Resources & Publications

Cities and regions hold huge potential for circular disruption. Their secret weapon? Policy! Circle Economy is excited to share 300+ examples of circular policies from over 40+ countries to the Knowledge Hub - the world’s largest open-access case study library of circular initiatives, technologies, and now, policies. By sharing practical examples of circular policies, cities and policymakers throughout the world can share their knowledge and expertise to overcome the barriers towards a circular future. The collection of inspiring cases have been collected in collaboration with ICLEI, and with the support of the Goldschmeding Foundation.

Visit the Knowledge Hub for Cities

Breaking down the barriers to circular knowledge

In 2017, Circle Economy recognised the huge need for a single location that assembles practical knowledge, expertise and example of circular solutions that are proven to work. The solution? The Knowledge Hub - the world’s largest case study database of circular businesses, initiatives - and, now, circular policy is added to that list. The platform provides an open-access platform for cities and policymakers to connect and further share their experience and expertise on circular policy.

Throughout the world, successful circular policies are blooming. Yet, all too often, this knowledge and experiences of these circular policies are held in silos, hidden away. Now, the Knowledge Hub for circular policy aims to break down these walls.

300+ circular cases across 40+ countries

Building upon the policy framework created by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2015, the 300+ circular policies span 25+ policy instruments that are boosting the transition to a circular economy throughout the world; from circular procurement to collaboration platforms; landfill bans to green bonds. To give a taste of some of the innovative circular policies that can be found on the Knowledge Hub, here are three inspiring examples from European cities and regions;

• Flanders' pay-as-you-throw waste collection scheme charges household depending on the quantity of waste they generate;
• The Catalan Eco-Vouchers Programme aims to foster eco-innovative projects and solutions that would help SMEs pursue circular innovation;
• London's FoodSave Scheme has supported the reduction of unavoidable food waste through free waste audits for participating local food restaurants and cafés;

As the recognition of the circular economy continues to grow, globally, so too will the library of circular policies in the Knowledge Hub. Open-access and collaborative, this digital platform will continue to empower and inspire a global community of circular changemakers. We invite cities and policymakers to share their knowledge, experiences and best practices on circular policies to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy.

The Fibersort is a promising technology that can automatically sort post-consumer textiles by fibre type, but its success depends on being able to sell its outputs; these sorted post-consumer textiles. Without a demand for post-consumer textiles, there is no market for the Fibersort.

This report outlines the amount of post-consumer textiles that could potentially be Fibersorted and used as feedstock for textile-to-textile recycling. Recycling technologies often process feedstocks with a specific composition, so quantities of each fibre type are important to consider. It is also important to understand the costs of these post-consumer textiles, however, it must be noted that the prices for these materials may vary greatly - similar to virgin commodities. The report provides an indication.

Processing recycled content brings considerable environmental and social benefits. However, materials are traded throughout the supply chain and can rarely be tracked. In order to make claims on the recycled content of their products, brands and retailers often dependent upon certifications and standards. An overview of the main certification schemes for recycled content is therefore provided.

While the Fibersort project looks to commercialise a technology, it is much more than this. Fibersort has the ability to transform non-rewearable garments into feedstock for textile-to-textile recycling. To do so we must develop recycling technologies, support an industry where brands feel comfortable using post-consumer textiles as raw material to create new garments, and support the market transition through measuring, reporting and monitoring the current conditions for post-consumer textiles. This report is one step towards this goal.

‍

Katowice, Poland, 5 December 2018: Today at COP24 in Poland, The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Circle Economy, in collaboration with Arcadis, released a report describing the changes required for the circular economy to become mainstream in the built environment. The report was developed with ABN AMRO, ArcelorMittal, CRH, DSM, EDGE, Enel, Madaster, Rabobank, Renewi, Saint-Gobain, Bureau SLA, Solvay and Stora Enso.The “Scaling the Circular Built Environment’’ report explains the way leaders in both business and government can help level the playing field for circular business models, which are currently hindered around the world.Key recommendations include:

• Remove key financial, legal, technological and political barriers that prevent companies from adopting circular business models
• Ensure companies are able to access the market equally and plan for long-term investment and innovation
• Accelerate the development of relevant regulations and legislation to support new business models under the circular economy
• For both private and public sector to start collaborating across the value chain and start integrating circular principles in standard purchasing practices.

The circular economy presents a huge potential for global economic growth while accelerating society towards a sustainable future and helping to meet the goals of the Paris agreement to mitigate climate change.Within the built environment the opportunities are evident: this sector consumes over 40% of the world’s yearly extracted resources and it is responsible for a vast environmental footprint that contributes 33% of global carbon emissions.Moving from a linear model of take-make-dispose to a circular model where buildings, facilities and materials enter a longer lifecycle and reuse model, offers enormous economic and environmental advantages.However, this transition is hampered by significant barriers that are slowing down the shift in changing roles and business models that are necessary for the transition.

“This report shows the economic opportunity that circular built environment brings to companies in terms of avoided costs, reduced resource risks, and environmental benefits. Circular materials, products and services must become the new normal in buildings. To achieve this, we need bold leadership from companies and policy-makers who can implement solutions to support and scale the circular economy.” said Maria Mendiluce, Managing Director of Climate, Energy and Circular Economy at WBCSD.“Accelerating the circular built environment can make a considerable contribution to carbon reduction, but it requires a shift in mindset and culture. For this to be effective we need new business models, supported by new valuation methods and standardization, along with new forms of collaboration and co-creation that will help to take the circular economy mainstream. However, companies cannot do this alone. Governments will need to favour circular solutions over business as usual, as this now impedes rapid progress.” Besides that, it is important not to wait and try to make your projects as circular as possible. You already can do a lot, we know out of experience,” said Joost Slooten, Director Sustainability for Arcadis.The built environment has an oversized environmental footprint. “ We urgently need to accelerate the transition to the circular and low carbon built environment. Governments should develop long-term policies that encourage innovations and investments to bring these to scale. Business needs to adopt new valuation methods, new forms of collaboration and digital innovations to improve information transfer along the building value chain.” Said Roy Antink, SVP, International Policy Coordination, Sustainability for Stora Enso.

The circular economy has been estimated as a USD $4.5 trillion opportunity. The paper describes the opportunities, business models and changes that are necessary to leverage this opportunity in the built environment. It also identifies the barriers that are currently hampering the transition and concludes with recommendations to both the public and private sectors on ways to level the playing field and scale the potential of the circular built environment.

A truly circular city requires an inclusive and prosperous job market for all of its citizens. But what is a circular job? Who will be doing this work? And what skills can allow citizens to thrive in a circular economy? Circle Economy presents the report "Circular jobs and skills in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area", the world's first regional deep-dive to explore the character of jobs and skills in the circular economy. The report was produced by Circle Economy and Erasmus University Rotterdam for the City of Amsterdam and Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.

Method update

With the aim of continuous improvement in monitoring jobs in the circular economy, Circle Economy updates its methodology for quantifying circular economy jobs on a yearly basis. Since the publication of this report, the results for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area have been recalculated based on the method update carried out in June 2020.

It follows that the results shown in this report differ slightly from the ones displayed on the online monitor. Please explore the data online via the Circular Jobs Monitor where you can also download the updated data file.

There is an abundance of theoretical knowledge on the advantages of new disruptive emerging technologies such as blockchain, but it is much harder to prove the actual benefits in practice. In the next 3 - 6 months, a consortium made up of Circle Economy, Sustainable Finance Lab, Nederland Circulair!, Rabobank, Bundles, Allen & Overy, ING,ABN Amro, Leystromen and De Lage Landen are bringing together enabling knowledge, technology and experts to test the possibilities of Blockchain for circular pay-per-use models in a Community of Practice. This Community of Practice (CoP) will explore how Blockchain technology can facilitate circular pay-per-use models. The CoP, co-funded by NederlandCirculair!, will pilot Bundles, a circular company that offers pay-per-use washing machines, on a Blockchain platform developed by Rabobank. Access instead of ownership is seen as one of the potential drivers for the transition towards a circular economy. Pay-per-use models are facilitating this shift and are widely seen as an important tool to put a circular economy into practice. In pay-per-use models, customers pay for the use of a product instead of possession. This model creates incentives for products that last, stimulates value chains to work together and places more responsibility on producers for the collection, processing and reuse of products.The challengeHowever, financing pay-per-use businesses is a challenge as the product is not sold, the payback period is longer, creating higher (upfront) capital requirements. In addition, transaction costs for each 'use' of the product are often high due to the high administrative burdens. And as a large number of (chain) partners are involved in the complex material, information and money flows, there is an urgent need to establish a fluent operational payment infrastructure.Bundles is such a circular company that tries to cope with all these challenges. The company offers clean laundry in a 'hybrid use model' in which the user pays 40 cents per wash on top of a fixed monthly fee. Ideally, however, Bundles would offer its customers a greater variety of prices for the use of short, long, cold or warm wash programmes, or the ability to differentiate between sustainable or unsustainable, loyal or flexible users. This way, sustainable use and maintenance of the washing machine can be even further incentivised.The potential solutionTo facilitate this need, Rabobank has set up a platform with the functionality of a virtual currency that allows for micro-payments and smart contracts for pay-per-use models. If this enables 'real-time' micro-payments at low transaction costs, Bundles' circular ambitions can become a reality. Moreover, financing would become easier because payments are automated and more reliable... Follow the challenge virtually on www.circle-lab.com!We also invite other entrepreneurs, financial institutions, blockchain experts, and other interested parties to contribute to this effort on Circle Lab, Circle Economy's open-source platform for cities, businesses, and citizens to learn more about and engage with the circular economy. The contributions collected during the online challenge will bridge insights from the crowd with those of the CoP. If the pilot is successful it could be groundbreaking for Bundles, and therefore for the circular economy. [cta link="https://circle-lab.com/group/25/ideas"]Explore the Challenge[/cta][hr]For more information about the CoP Blockchain for Circular Pay-per-Use: elisa@circle-economy.comFor press inquiries: melanie@circle-economy.com To stay updated: sign-up for our newsletter. [hr]

For most of us at Circle Economy, we are pretty well versed in the insane amounts of "waste" that we are continually throwing "away". When our newest team member, Magnus, joined Circle Economy, we got a chance to revisit the feelings we all had when we first realised the immense mountains of "waste" we generate. The story below is Magnus' recounting of his first experience to a textile collecting/sorting facility.Last week, members of Circle Economy set out to conquer the Netherland’s tallest mountain. That’s right, you’ll be quick to quip, the country isn’t exactly famous for its ‘above sea level’ statistics. Well, quip on friends, we’re not talking about a literal summit. Rather, our mountain was a metaphorical one, the Dutch clothing mountain, and while we did climb on top of the clothes at various points, that wasn’t our initial objective.  

We were taking part in a sorting trial for Circle Economy’s Fibersort project. The Fibersort automatically sorts large volumes of post-consumer garments and finished products by fibre composition so that they can be recycled into new, high-quality textiles. With the end goal of a fully operational and commercialized Fibersort machine, Circle Economy employees joined forces with Worn Again, a chemical recycler and Fibersort partner, to do some initial testing of Fibersorted outputs. While this information will be crucial for the development of the technology, from a personal perspective, the experience of spending time at a textile collecting/sorting centre laid bare the scale of the problem ahead of us in physical terms. It’s often difficult to put the daunting statistics into meaningful terms. The 235,000 tonnes of post-consumer textile “waste” produced annually in the Netherlands is equivalent to 20 times the weight of the Eiffel tower. For those living in NWE, the 13kg of waste we produce individually is the same as throwing away over 90 medium sized t-shirts each year! Seeing that towering mountain of discarded clothes bailed and stacked to the ceiling exposes in concrete terms the relentless waste the clothing industry produces. Book your day out at a local collecting/sorting centre now, to get an insight yourself.

Inside the collecting/sorting centre

Inside the facility, reusable and recyclable materials travel vertically, horizontally, back and forth between different sensors and sorters before they end up neatly packed in cubes. The process is efficient, relentless and endless.Every few hours the break bell rings and the sorters rush off for cups of coffee and 10 minutes of rested legs. The warehouse falls eerily silent. Walking through towards our own lunch, crates and crates of packed clothing tower overhead. Recognition of the scale of the operation underway and the challenge ahead is humbling. It also made us wonder where these mountains of material will end up. We have to turn to those aforementioned statistics to answer that question.

Of those 20 Eiffel towers generated in the Netherlands alone, only 90,000 tonnes are collected annually. With the remaining 62% being incinerated, our current best efforts reprocess just over ⅓ of potential waste available. The Wieland/Smart Fibersorting facility (where Fibersort currently operates) just north of Amsterdam, sorts 200 tonnes of clothing per week. Of that, around half can be reworn but only 5% will be resold within the county, while the rest is exported. The remaining clothes that cannot be reworn would ideally be recycled into new textiles, however, the actuality is that most are downcycled for other industries or incinerated. These statistics highlight many issues. The high export rate raises questions about the merits of exporting unwanted clothing, particularly to less economically developed countries; and whether the costs of landfilling/incinerating textiles should be diverted to build new systems/technologies that can recycle these old garments into new textiles..

A little summary of the week:

On the practical side, it was a week of hard work. Together we pre-sorted 4.9 tonnes of textiles, with 3.3 tonnes of this being sorted by the Fibersort machine. We then carried out a quality control step on 228 items and picked materials for 3 “products” for various testing. These textiles were then all weighed according to their feedstock batch and Fibersort grade, and are now packed up ready to be shipped for further testing and recycling trials.The new data we produced with this trial is already proving very useful. It showed that the Fibersort is able to sort for the necessary inputs required for Worn Again's chemical recycling technology; it found cotton and polyester make up over 96% of the content in what is considered representative feedstock, with polyamide, acrylic and other fibres in very low quantities.In addition to our contribution toward the development of the Fibersort technology, from a personal perspective, the experience was invaluable. As a new recruit to Circle Economy’s Textiles Team, for the first time I came face to face with the mountains of waste we produce in real terms. Facing up to that reality, often hidden behind dizzying statistics, is both daunting but necessary. Overcoming the sense of helplessness that facing up to our environmental crisis often inspires, the massive potential for improvement is clear. While technologies like Fibersort make closing the material loop an approaching reality, there are also several steps you can take as an individual to accelerate that transition towards efficient recycling of post-consumer waste:

• Think twice before buying new and try to buy secondhand - there are plenty of clothes already in circulation.
• Donate all clothes - if they cannot be reworn, the collector/sorters will recycle them when possible.
• Make sure all donated clothes are clean and dry. Wet and dirty clothes increase the chance materials will end up in landfill/incineration!
• Visit a local collector/sorter  - the chance to see this puts our consumption and disposal problem into perspective.

‍

As a brand/ business you can also take concrete steps by taking part in an upcoming post-consumer textile recycling pilot. Learn more about Circle Economy’s Recycling trials here.

AMSTERDAM, 17 October 2018 – Today the City of Amsterdam, Circle Economy and Copper8 launch ‘Amsterdam Circular: evaluation and action perspectives’ a comprehensive consolidation of insights from the practical implementation of 70+ circular projects in the circular City of Amsterdam and is validated by 100+ local businesses. The in-depth insights of the full report span eight municipal instruments applied over five value chains and offers practical action perspectives for cities to effectively accelerate their transition towards a circular future. Further buildings on these insights, City of Amsterdam and Circle Economy also launch a digest ‘Municipal policy for the circular economy: Lessons learned from Amsterdam’ which translates the key learnings Amsterdam’s circular projects into 17 practical actions for urban policymakers to accelerate circularity.[cta link="https://www.circle-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/amsterdam-evaluation-EN-20180328.pdf" ]Download the full report[/cta][cta link="https://www.circle-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Municipal-Policy-for-the-Circular-Economy-Lessons-learned-from-Amsterdam-FINAL.pdf" ]Download the digest[/cta]Sharing learnings from Amsterdam’s 70+ projectsThe ‘Amsterdam Circular: evaluation and action perspectives’, is the second release in the three-part series that shares the most recent insights from Amsterdam’s pioneering journey towards a circular economy. With the momentum behind the circular economy only growing, it is important to consolidate and share these on-the-ground learnings of a frontrunning city to identify key municipal instruments that can accelerate a city’s transition towards circularity. Policy to boost the circular economyThe transition towards a circular economy is no easy feat, and can only be realised through effective engagement of, and collaboration between business and government alike. Throughout their journey to become fully circular by 2050, the City of Amsterdam has recognised the importance of such a holistic approach; actively encouraging the experimentation and implementation of circular strategies, enabled through a number of municipal instruments. This proactive ethos has resulted in the completion of over 70 circular projects throughout the city. Ultimately, in order to help spark a circular transition globally, it is important to consolidate these pioneering insights into practical actions that other city leaders can adopt. Evaluation of 100+ businesses in 73 circular projects over 5 value chains. The Amsterdam Circular: evaluation and action perspectives is the outcome of an extensive and collaborative project carried out by Circle Economy and Copper8 in 2018. The study, commissioned by the City of Amsterdam and the first of its kind in the world, conducted a thorough evaluation of the 73 completed circular projects in the city through participatory workshops and interviews with the 100+ companies involved. The report Amsterdam Circular, evaluation and action perspectives not only provides a thorough evaluation of eight key municipal instruments, but also analyses the progress of the circular economy in five value chains of the national Transition Agenda, including construction, consumer goods, and biomass. From these detailed insights, five key actions perspectives were created to continue the city’s momentum towards becoming a fully circular city.

We are facilitating and supporting people who actually want to do business in a circular economy, who want to reuse things, who want to have a minimal footprint. We have started 70 projects, from which we learn. Learn both from the mistakes we make but also from the successes we have, to make sure that these projects are examples, and they can inspire others to do the same.” - Marieke van Doorninck Deputy Mayor Sustainability of Amsterdam.- Marieke van Doorninck, Deputy Mayor Sustainability of Amsterdam

17 practical actions to boost the circular transition in citiesResulting from the practical evaluation of Amsterdam’s diverse portfolio of over 70 circular projects, the City of Amsterdam and Circle Economy also, today, launch ‘Municipal policy for the circular economy: Lessons learned from Amsterdam’ a practical consolidation of the full Amsterdam Circular, evaluation and action perspectives report. The summary generates 17 actionable recommendations for urban policymakers throughout the world to boost circularity. Focusing on five of the municipal instruments that have been instrumental throughout Amsterdam’s circular journey, the Municipal policy for the circular economy report highlights tangible actions to boost circularity through Legislation, Spatial planning, Circular public procurement, Business support and Knowledge instruments. Illustratively, the insights generated from Amsterdam’s experiences highlight not only the market demand that can be generated through the incorporation of circular economy criteria into the tendering process but also importance for alignment over municipal departments.[cta link="https://www.circle-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/amsterdam-evaluation-EN-20180328.pdf" ]Download the full report[/cta][cta link="https://www.circle-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Municipal-Policy-for-the-Circular-Economy-Lessons-learned-from-Amsterdam-FINAL.pdf" ]Download the digest[/cta]

[hr]

The Circular Journey of Amsterdam

The launch of the two reports, Amsterdam Circular: evaluation and actions perspectives, and the Amsterdam Evaluation Digest marks the second chapter in a three-part series that aims to break down three of the key questions that cities face when transitioning towards a circular economy. Each entry in the ‘Circular Journey of Amsterdam’ series sees the launch of, partner, Circle Economy’s latest report and insights from the City of Amsterdam and will tackle three key questions;

1. How to kick-start a city's circular journey?
2. Which policy instruments can effectively engage businesses?
3. What will a circular economy mean for jobs and skills?

Interested in Amsterdam's full circular journey?

[cta link="https://circle-economy.com/amsterdam-circular-journey"]Explore[/cta]

[hr]For questions and press inquiries please contact: melanie@circle-economy.comFor more information please contact annerieke@circle-economy.com

A new strategic framework has been developed through a collaboration with the Dutch Green Building Society (DGBC), Metabolic, SGS Search and Circle Economy that defines circular buildings. It describes indicators that could be included in the sustainable certificate BREEAM-NL to better evaluate circular buildings. The frameworks are detailed in the report ‘A Framework for Circular Buildings: Indicators for possible inclusion in BREEAM’.

“Scaling is what we need right now to make the built environment circular. This report presents an overview of practical strategies to construct and design circular buildings around the world. Incorporating just one of these strategies in a leading sustainable building standard like BREEAM represents a massive opportunity to future-proof our built environment."

Ben Kubbinga, Lead Built Environment Program Circle Economy

Presentation during Expo RealThe first copy of the new report was presented to Shamir Ghumra, director of BREEAM on 9 October 2018 during the real-estate trade fair Expo Real in Munich. The report includes a framework for defining circular buildings and concepts for developing measurable indicators. The essential indicators that define a building’s circularity were developed by an expert group with six indicators developed in more detail. The indicators will be field-tested in follow-on studies.

Steven Traast (SGS Search), Edwin van Noort (DGBC), Clemens Brenninkmeijer (Redevco), Annemarie van Doorn (DGBC) presenting the report to Shamir Ghumra (BREEAM) during Expo RealCooperationThe author organisations, supported by the Redevco Foundation, investigated how circularity can be incorporated in the urban environment using BREEAM-NL, which is a sustainability certificate for buildings that has been widely adopted by the market since its introduction in The Netherlands in 2010. Over nine million square meters of real-estate have been certified to BREEAM-NL standards. The certificate has a holistic approach to sustainability and includes many concepts which can be used for circular buildings.Exceptional developmentShamir Ghumra, director of BREEAM: “Material resource efficiency and circularity lie at the heart of much of the research carried out by BRE over the years, work that continues today with leading roles in projects such as the BAMB (Building as Material Banks) project. It is great to see the DGBC, as our BREEAM National Scheme Operator in the Netherlands, proactively researching issues such as this and thereby contributing to the ongoing evolution of BREEAM with this report.”Edwin van Noort, development manager at DGBC, calls the framework an exceptional advancement: “Over the years, many definitions have been proposed for sustainable buildings, but practical definitions hardly ever materialised. That has now changed.”Clemens Brenninkmeijer, board member at Redevco Foundation says, “Redevco Foundation supports initiatives that aim to increase the understanding of and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable, low carbon-emission and circular built environment. We are very happy with the outcome of this research project and the proposed incorporation of these measures within the existing BREEAM-NL framework – and hopefully the BREEAM International framework too. It will encourage even more parties to think about tangible measures to make our real-estate sector more resource-efficient, less wasteful and more competitive.”[cta link="https://www.circle-economy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/A-Framework-For-Circular-Buildings-BREEAM-report-20181007-1.pdf"]Download the full report[/cta]

[hr]

Today the City of Amsterdam, Circle Economy and Copper8 launch ‘Amsterdam Circular: evaluation and action perspectives’ a comprehensive consolidation of insights from the practical implementation of 70+ circular projects in the circular City of Amsterdam and is validated by 100+ local businesses. The in-depth insights of the full report span eight municipal instruments applied over five value chains and offers practical action perspectives for cities to effectively accelerate their transition towards a circular future. Further buildings on these insights, City of Amsterdam and Circle Economy also launch a digest ‘Municipal policy for the circular economy: Lessons learned from Amsterdam’ which translates the key learnings Amsterdam’s circular projects into 17 practical actions for urban policymakers to accelerate circularity.