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

Jobs

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Scalability

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

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

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

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)

Reduced use of fossil fuel energy sources and/or increased use of renewable energy

Reduce Energy Consumption

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

Biodiversity

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

Societal Services

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

Providing healthcare services, such as hospitals, medical facilities and patient care services, medical research and clinical trial services, pharmaceuticals and drug development, and genetic engineering services

Healthcare Services

Producing building materials and finished and semi-finished building products for construction

Construction Materials and Products

Extracting resources and minerals from the earth, such as coal, oil, gas, iron, bauxite, sand, clay, etc.

Mining

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

Chemical and Plastic

Refining and processing ores and producing ferrous and non-ferrous metal and glass products, including packaging

Metal and Glass

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

While resources are in-use, maintain, repair and upgrade them to maximise their lifetime and give them a second life through take back strategies when applicable

Stretch the lifetime

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

Use waste as a resource

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

Regenerative materials

Give products and parts another life after their end-of-use

Maximise lifetime of products after use

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

Valorise waste streams - closed loop

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

Activities to clean, decorate, and restore products back to working condition for original or new purposes

Refurbishment, remanufacturing, renovation

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

Closed loop collection

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

Inform

Data, knowledge & information sharing

Increase standardised data collection

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

Manage

Infrastructure

Develop infrastructure to support sustainable lifestyles

'Regulate' changes the rules of the systems to achieve compliance through enforcement. 


Regulate

 Regulation

Monitoring & enforcement

Legislation

Bans

Review and update regulation

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

Incentivise

 Fiscal Frameworks

Charges and tariffs

Fines

Tax breaks

Subsidies

Asset Management

Circular use of public-owned assets (land, buildings and equipment)

Maintenance to extend useful life

Awareness raising events

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

Performance standards

Technology standards

Labelling

Information campaigns

Do better with less by using and supporting infrastructure, processes and products that are designed to minimize material, water and energy use and waste generation from production to end of use


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Reduce

Increase efficiency and promote local economic growth by shortening supply chains and connecting local producers to consumers.


Support local low-impact circular economies

Cities consume about 75% of global energy and emit between 50% and 60% of global greenhouse gases (UN-Habitat). To reduce the negative impact of their energy consumption, cities need to shift away from fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy sources. Such a shift will help cities work towards their climate change mitigation and adaptation action plans. Renewable energy technologies such as wind, water, solar, and geothermal can also help improve access to energy in vulnerable and marginalised neighbourhoods through, for example, decentralised, off-grid solutions.

Renewable energy technologies can harvest the energy in nature’s processes, such as wind, and solar radiation and geothermal heat, that can be replenished within a human lifespan. In contrast, fossil fuels are materials that are not replenished within a human lifespan and are combusted for energy, losing the fuel material and resulting in emissions.

Local governments can develop sustainable energy plans, considering different energy resources and requirements, to develop a robust strategy for the development of renewable energy technologies and infrastructure throughout the city. They can also institute specific legislation and tax systems to regulate energy production and consumption, incentivise research and development of cleaner, more efficient technologies. Via Power Purchase Agreements cities can buy renewable energy from green energy providers and fix the price in order to provide security to financial institutions to finance renewable energy infrastructure. Furthermore, increasing awareness and facilitating capacity-building on planning urban sustainable energy projects can help the uptake of clean energy across the city by different stakeholders—from citizens to businesses and institutions. Facilitating collaboration, then, will be crucial, since private companies operate most of the world’s energy systems.


⚡ Energy Systems

The built environment, including housing, commercial buildings, and the necessary infrastructure for mobility, is essential for our livelihoods, but:
- the extraction of minerals used to produce construction materials is responsible for a quarter of global land use change,
- approximately 40% of global GHG emissions can be attributed to buildings’ construction, use and demolition, and
- construction and demolition processes drive nearly one-third of all material consumption. 

Making the built environment more circular must prioritise a heavy reduction in material use—while also closing the loop on materials and bringing secondary and renewable material choices to the fore. Our four key solutions for the built environment are:
- Make the most of what already exists: Make the most of existing materials by reusing, repurposing, upgrading and renovating following circular approaches. Where new builds are needed, use secondary materials and be as efficient as possible with urban planning solutions that follow circular design principles so that buildings can be reused, repurposed, and easily disassembled in the future.
- Be as energy efficient as possible: From the design phase, utilise circular strategies to create material- and energy efficient buildings. Couple these designs with a rollout of clean energy solutions, and prioritise energy-efficient appliances and retrofitting. 
- Utilise secondary materials: Maximise the high-value reuse of buildings and components where possible. Ideally, enable the utilisation of construction and demolition outputs and ensure that as much of it as possible is recycled to avoid the need for virgin materials, such as sand and gravel.
- Prioritise circular materials and approaches: Transition to using renewable wood, timber or cross-laminated timber instead of steel and concrete, or move to other locally available materials. Utilise mainstream modular construction and prioritise lightweight frames and structures to reduce cement and steel use, as well as green roofs where possible.



🏢 Built Environment

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

Governments

Consumer goods are typically fast moving through the economy, meaning they are produced and disposed of in a short space of time. This has led to consumer goods being responsible for significant quantities of avoidable waste generation, often consisting of materials that cannot easily be recycled, and often end up polluting the environment.

A local government can consume less goods in the first place, which allows the waste generated to be reduced significantly, and reduces environmental pollution. Many consumer goods can be made more durable, allowing for multiuse rather than continual procurement of new goods. One such example of ths is reusing uniforms used in some public sectors (e.g. police service), rather than unnecessarily procuring a new set for every new employee.

Local governments can reduce their consumption of consumer goods in their city by creating awareness campaigns about overconsumption and the idea of ‘doing more with less’, where appropriate. Local governments can also directly reduce their consumption by pursuing a green public procurement policy. This is a process in which a local government prioritises the procurement of goods and services with the lowest environmental impact. In many cases this yields the procurement of less goods by purchasing more durable alternatives or reusing existing resources. 



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👕📱 Reduce consumption of new consumer goods by local 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

Policies

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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

 The Circular Rotterdam report, commissioned by the City of Rotterdam and produced by Metabolic in partnership with Circle Economy, Blue City and Spring Associates, was produced to inform the city’s efforts to create 3,500 to 7,000 new jobs and reduce material consumption by 50% by 2030 in the creation of a circular economy.
The report highlighted that construction waste in particular represents not just an environmental problem, but an opportunity: that just as Rotterdam is currently known as a world leader in modern architecture, it could also become renowned for making the most of the waste produced by the city’s heaving construction activity.
According to our sustainability consultant and co-author of the report Pieter van Exter, there are huge potential benefits to harness the city’s construction waste, which in 2015 consisted of 393,783 tonnes of pulverized concrete, bricks, and other materials – the equivalent of 58 Erasmus Bridges.
“With its harbor and strong culture of designers and architects, Rotterdam has a unique opportunity to become truly circular in the coming decades, closing loops on local, regional, national and international levels,” he said.
“But to be truly circular by 2050, we have to start today!”

Metabolic analyzed waste streams from Rotterdam’s construction, food and energy, consumer goods, and healthcare sectors. The waste is not just represented in the raw materials itself, but in the energy and embodied impacts related to the production of the materials: concrete is the largest consumer of energy in the construction sector by mass.
The report found that reducing the city’s 350,000 tons of construction waste is possible by building houses and offices:

in a way that allows for easy disassembly or renovation instead of demolition;
using sturdy, long-life materials;
reusing materials and components in a way that construction and demolition is connected.

The construction industry was just one of four sectors examined by the report, which found that overall, Rotterdam recycles 22% of its solid waste.

Circular opportunities for food and energy streams, consumer goods and healthcare
For the reduction of food waste, the most impactful stream in terms of water and land use, prevention is an important strategy. The city wastes 14% of food compared to the Dutch national average of 12%.
Only a small proportion of organic waste is currently collected separately to produce biogas and compost, but if separate collection is expanded then up to half of current organic waste could be diverted into creation of new products.
In terms of consumer products, currently 30% of the total mass is collected separately and recycled. This could be substantially boosted through redesigning and promoting alternatives that use fewer materials, and the construction of an Upcycle Mall with specialized recycling facilities for different types of waste. The fact that the majority of the consumer goods are produced for a global market outside of the city and country, makes the influence on these streams of the city small.
Packaging materials account for 35% of all current consumer goods waste streams. This could be reduced by up to 40% by switching to packaging-free stores.
Rotterdam’s healthcare sector, one of the most important economic sectors in the municipality, only represents a small part of the city’s overall waste production, but could reduce its impact even further by expanding preventative care to improve health and recovery during hospital visits.
If Rotterdam can achieve its goal of a fully circular economy, the equivalent of 58 Erasmus Bridges’ worth of waste from the construction industry detailed in the report won’t just be a colorful form of measurement, but an indication of just how many big, new projects the city can embark on with all the materials saved from the scrapheap.
Read the full report: English | Dutch
Find out more: Contact Pieter van Exter at [email protected].


                            
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Rotterdam

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Municipality of Rotterdam

Metabolic’s overarching mission is to transition the global economy to a fundamentally sustainable state.

A new economic model is necessary: one that ensures the wellbeing of all people and allows organizations to thrive without transgressing the safe boundaries of the earth’s natural systems.  And we don’t have much time. Metabolic advises governments, businesses, and NGOs on how to adapt to a fast-changing global context, while creating disruptive solutions that can dramatically shift how the economy functions. We crunch data, provide strategies and tools, build pilots, and create new ventures that develop scalable solutions to critical problems. Core to achieving our mission is the transition to an economy that is regenerative and ‘circular’ by design.

Metabolic 

OUR MISSION IS TO ACCELERATE THE PRACTICAL AND SCALABLE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

At Circle Economy, we believe in a visionary future for our planet — one in which we do not have to compromise in order to achieve economic, social, and environmental prosperity. As an impact organisation, we connect and empower a global community to create the conditions for systemic transformation. With nature as our mentor, we work alongside businesses, cities and governments to identify opportunities to make the transition to the circular economy, and provide a powerful combination of practical and scalable solutions to turn these opportunities into reality.
‍
Our mission is to empower a global community of businesses, cities and governments to accelerate the transition to the circular economy through practical and scalable insights and solutions that address humanity’s greatest challenges.

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Circle Economy

BlueCity is where start-ups create new waves, and where corporates can catch the tide. We integrate what’s working, skip what’s not. Based in Rotterdam.

Blue city

Spring Associates is a strategic advisory firm specialised in transition strategies, investor services, and innovation & venturing. We believe that companies who will be future winners need to deliver value at multiple levels – not only to their direct customers, employees and shareholders, but also to the natural environment and to society at large.

Spring Associates

<p>A report released as part of the City of Rotterdam’s ambitious bid to become a fully circular city by 2050 has found that significant environmental, social and economic benefits could be harnessed by implementing the circular economy. The&nbsp;Circular Rotterdam&nbsp;report, commissioned by the City of Rotterdam and produced by Metabolic in partnership with Circle Economy, Blue City and Spring Associates, focusses on four key sectors in the city: agri-food and green flows, construction, consumer goods and healthcare. It was produced to inform the city’s efforts to create 3,500 to 7,000 new jobs and reduce material consumption by 50% by 2030 through the creation of circular economy.</p>