to each other, connecting ideas to people and people to resources to implement those ideas. It facilitates and celebrates the interaction between one section of humanity and another, to create a better world for all. Our Vision KP envisions a world that is non discriminatory and socially just, economically equitable, environmentally sustainable, culturally plural, democratic, where diversity is valued and there is peace and harmony. The main objects of KP: Provide training and technical support to waste pickers and organizations and other informal workersSocially and educationally help workers in the informal economy, especially womenAdvocate for the rights of workers in the informal economyImprove livelihood opportunities for the working poorWork for the welfare of workers in the informal economy and their familiesTrain and help waste pickers for sustainable waste management and recyclingIncrease visibility of workers in the informal economy through research and publicationCommission and organize workshops, seminars, training programmes and coursesUndertake activities and programmes that further the objects of the organisation  

Pune

Kashtakari Panchayat

The Incubation Network is supporting a non-profit organization based in Pune, India, to achieve the overall objective of advancing gender equality within plastic waste management and recycling systems by way of giving financial assistance, training, and establishment of new supply chains for value-added products from plastic waste.

Supporting female waste pickers in India

EcoSattva Environmental Solutions is a women-led social enterprise based in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, that provides services in solid waste management, green cover management, and waste water management. Their project seeks to provide services that reduce leakage and also create income-generating and otherwise empowering pathways for women. Ecosattva Environmental Solutions is also a cohort participant of The Incubation Network’s Leakage and Livelihoods program.The program pilots a business, led by women waste pickers, to provide bulk waste management, zero waste events, and event waste management services and it tests the markets in Aurangabad, Alibag, and Rajgurunagar, and select one market. It also trains women waste pickers in: driving, circular economy, zero waste &amp; waste reduction methods, financial &amp; business management, communication skills, and forward linkages. The Incubation Network is establishing a technical assistance partnership between EcoSattva and a locally-based NGO to address and mitigate any potential unintended consequences, such as the risk of gender-based violence.

Women-led social enterprise providing services in waste management in India

A New Delhi-based non-profit organization, Chintan Environmental Research &amp; Action Group works to reduce waste and consumption, collect and manage solid and electronic waste, and advocate around materials, waste, and consumption, as well as for waste pickers. By adopting an action research approach, their project aims to identify and achieve conditions for better social, economic, and political integration of women waste pickers.The program establishes four decentralized plastic waste collection facilities on land owned by municipality or residents’ associations, with two being led by women waste pickers and the other two being led by men waste pickers. It identifies the optimal working conditions for women waste pickers to manage plastic waste and the differences in strategies deployed by men and women in running waste collection facilities. It conducts policy advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns on gender inequality in local waste management and recycling systems with with policymakers, municipalities, and waste pickers’ organizations. Finally, the project carries out capacity-building training for waste pickers on topics such as material handling, safety, and financial management.

Working for the integratation of women waste pickers in India

Centre for Social Research &amp; Development (CSRD) is a non-governmental organization based in the central region of Vietnam, operating since 2008 to seek justice for vulnerable communities threatened by external change. Their project seeks to socially, economically, and politically integrate women informal waste workers by determining how they might contribute to the implementation of Hue’s ‘Green Cities’ master plan, and presenting those findings to the government.&nbsp;The project conducts research incorporating Feminist Participatory Action Research methods, it maps the waste management and recycling system, and contribution of women informal waste workers in Hue. It also determines the status of women informal waste workers, and their desired reality, and identifies the policy changes necessary to improve social and economic conditions of women informal waste workers&nbsp;

Seeking justice for vulnerable communities in Vietnam

A Vietnamese civil society organization established in 2016, GreenHub focuses on zero waste solutions, plastic waste, marine plastic, sustainable agriculture, and natural conservation. GreenHub’s research and advocacy project aims to integrate women informal waste workers into formal provincial waste management and recycling chains.&nbsp;The project conducts detailed research on the status of women informal waste workers, who account for around 98% of all informal waste workers across the waste supply chain in Tuy Hoa city, Phu Yen province. It maps, assesses and illustrates the specific role of women informal waste workers and how they contribute to recycling value chains, as well as their desires around social, economic, and political inclusion. Finally, it leverages GreenHub’s relationship with local political institutions to seek leadership, integration, financing, or capacity-building opportunities for women informal waste workers, based on the research findings.

Integrating women informal waste workers into formal waste management and recycling chains

A long-established non-profit organization based in Quezon City in the Philippines, WWF-Philippines, supports and develops conservation and sustainability programs to help protect the most biologically significant ecosystems in the Philippines and across Asia. As a partnership between WWF’s No Plastics in Nature Initiative / Plastic Smart Cities program, the University of the Philippines Centre for Women and Gender Studies, and the center’s special arm, the Angat Bayi Women’s Political Empowerment Program, this research and advocacy project seeks to understand women’s perceptions and attitudes towards the Philippines’ waste problem, so that future interventions can tackle root causes.The project conducts in-depth research and policy advocacy, utilizes research findings to design policy interventions with women politicians who are fellows of Angat Bayi, and monitors policy interventions, and publishes best practices.

Understanding women’s perceptions and attitudes towards the Philippines’ waste problem

A not-for-profit non-governmental organization established in 1994 that acts as the caretaker for Danjugan Island in the Negros Occidental province, the Philippine Reef &amp; Rainforest Conservation Foundation, Inc (PRRCFI), runs several environmental programs that focus on biodiversity conservation, nature tourism, science &amp; research, environmental education, solid waste management, and zero-waste initiatives. As part of their homegrown Wala Usik (“do not waste anything”) movement, the PRRCFI will be conducting a project to address gender and human rights issues for women informal waste workers.The project with the Incubation Network&nbsp;conducts research, consultation, and prototype innovations to support women informal waste workers to participate in (and benefit from) a circular economy. It also produces a localized version of a three-stage Design Thinking Framework: 1) Empathize and Define 2) Ideate, Prototype, and Test 3) Implement, Communicate &amp; Measure. Finally, it develops a ‘Local Government Unit Guide for Gender-Responsive Waste Management and Circular Economy.

Addressing gender and human rights issues for women informal waste workers

Pure Oceans is a marine conservation social enterprise based in the Philippines, working with below-the-line island and coastal communities in the Verde Island Passage of the Coral Triangle, to design waste management systems and divert coastal plastic waste into the circular economy. Their project seeks to combat ocean plastic pollution in poor communities through the inclusion of women as primary agents of change.Specifically, the project with The Incubation Networl pilots two new business models, in three island/coastal locations: 1) Cloth diaper subscription service 2) Refillable home/lifestyle products sold door-to-door, as an alternative to sachets. It also provides additional income for sales agents, who will be disadvantaged mothers receiving conditional cash transfers from the government to keep their children in school and it promotes behavioral changes in local communities on plastic use. It also works closely with the volunteers who manage marine protection and the locations’ material recovery facilities and it carries out a market assessment on the demand for compostable diapers.