Circular Cities Declaration
Report 2022

www.circularcitiesdeclaration.eu

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Foreword

Shifting from a linear to a circular economy isessential if we want to achieve decarbonization andstay within planetary boundaries. It represents
nothing less than a paradigm shift, as closing andshortening material loops means adopting
completely new ways of producing and consuming.
As cities, we have a number of policy levers at our
disposal which can have a strong influence on key
sectors. We strongly believe that we can show the
way forward, and lead and mobilise both people andorganisations towards the circular transition.
This is precisely what the municipality of Porto has
endeavoured to do since the adoption of the Circular
Economy Roadmap in 2017. In Porto, we are actively
promoting more sustainable resource use and theregeneration of our natural environment. To this end,
the municipality engages with all citizens andorganisations to raise awareness and prevent waste,
and develop circular infrastructure and innovative
waste management solutions to make the most of
the waste into resources. The Porto Climate Pact,
launched at the beginning of 2022, reinforces thecommitment to decarbonize by inviting all toparticipate and act towards carbon neutrality andidentifies circularity as one of the principles that
contribute to the city’s decarbonization process. This
is why Porto has now become a reference not only at
the national but also at the European level, being
selected as one of the 100 cities by the EU Mission for
Smart and Climate-neutral cities.

Porto is also proud to be part of the Circular Cities
Declaration community and to engage with likeminded cities from all over Europe to make thecircular transition a reality. This is the reason why thecity now features in this CCD Report 2022. By
providing unique insights on the circular transitionat the local level, this report clearly demonstrates
the important steps that local governments aretaking and how crucial their role is. More than this, ithighlights the key challenges that are being faced,
while also providing some great examples fromnumerous Circular Cities Declaration signatories.
In conclusion, I would strongly recommend fellow
politicians from other cities as well as national level
policy-makers reading this report, to get someinspiration from signatories and hopefully to join ourcommunity and to get a closer understanding on
what is happening at the local level and help leverage
the action needed.

Filipe Araújo
Porto’s Vice-Mayor and City Councillor for
Environment and Climate Transition andfor Innovation and Digital Transition2

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Table of Contents
Foreword .

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Executive summary .

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8 trends on Circular Economy in European Cities .

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Tackling barriers to the circular economy

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Circular Cities Declaration Signatories .

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Introduction		 .

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The Circular Economy and Cities .

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The Circular Cities Declaration .

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The Circular Cities Declaration Report 2022

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Progress towards the Circular Cities Declaration commitments

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Eight main trends of Circular Economy in Cities .

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1. A growing number of circular initiatives are set up at the European 		level to support cities .

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3. Cities are investing in circular infrastructure to close material loops

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2. Cities are adopting circular strategies and roadmaps to steer thecircular transition

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4. Cities are using public procurement to reduce their footprint andenable the circular economy

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carrying out innovation projects to unlock the circular transition

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5. Cities are setting up their own innovation programmes and are
6. Cities are raising awareness and empowering citizens to distil ashared sense of ownership

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7. Cities are pushing for more circularity in construction

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8. Cities are making local food systems more regenerative .

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Tackling barriers to the circular economy

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1. Overcoming capacity and resource limitations .

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2. Securing political support and breaking down silos

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3. Measuring circularity: from data collection to monitoring frameworks. 22

4. Shifting the paradigm: Thinking circular in a linear system .

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Reporting Cities .

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References .

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Acknowledgements .

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CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Executive summary

From climate change to biodiversity loss, throughgrowing economic instability and global chain
disruptions, cities in Europe are facing unprecedented
challenges. The circular economy is increasingly
recognised as a great opportunity to tackle thesechallenges, unlocking wide-ranging benefits that
help cities thrive and become more liveable andresilient places.
This is precisely why the Circular Cities Declaration(CCD) has been set up; to support cities in theirtransition from a linear to a circular economy and toemphasise the critical and effective role that theyplay in this transition, while also providing a sharedvision of what a circular city is.
The CCD Report 2022 compiles and analyses the firstsubmissions by CCD signatories on their circular
activities (2021-2022), with the aim to celebrate andshowcase the significant strides cities are making. In
total, 40 cities submitted reports sharing their key
activities and interventions as well as challenges
experienced. To our knowledge, the report represents
the most significant longitudinal sample collected
to date on circular economy transitions at a local
level in Europe.
The comprehensive analysis of submissions led by
ICLEI Europe, and supported by the Ellen MacArthur
Foundation, found eight prominent trends among thecities. Four key barriers facing signatories were also
identified. A rich patchwork of activities exist acrossEurope with many frontrunning, pioneering activities
being observed in cities both large and small.
From Maribor’s circular economy strategy andBudapest’s community composting initiative, toGhent’s repair cafés and Haarlem’s world-leadingtarget for 100% of local procurement to be circularby 2030, this report and the city profiles present
many exemplary and replicable solutions. This
report illustrates not only the rich diversity of how
European cities are utilising circular economy
thinking, but also how the circular economy istackling common challenges.

4

8 trends on Circular Economy in European Cities
1A growing number of circular initiatives arebeing set up at the European level tosupport cities.

2

Citiesare adopting circular strategies androadmaps to steer the circular transition.

3

Citiesare investing in circular infrastructureto close material loops.

4

Citiesare using public procurement to reduce
their environmental footprint and enable
the circular economy.

5

Citiesare setting up their own innovation

programmes and are carrying out innovation
projects to unlock the circular transition.

6

Citiesare raising awareness and empowering
citizens to distil a shared sense of ownership.

7

Citiesare pushing for more circularity
in construction.

8

Citiesare making local food systems

more regenerative.

Tackling barriers to the circular economy
1Overcoming
capacity and resource limitations.


2Securing
political support and breaking

down silos.

3

Measuring
circularity: from data collection
to monitoring frameworks.

4

Shifting
the paradigm: Thinking circularin a linear system.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Circular Cities Declaration Signatories

Figure 1: Circular Cities Declaration Signatories

Signatories appearing
in this report
Other CCD
signatories

5

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Introduction

The Circular Economy and Cities

The Circular Cities Declaration

The way we make, use and dispose of products andfood accounts for almost half of global greenhousegas (GHG) emissions and no less than 90% of bothbiodiversity loss and water stress 1 . With demand forstrategic resources such as steel, cement,
aluminium, plastics, and food projected to increase
42% by 2050 2 , it is clear that the fight against
climate change (and beyond the necessity to staywithin planetary boundaries) cannot be won withthe current “take-make-waste” approach. The
transition to a circular economy - i.e. a model ofproduction and consumption based on closed
material loops and substantial decoupling between
resource consumption and economic growth would significantly reduce resource demand andits impacts, in line with the Sustainable
Development Goals.

The Circular City Declaration (CCD) is a commitment
document which local and regional governments
across Europe can sign to help accelerate the transition
from a linear to a circular economy in Europe. It was
launched in October 2020 by ICLEI Europe, support
partners (see Figure 2), and a group of founding
signatories. To date a total of 71 cities have signed the
CCD, encompassing a total of almost 14 million people.
Signatories come from 22 countries and include local
governments of any size, from metropolises to small
municipalities, such as Métropole du Grand Paris (FR)and Vistabella del Maestrat (ES).

Cities, as centres of economic activity andinnovation, are on the frontline of the transition.
They are themselves responsible for up to 70% of
GHG emissions, two-thirds of total energy demandand 50% of waste. 3 They must therefore play acentral role in implementing the circular economy
solutions to maximise impact. Local governments
manage a number of key sectors in urban areas
with the potential to become circular, such astransport and waste management, and areultimately responsible for controlling land use andurban planning, key levers for enabling the circular
economy. Public procurement and investment
budgets of cities can also play a major role in driving
demand for circular products and services and can
impact decisions on energy, transport and water
infrastructure. Cities are therefore ideally placed topioneer new circular solutions and accelerate thecircular transition.

The CCD aims to provide a shared, common vision ofa circular city, enabling cities and towns to act as ajoined force in harnessing their circular potential.
CCD signatories recognise the wide-ranging benefitsof accelerating the transition and are committed toact as ambassadors championing a circular economy
which leads to a resource-efficient, resilient andinclusive society in which resource consumption isdecoupled from economic growth.
A number of activities have been organised within
the CCD to create a genuine community of Circular
Cities. A good example of this is the Webinar Series,
open for signatories and support partners to shareknowledge, experiences and results on various
circular topics. In addition, the CCD has also featured
in other relevant events throughout Europe, some ofthem third-party events such as COP26, while others
were organised by CCD signatories themselves, suchas the Circular Economy Day in Wiltz (LU).
Furthermore, signatories and support partners havebeen sending relevant news, materials and resources
which have been shared through the CCD website,
the Newsletter and its social media channels.

1 Global Resources Outlook, 2019: Natural Resources for the Future We Want
2 Completing the picture: How the circular economy tackles climate change, 2021 Reprint
3 The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions; Synthesis Report, 2020

6

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Introduction

Figure 2: CCD Support Partners

The Circular Cities Declaration Report 2022
From November 2021 to January 2022, signatories were asked to provide information on their circular
economy activities, especially on strategies and actions (e.g. projects, initiatives, events, processes
developed). For each action, they additionally provided a brief description of the scope, objective
and involved actors, and links to supporting documentation (web links, publications, documents,etc.). Furthermore, signatories indicated what their future actions will be, what challenges they arefacing and which CCD commitments they are making progress on. A total of 40 signatories reported
on their activities, providing a unique glimpse into how the circular economy is implemented at the
local level in Europe.

7

Stephan Köhler / ICLEICIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Progress towards the Circular Cities
Declaration commitments

Signatories of the Circular Cities Declaration havesigned up to deliver on 10 commitments, relating
to the circular levers available at the disposal of
local governments. For this report, signatories
were asked to rate their progress against eachcommitment from one (just beginning) to five(systemic change achieved). The figure in the box
shows the average assessment across all reports
for each commitment.
Average scores on almost all commitments are
below three, indicating a collective feeling of
being far away from the overall goal - perhaps
due to a lack of clarity on what that end point
looks like or how to measure it. Ongoing
initiatives aimed at developing a clear monitoring/measurement framework for cities would likely
be of great support to signatories.
The first four commitments on average scoredhigher, illustrating cities are now establishingclear goals (1), convening local groups (3) andprioritising awareness raising (2) and urban
management/ planning (4), as key interventions.
Lowest scoring indicators on average wereapplying economic incentives (6) and enabling
regulatory framework for circular markets (7).
This illustrates local governments’ limited ability
to influence both taxation or regulation, usually
decided at the national level (or at EU level).

Figure 3: The average achievement of each CCD
commitment by contributing signatory cities,
rated from one (just beginning) to
five (systemic change achieved).
Commitment

Rate

1 Establishing clear circular economy goals

3.1

2 Raising awareness of circular practices

3.1

3 Directly engaging local stakeholders from civil

2.9

4 Embedding circularity principles in urban

2.6

5 Leveraging public procurement to promote

2.3

6 Applying economic incentives and seeking

1.8

7 Fostering an enabling local regulatory

2.2

8 Collaborating with national governments

2.4

9 Monitoring the progress made and impacts

2.4

10 Reporting to ICLEI on progress in achieving

2.5

and strategies to provide a common
direction for the local circular transition

across our administration and amongst
local citizens and businessess
society, the private sector and the researchcommunity in the development of circular
economy plans and initiatives, striving to
make the transition inclusive and helping
to nurture circular business models such as
the sharing and the repairing economy
planning, infrastructure and asset
management procedures

the market for circular products and services
opportunities to use fiscal measuresdesigned to encourage circular
economic and social behaviour

framework which allows and encourages
secondary raw material markets, repair,reuse and sharing schemes
and European institutions to establish an
appropriate policy and regulatory
framework for the circular transitionof our circular economy activities
the above commitments

8

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Over 2022, ICLEI Europe, supported by the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation, analysed the reported data
and developed this CCD Report 2022, firstly tocelebrate and showcase the significant gains cities
are making towards the circular transition, but also
to highlight the most important trends andchallenges related to this transition. To ourknowledge, this represents to date the mostsignificant longitudinal data collection of any studyof circular cities in Europe. We hope that this reportwill not only encourage local governments acrossthe continent to continue this growing momentum,
but also that it will shed light on the crucial role local
governments play in the transition to a circular
economy, and how much they need to be supported
in this process. As this is the first report carried out

Introduction

for the CCD, it will be interesting to see the progress
made by cities over time. Moving forward, it will also
be necessary to look at which additional data andindicators should be collected, in order to strengthen
our understanding of how the circular economy is
implemented at the local level.
The first part of this report analyses the eight main
trends surrounding the circular economy in cities.
Then, the second part reflects on the main challenges
thatsignatories
arefacingandidentifies
opportunities for collective action to tackle them. In
the last part, a one-page overview of each of the 40
reporting cities is provided, highlighting the circular
strategies and actions across various sectors thatcities are implementing.

Dreamstime / Scaliger

9CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Eight main trends on Circular
Economy in Cities

1A growing number of circular initiatives are set up at the European level to support cities.

In recent years and especially in 2022, a growing
number of initiatives have been set up at theEuropean level to foster the circular transition,
particularly in cities. This demonstrates themomentum that the circular economy is gaining
and how it is now seen as a valid framework fortackling today’s complex urban challenges.
Direction at the European level comes from theEuropean Commission’s Circular Economy Action
Plan - one of the main building blocks of theEuropean Green Deal - which contains a series ofmeasures aiming to close and shorten material
loops along the entire life cycle of materials. The
European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform,
managed by CCD Support Partner European
Economic and Social Committee (EESC), further
acts as a central resource hub and collaboration
platform for stakeholders across Europe, organising
a lively programme of EU Circular Talks, andproviding a central resource and news hub.
Focusing more specifically on local and regional
governments, the recently launched Circular Cities
and Regions Initiative (CCRI), is an innovative multistakeholder scheme, combining both technical andfinancial support. In this framework, the CCRICoordination and Support Office provides - among
other support activities - direct technical support for

the implementation of innovative circular systemic
solutions in 12 pilot and 25 fellow cities and regions
across Europe, including CCD signatories Guimarães
and Gothenburg (which joined after the reporting
period), as well as the regions of Helsinki andTampere, and CCD Support Partner, Circular
Flanders. The CCD and several of the Support
Partners are CCRI Associated Partners. In parallel,various EU-funded CCRI projects provide further
support for the implementation of circular systemic
solutions, as well as the development of new circularbusiness and governance models. CDD signatories
and Support Partners are for instance involved in
TREASouRcE, CircularInvest, DEFINITE-CCRI etc.
Similarly, the European Investment Bank’s (EIB)’s
Circular City Centre (C3), is providing advisory
support services to a number of European cities,
including CCD signatories Prague, Porto, Turku,
Leuven and Murcia.
Funding through programmes such as Horizon
Europe, INTERREG and Life 4 , also offer crucial
financial and technical support for a large number ofcities and regions to act and collaborate in the fieldof circular economy. The CCD and individual Support
Partners will continue to facilitate access to these
programmes and provide further support, as
outlined in Table 1 below.

4 Funding opportunities can be found here:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/
screen/home&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1673779317388792&usg=A
OvVaw1mypnnfZUo3wTMJ1Xvj-zV

10

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Eight main trends on Circular Economy in Cities

Table 1: Initiatives from Support Partners

Support partner

Initiatives

ReLondon

The Circular Economy Training Academy provides free and paid-for Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) certified training modules, designed to empower local
authorities to integrate the circular economy into all levels of all local authority departments.
Provided modules include support to develop a cross-departmental circular economy action
plan and training on how to embed circular economy principles in procurement.

Circular
Flanders

1. The Do-network Local Circular establishes a structure and support hub for cities andmunicipalities (2022-2024). The aim is to foster widespread adoption of circular policies
amongst local authorities. Tailor-made support has been produced for 10 local authorities
regarding setting up strategies and circular pilot projects, communities of practices (onCircular Procurement, City Development and Monitoring) and the organisation of events,
communication of best-practices and guidance documents.
2. As part of the EU Cmartlife project, two key initiatives in Flanders are the Circular
Ambassadors Program which offers a unique 7-day interactive circular education course,
open to anyone. Secondly, the Learning Network Waste Management brings together
the latest insights and solutions for waste prevention and optimised waste management.
3. Circular Flanders initiated and supports 12 social-circular hubs. They are local
partnerships which boost new circular entrepreneurship with a social impact in theirregions. The partnerships are deliberately diverse, with companies, city and municipal
governments, knowledge institutions and social profit organisations on board. From
Bruges to Genk, from Oudenaarde to Leuven, it is possible to visit the 12 regional socialcircular hubs which offer inspiration, matchmaking and support.

Ellen MacArthur
Foundation

Ellen MacArthur Foundation Community Platform comprises thousands of organisations
who have embraced the circular economy and understand the need for collective action.
Access to the community is free and any organisation can apply to gain access to facilities
including the latest circular economy developments, network events, learning resources,
collaboration opportunities and a dedicated space for cities and local governments.

ECERA-ENEA

1. The ES-PA project (energy and sustainability for public administration), part of the Italian
Programma Operativo Nazionale (PON) Governance (2014-20), is a package of many
activities to empower local authorities in energy and sustainability. The circular transitionis the most important model to address the goals of the project, including the efficient useof both energy and material resources. Many circular activities have been carried out in
two representative areas of different territorial typologies; the territorial area of the city ofMatera and its province, in Southern Italy, and the island of Lampedusa.
2. RECiProCo project (implementation of circular economy tools and initiatives for
consumers), financed by the ex Italian Ministry of Economic Development (2021-2022),
includes initiatives aiming to activate participatory co-design processes of circular
economy solutions. Through the Urban Living Lab methodology, ten circular project ideas
have been co-designed to support circular economy transition in three pilot cities(Bologna, Anguillara Sabazia (metropolitan city of Rome), and Taranto). The project ideas
were presented to the three pilot local authorities and are now at the stage of seeking
funding. The aim is for the projects to be implemented in cooperation with citizens, local
stakeholders and the local government.
3. ICESP is the Italian Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform similar to the European
Circular Economy Stakeholder platform at the Italian level. Founded in 2018, it counts
more than 800 participants, coming from public institutions, private sector, research andacademic, NGO and civil society. There is a dedicated space for cities and local
governments; the working group Circular Cities and Territories, the aims of which
include suggesting practical actions that city leaders across Europe can adopt andpromote, to accelerate the circular transition in their cities.

CircleEconomy11

The Knowledge Hub is an open-collaborative library of circular economy case studies fromdifferent actors, including local authorities. The library also contains frameworks of circularbusiness strategies and policy instruments that can support the transition to thecircular economy.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

2

Eight main trends on Circular Economy in Cities

Citiesare adopting circular strategies and roadmaps to steer the circular transition.
Amongst those reporting, 16 signatories havededicated circular economy strategies or actionplans in place, with at least two further underdevelopment currently (Grenoble, Torres Vedras). In
many other cases, circularity principles are being
embedded within other local strategies. This trend isalso reflected in the work of the CCRI, which supports
cities and regions with the development of their
Circular Economy Action Plans and Circular Economy
Investment Plans, and in the implementation of
Circular Systemic Solutions.
The increasing number of cities and regions withsuch strategies reflects the value attached topresenting a common vision and direction. A circular
economy strategy can be crucial in ensuring crossdepartmental collaboration across often large andcomplex public organisations. Associating vitalstakeholders to its development can help set
ambitions, identify opportunities and challenges,
while also creating a sense of shared ownership.
In many cases specific quantified targets are
established. Within those reported, the majority ofthese relate to waste, particularly recycling / recovery
rates of municipal solid waste and bio-waste (forexample, Évora targets an 80% recycling rate). This
reflects not only the traditional focus and perceptionof circular economy, but also the challenge in
identifying appropriate indicators and in collecting
data for other aspects of circularity. Several
signatories have also set targets and activities
focused on procurement (Haarlem aims to achieve
50% circular procurement by 2025), and GHG
emissions reduction (Copenhagen aims to become
CO2-neutral (scope 1-2) by 2025).

BEST PRACTICE - Maribor (SI)Co-created with local stakeholders, Maribor’s Strategy for the Transition to Circular Economy wasapproved in 2018. Its development was closely linked to the INTERREG Alpine Space program and theGreencycle project. The strategy brings together the municipality, publicly-owned companies as well
as external stakeholders, and aims to foster cross-sectoral cooperation in the handling, processing, reuse
anddevelopmentofresources in seven key sectors. A
truly innovative and systematic
approach, it articulates all aspectsof
implementation
technological,
organizational,social, cultural and behavioral
innovation. Support partner
RRA Podravje - Maribor was
instrumental in the developmentof Maribor’s Strategy for theTransition to Circular Economy.

More on Maribor on page 50.

Strategy for the Transition to Circular Economy in the Municipalityof Maribor. Image: Wcycle Institute Maribor

12

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

3

Eight main trends on Circular Economy in Cities

Citiesare investing in circular infrastructure to close material loops.


The development of circular infrastructure to closematerial loops is the most frequent type ofintervention implemented by cities, with 37 actions
across different sectors. It covers small-scaleequipment as well as large-scale production andtreatment facilities. This starts with the setup ofcollection points, to collect certain streams of waste
separately - such as bio-waste, textiles or plastics from residents and (small) businesses alike. Moreover,reporting signatories have invested in facilities aiming
to valorise various types of waste, with for instancecomposting plants implemented by around a quarterof reporting signatories. Infrastructure aiming tofoster tighter material loops is also a focus, such as
the set-up of material depots aiming to store, process
and re-market secondary materials between
construction and demolition sites (Est Ensemble
Grand Paris). Cities are also developing regenerative
infrastructure such as urban gardens, intended tomake local food systems more circular but also tobring nature back into urban ecosystems thus
improving resilience and promoting more sustainable

lifestyles. This also encompasses digital circularinfrastructure, with the development of tools andapps for matching supply and demand in various
sectors and digital platforms to support the public inaccessing repair services (Leuven).
These examples demonstrate the crucial role that
local governments play in developing theinfrastructure that is necessary to support thecircular transition. More funding streams are
therefore needed to be made available to this role,
given that investment in new infrastructure is rather
capital-intensive. Additionally, missed opportunities
to build circular infrastructure now will likely lockcities into non-sustainable material management
pathways and deprive citizens of the future
opportunities brought by the circular transition. It
also underlines how necessary spatial and land-use
planning are, as allocating space for suchinfrastructure in planning documents will be key tobuild multi-functional cities, and to some extent
enable production back in town.

BEST PRACTICE - Budapest (HU)In Autumn 2022, as part of the HungAIRy air quality project, a composting campaign has been launchedin Budapest, with the aim of raising awareness among the wider population of the capital. As part ofthe campaign, community composting points were set up in 5 districts in Budapest. In addition to
reducing our household organic and garden green waste, composting also addresses one of the major
challenges of our time: air pollution. On-site composting provides an alternative to burning green
waste, does not pollute the air with the emissions associated with transport, and can also provide
nutrient replenishment for yourgarden using the end product, thefinished compost. This follows
previous efforts from the Urban
Gardening Company of Budapest,
which have been steadily installing
new composting sites across the city.

More on Budapest on page 27.

Community composting sites from the HungAIRy project.
Image: BKM BUDAPESTI KÖZMŰVEK Nonprofit Zrt. / László Horváth13

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

4

Eight main trends on Circular Economy in Cities

Citiesare using public procurement to reduce their environmental footprint andenable the circular economy.

Cities are using public procurement, i.e. the purchaseof works, goods and services, to reduce theirenvironmental footprint and to enable the take-offof new circular solutions and services. With 18
actions, circular procurement 5 is the second mostused policy lever by responding signatories, again
across many different sectors.
Signatories have been adopting - or adapting - circular
procurement strategies and setting goals related to
local purchasing, circularity and socially responsible
procurement for tenders. These strategies are oftenaligned with international or national frameworks,
like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. A

number of signatories also reported the inclusion of
circular criteria in specific tenders, on topics as diverse
as public works (Hämeentie Street, Helsinki) to school
meals (Torres Vedras).
These interventions not only allow local governments
to reduce the environmental and social impacts of
their purchases, but further stimulate the design,
provision and management of more circular goods
and services. As public procurement plays such an
essential role in the circular transition, it calls for the
adoption of supporting regulation at national andEuropean levels, along with the provision of guidance
to local governments.

5 For a definition of circular procurement see Public Procurement
for a Circular Economy; Good practice and guidance, 2017.

BEST PRACTICE - Haarlem (NL)

Haarlem has set ambitious targets of 50% of all procurement being circular by 2025 and 100% by 2030.
These targets come from Haarlem’s procurement policy which sets goals related to local purchasing,circularity and socially responsible procurement. The policy was derived partly from the Roadmap for
Circular
Procurement
andCommissioning,
acknowledging that commissioning plays a majorrole in achieving circular procurement goals.

More on Haarlem on page 39.

Boat charging stations procured
through circular criteria.
Image: Gemeente Haarlem

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CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

5

Eight main trends on Circular Economy in Cities

Citiesare setting up their own innovation programmes and are carrying out innovation projectsto unlock the circular transition.

Innovation is at the centre of cities’ interventions,with around a quarter of reporting signatories either
engaging with their local innovation ecosystems, orbeing involved in innovation projects themselves. In
this regard, a number of signatories have implemented
innovation programmes and events (such as the
Circular Economy Design event in Lappeenranta),
which cover a variety of sectors and aim to develop
new circular products, services and business models,often in close collaboration with innovative companies
and knowledge institutions. This also includes the
setup of collaboration spaces or incubators to foster
connections among entrepreneurs and support themin early stages (Smart Chemistry Park in Turku).

Reporting signatories are also managing innovative
projects, piloting or demonstrating new circularsolutions or approaches, with for instance Eskilstuna
working on recycling phosphorus and othernutrients from toilet wastewater from housing areas
lacking connection to municipal sewer systems. Thisshows how local governments across Europe are
pioneering new solutions and approaches and assuch are shaping the future of the circular economy.
It also raises the question of whether cities will havethe resources to upscale those projects andultimately finance operations with the current levelof funding available.

BEST PRACTICE - Copenhagen (DK)The Circular Copenhagen innovation platform enables radical innovation of new solutions forselected problems in the waste and resource field, working in close collaboration with innovative
companies and knowledge institutions. Current examples include diaper recycling, a reuse system for
packaging, reuse of paint, and digital watermarks on packaging. An established panel of external
experts from around the world provide guidance on technological developments and innovative
solutions. Collaborative projects aim to develop new, circular solutions for management of selectedresource flows, in close collaboration with themost innovative parts of industry. Projects focus
mainly on residual wastes for which there are
currently no high-value recycling solutions.

More on Copenhagen on page 29.

Innovation promoted by Circular Copenhagen:recycled-textile workwear.
Image: Copenhagen Circular / Tina Winberg

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CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

6

Eight main trends on Circular Economy in Cities

Citiesare raising awareness and empowering citizens to distil a shared sense of ownership.
Cities are dedicating significant efforts to not only
raising awareness and educating the public, but also
to effectively empowering citizens to take on an
active role in the circular transition. Firstly, given thecircular economy is still a relatively new topic,
changing mindsets and encouraging citizen
behavioural changes represents a significant
challenge for cities. This is why signatories havebeen running awareness campaigns, for instance on
new material collection schemes or on how to sorttheir waste for recycling. Moreover, to further fosterchange and introduce the concept of circular living
to citizens from a young age, cities are carrying out
actions towards children and students, with the useof guides, training and educational film screenings,
as is the case in Loures.

Secondly, citizen engagement is becoming moresophisticated with a greater focus on empowerment.
In this regard, many of the reporting signatories areintegrating community services alongside circularity
through the establishment of reuse and repair hubs
(or cafés). Via demonstrations of how to repair theirown belongings - from pieces of furniture to electric
appliances - citizens are educated on how to repair bythemselves, and simultaneously social links in thecommunity are promoted. Some cities even encourage
citizens to create circular solutions themselves, such as
to harvest invasive alien plant species to produce new
innovative bio-based materials (Ljubljana). These
initiatives contribute to changing consumption
patterns and to create a shared sense of ownership ofthe circular transition among the public.

BEST PRACTICE - GHENT (BE)The City in partnership with the local waste company IVAGO and the Public Centre for Social Welfare
OCMW, joined forces to spread awareness about Repair Cafés under the name of ‘Gent Repareert’(Ghent Repairs). In these cafés volunteers help repair items such as electronics, furniture, bicycles
and textiles. Following their success, further initiatives are being developed such as Klusserette.
Various sharing initiatives
have also emerged suchas a children’s bike-loanservice (Op Wielekes)
and several car sharing
and cargo bike sharing
initiatives.

More on Ghent on page 36.

Gent Repareert. Image: Stad Gent

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CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

7

Eight main trends on Circular Economy in Cities

Citiesare pushing for more circularity in construction.
Construction - including demolition - is one of thesectors in which cities are the most active, firstly due
to the high associated environmental costs, andsecondly, due to the many levers and policy
instruments local governments have at their disposal
to influence this sector. As such, public procurement
acts as the primary tool for commissioning circularconstruction projects, with local governments
benefitting from having public buildings andsignificant works projects to use as test beds formore innovative solutions. Additionally, theamending of planning regulations enables circular
standards to be set for new builds and renovation
projects,
forinstance
requiringbrownfielddevelopments or the reuse of existing structures,such as in La Spezia.
Engagement is used to encourage private
construction companies, via funded hubs or circular
charters (Est Ensemble), to explore new nichemarkets and develop circular products or practices.
Circularity in the construction sector implies the
adoption of novel techniques and methods - orsometimes bringing up to date vernaculararchitecture - which in turn asks for completely newsets of skills. That is why some cities, such as Helsinki,
are starting to build capacity.
At different steps of the construction value chain,reporting signatories have been looking to enable theuse of secondary materials in projects - thereby
preventing the generation of vast amounts of waste,
whether it is through setting up material exchange
depots and marketplaces, developing digitalplatforms to track and identify exchange partners ordeveloping guidance for pre-demolition audits anddemolition instructions for source segregation ofdemolition waste. While considerable progress is stillneeded, this report shows that cities are taking steps
to make the construction sector more circular.

BEST PRACTICE - Wiltz (LU)

The municipality has commissioned the construction of a new school campus (Géizt) with circularity
at the centre of the project. The build includes a primary school, kitchen, day care centre, children’s
museum, music school and a sports hall. Circularity is notable regarding the choice of construction
materials, the ability to change
the use of the structures overtime, reuse of rainwater, reductionof greenhouse gas emissions anduse of renewable energy.

More on Wiltz on page 64 .

Campus Géitzt. Image: Commune de Wiltz / Ben Majerus
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CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

8

Eight main trends on Circular Economy in Cities

Citiesare making local food systems more regenerative.
The food value chain is another sector of focus forreporting signatories. As food system resilience 6 has
become a largely shared preoccupation, cities are
adopting strategies to create sustainable local foodsystems, prevent and reduce food waste andpromote more sustainable diets, among others. In
this regard, cities, for example, launched calls for
ideas to engage citizens in further creating asustainable local food sector and awareness raising
campaigns aiming to impart the importance ofsourcing locally grown food to the youth. Moreover,through direct support to farmers or public tenders,fresh and seasonal food as well as short supply
chains are encouraged and supported via tenders,
including for school meals. When it comes toaddressing food waste, limiting and reducing foodwaste
isencouraged
through
educational
campaigns, while food redistribution is enabledthrough community-based collectives (Helsinki).
Anticipating regulatory requirements 7 , cities are
setting up separate collection schemes for bio-

waste and are building up their valorisation
capacities. Major focus has been placed bysignatories on biological treatment (mainlycomposting), with the provision of community
initiatives, training and high-cost investment in
the relevant infrastructure to extend the organic
loop recycling via cogeneration (energy and heatproduction) and biogas production. When it comesto ensuring sufficient quality and quantity of waste
for valorisation, cities are running educational
campaigns which target both households andbusinesses about how to effectively segregate
their waste streams. Ultimately, cities are using
biofertilisers and soil improvers on their own green
spaces - an example being Maribor, which produces
secondary soil for use in urban gardens,
landscaping and construction and on occasion
makes it available to citizens or farmers. Hereagain, many challenges subsist, but theseexamples show that local governments have a
crucial role to play to relocalise food systems andmake them more regenerative.

6 I.e. securing both food supply and resources that are necessary for food production, see
https://circulars.iclei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ICLEI-Circulars-City-Practitioners-Handbook-Food.pdf
7 The revised Waste Framework Directive requires a separate bio-waste collection or recycling at the source by 31 December 2023
(Directive 2018/851/EU).

BEST PRACTICE - Évora (PT)

Projeto Ervilha aims to promote a short local
production and consumption circuit for vegetables
and fruit through awareness raising sessions
within the education community, as well as
tackling food waste by forwarding any surplus
foodstuffs for distribution to needy families in theunion of parishes of Malagueira and Horta das
Figueiras. The Km0 Alentejo scheme certifies
restaurants and food outlets, identifying foodproducts which originate from within 50km.

More on Évora on page 33.

Locally produced vegetables. Image: Unsplash / Peter F
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CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Tackling barriers to thecircular economy

While cities continue to take significant steps to implement the circular economy, progress is admittedly
varied between cities and limited overall, in comparison to the systemic change needed to fully transition
away from the prevailing linear economy.
Reflecting on the challenges which inhibit cities from implementing effective circular solutions is essential toaccelerating action on the European continent and beyond. Through the CCD reporting process, signatories
were provided with the opportunity to share challenges which emerged when developing and implementing
circular economy actions. Responses revealed four distinct yet interrelated challenges facing their cities:
capacity and resource limitations, siloed-working and lack of political leadership, measuring circularity, andlimitations that come from an economy that is still predominantly linear.
Collective action on all challenges is necessary to accelerate the circular economy transition. This following
section aims to reflect on these challenges and subsequently identify priority actions and opportunity areas todirect the collective efforts of cities and wider system actors including policy institutions, philanthropy,
academia and other interested organisations, in order to best mobilise their resources.

Unsplash / Daniel Funes Fuente

19

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

1

Tackling barriers to the circular economy

Overcoming
capacity and resource limitations.


The first challenge identified across reports from
cities are capacity and resource limitations. The needfor additional resources regarding staff, skills andknowledge, as well as financing, land andinfrastructure, are cited by reporting signatories as amajor challenge when it comes to implementing thecircular economy. The lack of capacity in these key
areas undermines not only the day-to-day
implementation of circular programmes and actions,but also impairs the prioritisation of more impactful
and systemic solutions.
As cities begin to use circular economy principles as
the framework for addressing challenges issues
such as tackling waste and enabling the circulationof materials at their highest value, local governments
require more dedicated staff, with a broader set ofskills and greater knowledge regarding a multitudeof material value chains including construction,
food, water and plastics. Building institutional
knowledge on key issues requires continued
awareness raising and capacity building activities incityadministrations.
Additionally,since
implementing circular solutions asks for greatercollaboration
betweenpublicandprivatestakeholders, critical skills such as facilitating,convening stakeholders, effective communication,and collaboration will increasingly be required by
local governments.

stakeholders including EU institutions, national
governments as well as to some extent the private
sector and philanthropy, can therefore play animportantroleincreating
otherfunding
opportunities for ambitious city-level interventions.
Despiteconsiderable
investment,
gaps
infundamental infrastructure essential to upscaling thecirculation of materials was highlighted as anothermajor issue faced by the reporting signatories. Whenit comes to the organic material loop, attaining
adequate farm land to carry out regenerative foodproduction 8 is a challenge. Biological treatment
infrastructure for organic material treatment also
requires available land and high initial investment
costs not easily attained. Regarding the construction
sector, digital and physical material banks forexchange of secondary building materials are not yet
widely available. Access to affordable land and space,material collection services and treatment facility
infrastructure, is essential to enabling the processes
which can close resource loops.

For cities less hindered by staffing or skills barriers,
the financing of interventions remains an obstacle.
Budgetary pressures were cited repeatedly byreporting signatories as a key challenge for movingfrom strategy to implementation. Existing funding
streams such as the EU’s Horizon Europe are mostly
project-based, supporting demonstrations or pilots
but seldom their upscaling or operations. Moreover,
the raising of revenue at the local level is to datedifficult to implement among signatory cities(‘applying economic incentives’ was on average thelowest scored area of progress against the CCD
commitments (Figure 3)), as in most of Europe itremains a national government’s prerogative. Other

8 For a definition of “Regenerative food production” seeRegenerative food production, EMF.

20

Unsplash / Anne Nygard

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

2

Tackling barriers to the circular economy

Securing
political support and breaking down silos.
Capacity and resource challenges can in part beovercome by fostering wider organisational andpolitical support for the circular economy in cities.
However, this in itself was a listed barrier which
emerged from the signatory responses. Although theinterconnected economic, social and environmental
drivers of the circular economy for cities are
increasingly being understood, a shift is still needed
to ensure a more integrated governance approach.
Signatories highlighted interventions that continue
to be advanced in silos, where relevant city
departments are not aligned, reducing the impact ofactions carried out or missing opportunities. Worse,
there were also cases of conflicting policies, such as
business support programmes that do not promote
circular business models. Whether it is a resistance tochanging long standing ways of working, a poor
understanding of circular economy fundamentals, ora lack of coordination, there is a need for better
integration of circular economy thinking beyond thedepartments of environment, to areas including but
not limited to housing and planning, business,
procurement, food and transport.
The first step is to appoint a dedicated circular
economy team within city administrations - or a
dedicated officer in smaller towns - to coordinate andimplement actions. Policy integration can then be
improved through various coordinating andprocedural activities such as establishing a crossorganisational working group of circular champions,developing a circular strategy or roadmap, anddeveloping onboarding for new starters and providing

ongoing learning and development opportunities toequip all local government staff with basic circular
economy knowledge.
Improving cross-organisational collaboration also
depends on strengthening top-level commitment incities i.e. political support. However, signatories cited alimited interest or understanding of circular economy
opportunities among elected officials as a key hurdle.
While new holistic, upstream solutions and systems
are needed to be tested and trialled, there may still bea political preference to favour more visible actions.
Further nurturing of support across the political
spectrum, including through celebrating pioneeringinterventions taken by city leaders and continuing toillustrate benefits, must remain a priority.
Ultimately, cities reported some difficulty in engaging
with local stakeholders and with other levels ofgovernment. As circular economy extends beyond
city boundaries and municipal competencies, multistakeholder engagement is a necessity that must be
improved upon, in order to achieve greater scale ofcircularity, create a sense of shared ownership ofdeveloped cycles, and to take advantage of further
opportunities 9 . Cities can move closer to achieving
these goals by setting up a larger stakeholder groupin close contact with their circular economy team,through which regular meetings and events areorganised to encourage and maintain engagement.

9 EMF (2019), Circular Economy in Cities - Policy Levers.

Unsplash / Kaleidico

21

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

3

Tackling barriers to the circular economy

Measuring
circularity: from data collection to monitoring frameworks.
A third challenge theme relates to monitoring andassessing circularity. This includes data collection,
identification and access; developing suitableindicators and metrics both city-wide and forindividual projects; as well as measuring andevaluating the co-benefits of action with otherchallenges (e.g., environmental and social indicators).
Data related to how products and materials areproduced, consumed and managed at end-of-life, atcity-level, enables better planning, decision making
and drives more ambitious action in cities. Analysing
and interpreting this data helps to identify where
and how to intervene on which material value chains.
Additionally, monitoring the actions and targets
provides cities with insights into their economic
activities and allows them to evaluate the impact of
current initiatives and their potential to meet thetargets and make the city more circular.
However, building a clear picture of these flows, aswell as identifying the relevant infrastructures andstakeholders - both public and private - is a difficult
task. Beyond measuring waste volumes, signatories
report a lack of accessible upstream city-level data
relying on downsizing national data and requesting
private data. Efforts to improve the access of relevantcity-level data are ongoing with the launch of tools
like Ganbatte, while studies of ‘urban metabolism’ ormaterial flow analyses are becoming increasingly
more sophisticated.

To further implement the circular economy, cities
also need data to measure the impact of theirinitiatives, and this cannot only be done at thematerial or nutrient level. Wider indicators areneeded to monitor supporting factors such as policy
levers, business model uptake, awareness, but as yetthese are ill-defined or not widely adopted. At
present, only a few reporting signatories sharedcirculareconomyroadmaps
which
includequantifiable city-wide targets, such as Copenhagen.
Cities are therefore also unclear about defining what
exactly to measure and how. Developing common
and operable circular city indicators will improve ourunderstanding of which parameters need to bemeasured and where citizens and cities can have themost impact.
A final element of the measurement challenge thatcities are facing is the outstanding city-specificwork to illustrate the co-benefits of the circular
economy transition. Cities often lack the resources
and capacity to build scenarios that can illustrate
how circular interventions can connect to related,
yet sometimes competing, initiatives aroundclimate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity,
social inclusion, green jobs and skills. Frameworks,
tools and indicators for cities to estimate how
circular economy approaches create co-benefits intheir city is a clear opportunity for researchersand funders.

Pexels / Lukas

22

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

4

Tackling barriers to the circular economy

Shifting
the paradigm: Thinking circular in a linear system.
The fourth theme to emerge from signatory
submissions relates to the structural barriers borneout of our existing linear, take–make-waste economic
rationale which can only be resolved through asystemic transformation of how we produce,
consume and regenerate. These barriers include
regulations, certification for circular materials,“business as usual” thinking and limited awarenesson the topic of circular economy - and beyond
on sustainability.
In relation to the use of secondary materials, anumber of cities highlighted that barriers such as alack of common certification criteria for secondary
materials, restrictive legislative definitions andtimeframesonframework
contracts(e.g.
procurement), create additional hurdles andsometimes make secondary material use nearly
impossible. As stated by one of the reporting
signatories ‘innovation often requires an evolutionof the regulatory framework’. Legislative andregulatory changes at European or national levelneed to occur for the circular transition to happen.
As such, the EU Circular Economy Action Plan ismoving in the right direction with its sustainableproduct policy framework.

support to support private investment in circularbusiness models. In this regard, high costs and theeconomic feasibility of alternative business models
remain the main barrier for consumers and business,in the transition to circularity.
Ultimately these barriers call for a paradigm shift
towards a circular economy. Such a shift cannot not
be achieved by individual actors only: national
governments and EU institutions have an importantrole to play in setting up the pre-conditions and the
direction of change.

Additionally, regarding the extension of the lifespanof products, the high cost of repairing broken
products compared to purchasing new ones, might
prevent citizens from choosing to do the former. The
reason for high repair costs being that taxes arefocused on labour and capital, as opposed toenvironmentally
harmfulconsumption
andproduction. Signatories also mentioned thatperceived cultural norms are to own and buy new,and therefore these norms need to be challenged toenact more circular behaviours.
For business, and in particular for SMEs, there islimited awareness about alternative, yet profitable,
circular business models. Nevertheless, there is alack of appropriate financial incentives and advisory

23

Pexels / Jan van der Wolf

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

This section presents an overview of actions carried out by the 40 reporting signatories in the field of circular
economy (see map on page 5). It also highlights any strategies or roadmaps in place, along with the associatedgovernance structure. Key actions are briefly described and links are provided to external documents or web
pages for more information. The following pages capture the diversity of circular actions carried out in cities
across Europe. We hope that they will inspire other cities to both join the community and implement thecircular economy at the local level.

Albergaria-a-Velha

Braga

BudapestCapital Regionof Denmark

CopenhagenEskilstuna

Espoo

Est Ensemble
Grand Paris

Évora

Freiburg

Genoa

Ghent

Grenoble

Guimarães

HaarlemHelsinki

Høje-Taastrup

Izmit

Lappeenranta

La Spezia

LeuvenLille Metropole

Ljubljana

LouresMalmö

MariborMikkeli

MurciaOslo

Oulu

Picanya

Porto

PragueRoskilde

TampereTorres Vedras

Trikala

Turku

Umeå

Wiltz

24

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Albergaria-a-Velha, Portugal
General information

Câmara Municipal de Albergaria-a-Velha

Region population: 24,841
Mayor: António Loureiro

Strategy & governance
Circularity is incorporated into the Municipal
Sustainability Strategy for the Municipality ofAlbergaria-a-Velha. The Strategy outlines six areas ofaction to be implemented by 2030, including
commitments to recycling at least 20% of paper,
glass, plastic and municipal solid waste (MSW) by2027. The Strategy also commits to achieving 10%
green public procurement (GPP) by 2027 and theintroduction of segregated bio-waste collection andtreatment by 2025. The municipality additionallysubscribes to the Institutional Pact for the
Valorization of the Circular Economy in the Centro
Region, an initiative of the Commission Coordination
and Regional Development Centre.
Key actions✪ Zero Waste Actions – Zero waste market, A

Praça, is a series of actions designed to reduce
waste and promote circularity in the municipal
market. Actions include installing 12 composters,
giving out 5,000 reusable cloth bags and 200
baskets, organising information sessions andoutreach materials and providing guidance tomarket traders.

✪ Recycling of Masks and Textiles – As part of the To

Be Green project, project, masks were collectedacross 10 locations for separation, recovery andreuse of their parts (elastic and metal frames are
removed, the non-woven material extracted). A
facility has also been opened where the community
can deliver clothes or home textiles for recycling
and bring clothes in good condition for exchange.

25✪ Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Schools – The

School Entrepreneurship Project, active in the
Municipality’s schools since 2014, aims toencourage the spirit of initiative and innovation inyoung people, involving around 800 students
each year. The 2020/2021 school year focused on
the Sustainable Development Goals.

✪ Organic gardens – The first of a plannedcity network of organic gardens has been createdin Lapa, designed to provide the local population
with the knowledge and tools to carry out organic
farming and composting. The garden has 28 plots
for cultivation, four of which are designed toaccommodate people with reduced mobility.

✪ Certifying local circular companies – The

Certificate Recicla – Albergaria-a-Verde scheme,
awards local companies (with either a silver orgold certification) which can demonstrate theimplementation of measures to protect theenvironment. By the end of 2021, 150 companies
were certified.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Braga, Portugal

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Joao Pedro

General information
City population: 193,000
Mayor: Ricardo Rio

Strategy & governanceIn 2022, the municipality of Braga worked on a
Diagnosis of the circular economy of the Region ofBraga, a first step before developing a dedicatedcircular economy strategy. Additionally, existingplanning documents, such as the Environmental
Education Plan and the Municipal Strategy for
Adaptation to Climate Change, already include
circular actions that will be implemented in the
coming years and will soon define a set of indicatorsand communication objectives in relation to these
specific actions.

that are then used as soil improve by themunicipality green spaces department orredistributed for free to citizens.

Key actions✪ Bio-waste valorisation – Since 2021, bio-wastefrom large producers, starting with canteens,restaurants and hotels, is collected separately
and valorised into Ferti +, an organic agricultural
fertiliser used in tree and shrub crops. To citizens,schools and charities, Braga is additionallyoffering free composters and recycling bins, andalso organising training sessions.

✪ Caring for Braga – In recent years, wildfires

have become more frequent and extreme incentral and northern Portugal. One of thecauses is the burning of agricultural, gardening
or forestry waste during the summer. To solve
this issue, the municipality of Braga, alongsidewith the Parish Councils and local landowners,
has set up a free bio-shredding service,providing biocrushers to shred waste into chips

26✪ Community gardening – The municipality iscreating community gardens for private
individuals and households (723 plots and 1434
users), for community groups (2426 m2 and 154
users) or schools alike (7530 m2 and 2576 users).
Community gardening in Braga serves multiple
purposes, as it provides a habitat for local
biodiversity, improves access to nutritious foodand contributes to recreating social links.

✪ Education towards a circular economy – Inpartnership with the association Bandeira Azul da
Europa (ABAE), Braga has set up education
programs on sustainability in 20 schools, labelled
Eco-Escolas, in which circular economy is one of
the key topics. To raise awareness among the
public, the municipality also organises events
during the European Week for Waste Reduction,
every year since 2014.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Budapest, Hungary

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Tobias Reich

General information
City population: 1.756 million
Mayor: Gergely Karácsony

Strategy & governance
While Budapest does not have a specific circular
economy strategy, measures related to circularity areembedded in both the city’s Sustainable Energy andClimate Action Plan (SECAP) and the Mid-term Urban
Development Strategy, ensuring an integrated
approach to circular economy governance.
Key actions✪ Recycling and reuse drop-off points – The city

has set up 17 waste collection courts whereresidents can deposit segregated collected
waste. At two of these sites there are reusecentres where people can drop off unusedhousehold items still in working order. These
items are then sold for a small fee to cover thecost of storage, enabling them to reenter the
local economy.

✪ Turning bio-waste into energy – 90% of theelectricity needed to run Dél-pest Wastewater
Treatment Plant and 100% of its heat needs are
generated in-house through the treatment ofcollected sewage sludge and food waste. The City
is now also assessing the feasibility of treatingcollected green waste to expand energy
production further for local usage.

27✪ Rainwater retention incentives – The Municipality
held its first citizens assembly (CA) in September
2020. One of the CA recommendations was theimplementation of rainwater usage and runoff
water retention incentives, supported by 85%of the CA. The recommendation is presented
in the SECAP.

✪ Community composting – the Urban Gardening

Company of Budapest has installed sevenpublicly available community composting sites in
Budapest, with five further composting sites indevelopment during 2022. The aim of theinitiative is to educate and enable citizens tocompost their organic waste and ultimately
reduce the amount of organic waste going tolandfill. (location of composting sites can befound here when searching for ”komposzttároló”).

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Capital Region of Denmark
General information
Region population: 1.86 million
Chairperson: Lars Gaardhøj

Strategy & governanceThe circular transition is promoted through a numberof key regional strategies and action plans, with aseries of specific targets set. The Regional
Development Strategy, and its accompanying Action
Plan 2020-2021, include circularity as a key goal. It
also forms a core part of the region’s Agenda for
Action for the UN Sustainable Development Goals,
especially in relation to Goal 12 (Sustainableconsumption and production). A series of circular
roadmaps for key material flows in the region havebeen produced. Finally, the region’s programme forgreen and responsible hospitals (Grøn2030),
includes a series of circular activities, for example
focused on waste reduction and sustainableprocurement. An Advisory Board for Circular
Municipalities and Regions has been establishedwithin the PARCK project. A sustainable construction
strategy is currently under development.
Key actions✪ Circular economy roadmaps – The Affald og

Ressourcer på Tværs (ART) project has delivered
five roadmaps for promoting circularity inelectronics, construction, bulky waste, textiles,and data, based on initial material flow analysis of
the regions waste streams, hotspot analysis and astakeholder dialogue process. The roadmaps
contain recommendations outlining actions to be
implemented and who to involve.

✪ Circular regional partnerships – The Partnerskab
for Cirkulære Kommuner (PARCK) project aimed
to promote the circular transition in the region’s
municipalities. Measures implemented included

28

CCD

developing guidance, establishing an Advisory
Board for Circular Municipalities and Regions,running a series of demonstration projects on
circular construction, procurement, textiles andindustrial waste, and creating a strong
collaboration network between municipalities,
waste companies, the region and other value
chain actors.

✪ Circular construction and demolition – Under theEuropean CityLoops project, a series ofdemonstration projects on construction anddemolition waste - including soil - are being
implemented within the region, based on a series
of innovative tools and procedures. The Capital
Region of Denmark (CRD) is collaborating
regionally with Høje-Taastrup and Roskilde, andat the European level with Apeldoorn, Bodø,Mikkeli, and Seville.

✪ Green and responsible hospitals – The Grøn2030
programme contains a series of actions focusedon (1) moving towards waste-free hospitals, byconsidering aspects such as product life
extension, reusability and minimisingconsumption, and (2) implementing sustainableprocurement with an aim to promote circularity.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Copenhagen, Denmark
General information
City population: 602,481
Lord Mayor: Sophie Hæstorp Andersen

Strategy & governance
Copenhagen’s circular transition is guided by the
Circular
Copenhagen
Resourceand
Waste
Management Plan 2018 - 2024, and includes circular
objectives such as tripling reuse in the City’s “sharing,swap and reuse” facilities from 2,000 tonnes perannum (2016) to 6,000 (by 2024), increasing biogas
production from bio-waste, diverting more plastic
from incineration, and improving the quality andquantity of waste collected for recycling to achieve
70% household waste and light industrial andcommercial waste recycling. The circular actionsalign with the city’s Climate Plan, which aims for thecity to be climate neutral by 2025. The Waste
Management Plan must be updated every six years toaddress the latest challenges.
Key actions✪ Citizen engagement – Copenhagen launched acampaign aimed at raising citizen awarenessregarding waste prevention, food waste reduction
and swapping and repair of products. The multiplatform communications campaign enabled
Copenhageners’ own ideas on improving waste
awareness to be collected and trialled via upscaled
testing. The city also supports greater information
provision about a given product’s circularity(reparability, secondary material content, lifespanand end-of-life handling) so that citizens canchoose to consume in a more circular manner.

✪ Circular Innovation Platform – The Circular

Copenhagen innovation platform enables theinnovation of new circular solutions for waste andresource problems in close collaboration with

29

Unsplash / Svend Nielsen

innovative companies and knowledge
institutions. Projects are currently in progress toinvestigate and improve diaper recycling and thereuse of paint among other topics. The use ofdigital watermarks on packaging is also being
investigated in collaboration with AIM and theAlliance to End Plastic Waste. The projects
selected focus on residual wastes for which there
are currently no high-value recycling solutions.

✪ Circular construction – In 2020, Copenhagen

introduced requirements for material Life Cycle
Assessments and incentives supporting designfor disassembly, in the area of construction.
Demolition projects are now required to include
resource mapping and appropriate managementof materials for reuse and recycling. Copenhagen
also participates in the EU-project CIRCuIT, whichshowcases how circular construction approaches
can be demonstrated, scaled and replicatedacross Europe to enable cities to transition to acircular construction and demolition sector.

✪ Circular procurement – The city uses its public

procurement strategically to embed circularprinciples across many sectors and activities. To
date, demands for recyclable packaging havebeen included in tender criteria for food items
and work is being done in textile public
procurement to stimulate demand for the output
from the city’s own textile recycling efforts.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Eskilstuna, Sweden

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Nazrin Babashova

General information
City population: 67,359
Mayor: Jimmy Jansson

Strategy & governance
While there is no specific circular economy action
plan for Eskilstuna, relevant actions are embedded in
the city’s Waste Action Plan and Climate Plan. Targets
for the City include reducing the amount of
incinerated waste to 128 kg per capita by 2023. In
terms of climate change, Eskilstuna plans to be
climate positive by 2045 and to reduce CO2e by 80%
by 2030, compared to 2020.
Key actions✪ Soil recycling – The city is enabling the recyclingof excavated soils by investing in a soil sorting
plant. A pilot project is also being undertaken toassess the efficiency of construction withsecondary materials instead of using newly
extracted resources.

✪ Education initiatives – Residents of all ages fromprimary school age to adults are receiving
education and information on recycling, sortingfor recycling, reuse and sustainability as a whole.

✪ Textile collection – Separate collection of textile
waste was introduced in 2021 for all apartments
and public spaces. Textile waste has beencollected separately from houses since 2016.

✪ Logistical efforts – A pilot project has beenlaunched which arranges shared hometransportation of deliveries when shopping
locally. The project aims to reduce CO2 emissions,encourage social distancing during the COVID-19
pandemic, and support local business. The
municipality has its own transhipment centre to30

reduce transportation by the co-delivery of goods
to the municipal administrations. All vehicles are
powered by renewable fuels. In addition, 100% of
Eskilstuna’s city buses are driven on biogas
produced from the local wastewater
treatment plant.

✪ Plastic plate recycling – The Green Loop System is
now in place in some local schools. This rental
model offers plates, trays and other kitchenutensils which after use are returned to thecompany either for reuse or recycling.

✪ Repurposing furniture – The municipality has

promoted the internal reuse of furniture andfurnishings in the new construction of schools
and relocation of businesses. Refurbishment isdone by citizens, redesign companies andresellers of recycled furniture.

✪ Nutrients from wastewater – The city is piloting

an approach which aims to recycle phosphorus
and other nutrients from wastewater collected inresidential areas lacking connection to municipal
sewer systems.

✪ Circular electronics – Eskilstuna has introduced aplatform for the reuse of electronics and aninternal scheme to promote the reuse andrecycling of IT equipment.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Espoo, Finland

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Alex Inkilainen

General information
City population: 292,796
Mayor: Jukka Mäkelä

Strategy & governance
Circular economy is included in the city`s strategy;
Espoo Story, which sets important circular objectives
such as sustainable construction, addresses
biodiversity issues in a context of growing urbanisationand provides sustainable consumption choices for
citizens. A 4 year programme called Sustainable
Espoo has been set up involving both internal andexternal
stakeholders
tocoordinate
theimplementation of the sustainability objectives set in
the city strategy. The city is also developing a proper
Circular Economy Roadmap that will be closely
connected to its carbon neutrality 2030 roadmap.
Key actions✪ Smart and Circular Districts – Kera district is aformer industrial area being redeveloped into asmart and circular district that will be home for
14,000 residents. Through the Smart and Clean
Kera project, the new district is being co-createdwith different local stakeholder.In the process,Espoo and its partners are enhancing the
temporary use of buildings, preparing
collaborations for circular construction, andtesting circular services for citizens. This
ambitious redevelopment project also connectswith the municipality’s ambition to reach carbon
neutrality in the construction sector.

✪ Circularity of plastics – Espoo has initiated several
projects to make the plastic waste stream more

31

circular. In the Closed Plastic project, themunicipality engages with stakeholders all along
the value chain to investigate how reuse andrecycling rates can be improved. In Story of
Plastic – From Waste to Product, plastic wastefrom schools is collected and turned into 3D
printing material at the LAB University of Applied
Sciences in order to explore new applications.

✪ City-to-city cooperation towards the circulartransition – Alongside fellow cities of Tampere
and Turku, Espoo is involved in the KIEPPI project,aiming to develop circular economy solutions that
promote the transition to becoming sustainableneighbourhoods. It includes a number ofexperiments and pilots such as the testing of new
business models for the sharing economy and thedevelopment of a collaboration model for circularpartnerships. Successful pilots are then expected
to be scaled up. Espoo is also involved inEuropean projects and initiatives related to
Circular Economy, including CityLoops and thecircular economy working group of the Climate
Leadership Coalition.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Est Ensemble Grand Paris, France
General information
Region population: 426,000
President (Mayor of Montreuil):
Patrice Bessac

Strategy & governance
Est Ensemble Grand Paris is an urban local authority
gathering nine cities in the north-eastern suburbs of
the Paris Metropole. Since its creation in 2016, Est
Ensemble has affirmed environmental exemplarityand ecological transition as the pillars of its
development. The first Circular Economy Plan wasapproved in 2019, and focuses on three strategic axes:
mobilising local stakeholders to drive the transition toa circular economy, optimising resources byimplementing local loops and making Est Ensemble
Grand Paris an exemplary circular organisation. These
strategic axes aim to optimise the circular managementof resources in the territory by favouring local
exchanges. Further benefits include the creation of
local job opportunities and reduced dependency on
external resources.
Key actions✪ Urban topsoil revitalisation – Est Ensemble

supports an applied research project called
Technosoils. The project investigates theregeneration of excavated soil from construction
with compost and earthworms to make it suitablefor use in landscaping public spaces and urban
gardens. This approach reduces dependency on
imported soil while also reusing excavated soil
produced from construction in Greater Paris.

✪ Urban infrastructure for exchange of secondary

construction materials – The urban metabolism
study focusing on building materials conducted in2019 has highlighted the n to develop new urban
platforms that will play an intermediary role
between demolition and construction building

32

Est Ensemble / Dcomdrone

sites, enabling the storage, management andexchange of secondary materials. Digital tools formatching supply and demand will also be
developed alongside workshops and meetings to
inform and engage stakeholders. Further similar
projects are available here.

✪ Signature of a circular planning charter – In order toencourage circular practices in the construction andurban planning sector, Est Ensemble Grand Paris hascreated a charter for the development of the circular
economy aimed at social housing companies,
developers, promoters and real estate actors. The
charter now brings together more than forty cosignatories, companies, developers, builders andsocial housing organisations. The text sets theobjective of recovering 70% of building waste.

✪ Financial and technical support for green

innovation – In order to mobilise economic players
around issues including local employment,sustainable development and circular economy,
the following initiatives have been launched tooffer financial and technical support; (1) annual callfor Zero Waste projects to raise awareness about
waste generation and encourage a sustainable
lifestyle among citizens, (2) Impact Funds for the
support of social and solidarity economy entities
whose jobs contribute to social and ecologicaldevelopment, and (3) the local Green Economy
Awards to recognise and reward companies
whose operations are sustainable.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Évora, Portugal

Reporting Cities

Dreamstime / Clement Mantion Pierre Olivier

General information
City population: 54,000
Mayor: Carlos Pinto de Sá

Strategy & governanceAlthough Évora does not have a specific circular
economy strategy, the topics of sustainability andcircularity are central to the city’s municipal policies.
They are particularly visible in the work of the
Operational Services and Economic Development
departments as well as the Education and Social
Intervention and Youth and Sports Divisions.Together
with 11 other municipalities in the Alentejo Central
region, Évora shares a series of waste and recycling
targets including achieving a recycling rate of 80%,
achieving recovery of over 48kg of urban solid waste
per inhabitant per year, and implementing theseparate collection and processing of bio-waste by
the end of 2023.
Key actions✪ Separate bio-waste collection from large

producers – in 2021 a separate bio-waste
collection service was initiated for school
canteens, and other large producers such as
hospitals, restaurants, hotels and the Portuguesearmy. The organic waste is used in the productionof an organic agricultural corrective “Alentejo
Fertil” used in tree and shrub crops.

✪ Mediterranean Seasonal School Menu – Tostimulate the local agro-economy, school menus
have been adapted in six school canteens(covering 12 schools) with respect to seasonality
and the use of local products, including thecreation of a vegetarian menu. The work included
training for canteen staff, awareness raising in thecommunity and monitoring the satisfaction of
the school community.

33✪ Short food supply chain – Projeto Ervilha aims topromote a short local production andconsumption circuit for vegetables and fruit
through awareness raising sessions within the
education community, as well as tackling foodwaste by forwarding any surplus foodstuffs for
distribution to needy families in the union ofparishes of Malagueira and Horta das Figueiras(promoting entity).

✪ Eco-Schools project – In 2020/2021, 23 schools in

Évora took part in the international Eco-Escolas(Eco-Schools) sustainability education
programme run by ABAE which included thetheme of circular economy. Several students won
awards for circular economy projects.

✪ Locally sourced certification – The Km0 Alentejo

initiative is a certification system which aims toboost the consumption, production andtransformation of locally sourced food products.
The scheme certifies restaurants and foodoutlets, identifying food products which originate
from within 50 km.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Freiburg, Germany

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Marco Pregnolato

General information
City population: 230, 241
Lord Mayor: Martin W. W. Horn

Strategy & governanceFreiburg has been a leader in resource efficiency andwaste management for decades. In recent years, thecity has shifted focus to waste prevention, reuse andrepair, and engaging businesses and citizens to dotheir part for a circular transition in the city. Freiburg
adopted its own 59 sustainability goals in 2017. Manyof the 2030 targets relate to circularity, in particular;
sustainable and fair public procurement, halving foodwaste, regional food supply, raising awareness forconscious consumption and behaviour patterns,
reduced waste generation and reduction of CO2
emissions by 60%. A full list of Indicators on
Sustainable Development in the city can be found in
the biannual local sustainability reports andnumerous SDG related measures are listed on themunicipality’s website.
Key actions✪ Valorising Green Waste – Freiburg aims to recycle

the 12,000 tonnes of green waste generated
annually on public and private land in the region,
ensuring material and nutrient recovery. Part of
the green waste is processed into quality certified
compost and the woody part is processed into
vegetable charcoal in the carbonisation plant. The
quality of the plant charcoal produced allows it to
be used as a feed additive or to improve soil.

✪ Emission-free street cleaning and waste

collection – Freiburg’s waste managementcompany ASF has set its own circularity targets
for 2030. They include resource conservation
through waste avoidance, reuse and recycling
and reduction of emissions through transport

34

optimisation and emission-free transport. ASF
began the switch to emission-free vehicles using
battery and fuel cell-based drive systems in 2012.
In 2021, Freiburg‘s streets were being cleaned
with 7 electric flatbed vehicles and sweepers. By
2023, 12 more fuel-cell vehicles will have joined
the fleet.

✪ Governance of circular initiatives – Through theGreenCycle Interreg project, Freiburg developed
its Circular Economy Strategy. Further, using adeveloped toolkit for circular solutions andmulti-stakeholder groups, the city piloted
innovations for circular management of
excavated soils. Thanks to active planning andmanagement, soil excavated from the city’s
construction sites is being used in theconstruction of the streets and public spaces of a
new urban development area, Dietenbach.

✪ Circular Economy as a special topic in the local

sustainability council – In 2022, the local
sustainability council which is chaired by themayor Martin W. W. Horn and consists of 40 local
decision makers from the fields of politics,
economy, science and civil society, chose circular
economy as its focus topic. Sector specific eventson the circular economy will follow.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Genoa, Italy

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Dario Bronnimann

General information
City population: 583,601
Mayor: Marco Bucci

Strategy & governanceGenoa’s Lighthouse City vision and Genoa 2050
Action Plan (approved in 2021) covers economic andsocial development, with a focus on climate action.
The Action Plan is built on the following pillars; (1)Innovative
DevelopmentofInfrastructures,
Networks and Communications (“GREY”), (2)Sustainable Urban Regeneration (“GREEN”) and (3)Community Enterprises (“SOFT”). The plan includes
thematic focuses such as innovative land use
planning, optimising and renewing infrastructures,
creating multifunctional connections, innovative
training and improving the governance of the city
system for the future generations. Genoa’s waste
management company has an Industrial Plan withthe target to close all resource loops by 2025 and thecity is planning the development of a dedicatedCircular Economy Strategy.
Key actions✪ Physical hubs for reuse – The city of Genoa

benefits from several reuse or ‘surplus’ centres,
which serve to allow for sharing and repair ofgoods and engagement and exchange between
citizens about the circular economy. Surplus
centres are managed actively by associations intheir respective neighbourhoods. The branding
and design of the diverse physical locations aredeveloped in collaboration with the university’sarchitecture faculty.

✪ Mapping circular businesses – In addition to thesurplus centres, the Refresh app developed aspart of the European FORCE Project, represents
an important tool for the dissemination of the35

culture of reuse and the circular economy in
Genoa. The platform has facilitated theestablishment of a real network of the many
commercial and non-commercial entities thathave made upcycling/recycling and reuse their
distinctive features.

✪ Repair cafe – In 2017, a Repair Café for repairing

household goods such as electronics andappliances was set up by the city in the Don
Bosco Institute. Repair demonstration eventswere held to teach citizens about common
repairs such as replacing the screen of a mobile
phone or changing an outlet. Repaired goods
included hairdryers, table and floor lamps, fans,desk calculators, power supplies for drill batteries,
computers and televisions. About 1,200 people
visited the Repair Café during its operation. If
financeable, the city would reopen the café.

✪ Gamification of plastic packaging collection –PlastiPremia works to collect plastic packaging
and raise awareness of the existence ofcompactor machines in public spaces. In the firstyear of use in Genoa, the 12 compactors collected
19 tonnes of plastic,corresponding to about 3
million bottles. PlastiPremia awarded over 15000
prizes to users such as public transport tickets
and discount coupons for local businesses. The
project is a collaboration between the city andnational packaging industry representatives.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Ghent, Belgium

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Dim Hou

General information
City population: 264, 666
Lord Mayor: Mathias De Clercq

Strategy & governance
Ghent’s ambitions for a circular transition are stipulated
in the city’s Climate Action Plan 2020-2025. Building on
a tradition of participation, the city of Ghent is taking
action in collaboration with the private sector, the port,
the university and its citizens. The Climate Action Plan
aims to speed up the transition to a circular economy
through actions including reinforcing small-scale
circular initiatives in the city, and scaling up the circular
economy through the Ghent Cleantech Regional
Cluster, a partnership with the port, the university,
Cleantech Flanders and the provincial government.
Key actions✪ Supporting circular solutions and businesses –Circular kickstart is a coaching trajectory directed
at start-ups and existing businesses to help themdevelop a sustainable and circular business model.
The ultimate goal is for entrepreneurs across all
sectors to commit to a sustainable and circularbusiness. With Circuit Circulair, Ghent supports
projects focusing on reusing and upcycling.
Selected projects are awarded with a coachingprocess to develop their business plan and areprovided with a subsidy to kick-off.

✪ Co-creation of new circular value chains – Ghent

is coordinating the European project PLASTICITY
which looks for new solutions for collecting,sorting and processing plastic waste together
with cities in the Netherlands, France and the UK.
The city is also taking part in the European
URBCON project which aims to help reduce CO2
emissions and the consumption of raw materials
in the construction sector. URBCON aims to36

produce concrete out of industrial by-products
and has a carbon capture element.

✪ Repair cafés and sharing platforms – The City inpartnership with the local waste company IVAGO
and the Public Centre for Social Welfare OCMW,
joined forces to spread awareness about Repair
Cafés under the name of ‘Gent Repareert’ (Ghent
Repairs). In these cafés volunteers help repair items
such as electronics, furniture, bicycles and textiles.
Following their success, further initiatives are being
developed such as Klusserette. Various sharing
initiatives have also emerged such as a children’s
bike-loan service (Op Wielekes), a circular sharing
platform that enables neighbours to borrow andlend household items (Peerby) and several car
sharing and cargo bike sharing initiatives.

✪ Low waste events and reusable cups – Since 2018,the use of reusable cups is mandatory at “TheGhent Festivities” and the city encourages
organisers of other events to switch tosustainable alternatives. The local waste company
IVAGO provides a cup rental scheme that can beavailed of. The city recently carried out a study
exploring the use of reusable cups in ‘Overpoort’,Ghent’s main students’ entertainment district.

✪ Social economy – the city of Ghent supports social

economy companies to take up a role in the circular
economy. It encourages companies to explore newniche markets (circular hub for construction
materials) and develop circular products. In 2021,
the ESF funded project “Ghent Social Circular Hub”
was launched to stimulate cooperation between
the social and the circular economy.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Grenoble, France

Reporting Cities

Pexels / Mikhail Nilov

General information
City population: 158.198
Mayor: Éric Piolle

Strategy & governance
The Municipality of Grenoble has piloted circular
economy actions across multiple departments
within the City administration. This approachenables the city to target a wide range ofstakeholders including citizens, local businesses andindustries, and to reach the social economy as wellas the building sector. The city currently has a Master
Plan 2020-2030 for repair and reuse. An overarchingcircular economy action plan is currently indevelopment by the Grenoble Metropole and is
expected to be delivered by the end of 2022. At
the same time a framework for how tointegrate circularity into public procurement isbeing developed.
Key actions✪ A site and cooperative for circular businesses –Grenoble Alpes Métropole is actively supporting aa cooperative called Fabricanova which facilitatesbusinesses in upscaling and marketing theircircular services and products. Another initiative
supported by the city is Pôle R, an 8,000m² site ofbuildings proposed to house a range of facilities
for reuse, repair and recovery of materials, alongwith an incubator forcircular startups.

✪ Stepping up circular procurement – Grenoble hascommitted itself to SPASER, a French national
scheme for the promotion of socially responsible
public procurement. The city will finalise theimplementation of the plan within its
organisation in 2022, aiming among other things,

37

to reduce the city’s carbon footprint, decrease
waste production, improve the quality ofmaterials in construction and renovation, increase
vegetarian meal options in the city and build
resilience to climate change.

✪ Sustainable consumption at la Machinerie –La Machinerie is a concierge service offered to aworking-class neighbourhood in Grenoble. It
provides residents of the neighbourhood with acommunity cafe, a concierge service desk, asecond hand shop, a DIY workplace, a digital
corner (to fight the digital divide) and acommunity fridge (to limit food waste). La
Machinerie aims to contribute to thedevelopment of a more sustainable way of life bygiving citizens access to education, resources andalternative economic activities.

✪ New waste disposal centres – Four new waste

disposal centres in the Grenoble Metropole
enable residents to donate objects that are easily
repairable, so they can be given a ‘second life’. In
the first month of implementation a total of 1,200
objects were collected, 82% of which weresuccessfully repaired.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Guimarães, Portugal

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Bruno Martins

General information
City population: 158,124
Mayor: Domingos Bragança

Strategy & governance
The Strategy for Circular Economy in Guimarães
called RRRCICLO is an ambitious, innovative, andintegrated approach to circularity, with measurable
objectives translated into targeted actions. It includes
an action plan to improve circularity in key sectors, anaction plan for municipal waste management (20162025) as well as a communication plan to promoteawareness and education on the value of waste. It
was done with the support of a task force engaging
several partners from civil society, academia and local
and national institutions. Strategy targets include thegoal of 55% municipal waste prepared for reuse andrecycling by 2025, with this increasing to a minimumof 60% by 2030. The city also coordinates a quintuple
helix governance ecosystem entitled “Guimarães
2030” through which the public sector, businesses,
civil society and academia are engaged for the
mission of achieving climate neutrality by 2030.
Key actions✪ Bio-waste Strategy – Guimarães is expanding

implementation of door-to-door organic waste
collection for households and businesses,
including community composting initiatives. The
municipal bio-waste action plan foresees
continuous improvement in this field to reduce
waste generation, better manage collected
waste and revalorise it locally. The city was also
the first in Portugal since 2016 to implement
Pay-as-you-throw waste charges for a fairer
distribution of the costs of waste management.

38✪ Plastic-free municipality ambition – The cityuses its own procurement to prevent plastic inmany public spheres including local foodmarkets where to avoid the use of single-use
plastic bags, citizens receive free cloth bags andvendors receive compostable bags.
Compostable bags are also used in public litterbins and street sweeping services. Glass bottles
are used at City Hall meetings, reusable cups areprovided at public events and reusable waterbottles are distributed in schools. The Aqualastic
initiative raises awareness on how to reduce andprevent plastic pollution in waterways using art
and innovative methods.

✪ Environmental education – The Urgezes Parish of
Guimarães set up a circular hub which brings
together actions of environmental education andawareness, practical workshops on reusing andvaluing products and a bank for the collection
and repair of products. The municipality alsoorganises and hosts a second-hand market forhousehold goods twice per month.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Haarlem, The Netherlands
General information
City population: 161,265(Metro area: 420,447)
Mayor: Jos Wienen

Strategy & governance
Haarlem has developed an action plan entitled
Haarlem Circulair 2040 which places engagement of
citizens, businesses and other key stakeholders as acentral objective. As part of the action plan, Haarlem
has identified public procurement as a tool to
implement the circular economy and has therefore
also made this a central feature of its strategic
procurement policy. Given the overarching goal, alldepartments of the city are expected to work towards
the goal of being a circular city by 2040 including in
the areas of finance, spatial planning and civil works.
Key actions

Unsplash / Mark de Jong

✪ Circular and socially responsible procurement –Haarlem has developed a procurement policy
which sets goals related to local purchasing,circularity and socially responsible procurement.
This was derived partly from the Roadmap for
Circular Procurement and Commissioning andacknowledges the role that commissioning playsin achieving circular procurement goals. Progress
towards this is measured by the percentage ofprocurements which are determined to be
circular. Haarlem has set ambitious targets of 50%
of all procurement being circular by 2025 and100% by 2030.

✪ Sustainability Budgeting – all budget holders

across the city’s departments are obliged to workwith a sustainability budget which considers thesustainability impacts of any new projects orinvestments. There are ambitions within the city
to develop this further to also consider circularity
as well as climate change.

39✪ Circular Business District (C-district) – Haarlem

stimulates a business district in the city which has
a focus on circular business models. One of the
focuses is on 3D printing and the c-district
enables knowledge sharing and networking
between businesses working in this sector.

✪ Sustainable Food Sector – The city is working todevelop a sustainable food system by facilitating
food-focused living labs. Haarlem works with the
Cities2030 programme entitled Food2030 as well
as Haarlem Food Future to further this agenda.

✪ Construction Projects – Haarlem seeks to enablea circular economy for construction material byrequiring material passports for every project.
This will not only facilitate more circularconstruction but also help develop the Artificial
Intelligence (AI) sector in the region.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Helsinki, Finland

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Juha

General information
City population: 658,864
Mayor: Juhana Vartiainen

Strategy & governance
The City of Helsinki has developed an action plan forcircular economy implementation entitled theRoadmap for Circular and Sharing Economy. This
document which concerns the activities of each of
the city’s organisations is coordinated by its
environmental services department and sets out
actions that the city will take in relation to construction,
procurement, green waste and the Sharing Economy.
Each focus area has a defined circular economy goal
for the year 2035, and various interval goals between
the writing of the report and the 2035 date.
Key actions✪ Circular Economy Training – The city delivered

training on the topic of the circular economy tovarious stakeholder groups including personnel
working in construction, the city’s eco-support
staff, and students in the city’s vocational college
and adult institute.

✪ Construction – Helsinki has organised a circular

economy cluster programme on the theme of
construction, promoting circularity anddeveloping novel approaches to reuse andrecycling of building materials. It has also createddemolition instructions that incorporate key
elements of the circular economy, for example
the source segregation of demolition wastes. This
will be further developed to provide guidance on
pre-demolition audits and reuse. The city is
responsibile for the coordination of land mass
management to reduce traffic, emissions andcosts associated with transporting material to40

landfills. In a project called Towards Carbon
Neutral Municipalities and Regions (CANEMURE),
Helsinki is working on sustainable public
procurement including in procuring the best
possible technical solution for renovating
Hämeentie Street. This is estimated to save 27%of total emissions compared to a standard
construction site. Cobble stones are also reused
across the city. Helsinki is additionally an active
member of the UUMA forum, which promotes theuse of recovered materials in construction.

✪ Bio-Waste – The city is working to tackle foodwaste by working on both prevention andredistribution activities. It partners with Stadin
Safka and the Parish Union of Helsinki to collectsurplus food from schools, daycare centres andhospitals and redistribute it to residents.
Additionally through the collection of composted
green waste and top soil from construction sites,
Helsinki is producing its own substrate which canthen be used in its construction activities.

✪ Promotion Activities – Helsinki has participatedin the preparation of a national strategic
programme to promote a circular economy. It has
also established a cross-sectoral circular economy
network which meets several times a year forknowledge sharing and networking.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Høje-Taastrup, Denmark
General information

City Loops

City population: 50,676
Mayor: Michael Ziegler

Strategy & governanceSocial, economic and environmental sustainability iscentral to Høje-Taastrup’s development strategy. This
long-term strategy and work plan touches upon allparts of the municipality’s services, activities,
education and job opportunities and is supplemented
by a number of sectoral plans including the Climate
Plan aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2030. A
dedicated Sustainability Strategy is also being
developed by the Environment Department in close
collaboration with all city departments, citizens andthe business community. The procurement strategyof the city focuses on professionalising public
procurement and making it more sustainable.
Key actions✪ Construction and demolition waste as a resource –As part of its involvement with the CityLoops
project, Høje-Taastrup is developing different
solutions and tools aimed at valorising
construction and demolition waste. As such, themunicipality is using crushed concrete from
Taastrupgaard, a social housing area that is being
redeveloped; as recycled aggregates in new
concrete for the foundation structure of its newcity hall. Excess soil from this excavation is in turnused for landscaping in Taastrupgaard where a
new school is being built. Høje-Taastrup has also
taken advantage of this project to engage with all
stakeholders in order to unlock existing barriers to
the circular transition in the construction sector.

41✪ Circular public procurement – The Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) are strongly
embedded in Høje-Taastrup’s Procurement
Strategy, particularly number 12 Responsible
production and consumption. The use of
procurement as a strategic lever to achieve morecircularity can be observed in a number of publictenders including in the procurement ofmunicipal employee uniforms where the reuseof existing uniforms is required.

✪ Raising awareness within the cityadministration – Høje-Taastrup is aware thatawareness raising is a necessary step for the
local transition to a circular economy. The
municipality organised a virtual event attended
by around 90 members of city administration
staff on how the organisation can support
a transition towards a circular economy.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Izmit, Turkey
General information
City population: 371,002
Mayor: Fatma Kaplan Hürriyet

Strategy & governanceThe city of Izmit has circular economy action goals
including aiming to use different recycling methods
to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill,raising awareness among citizens regarding recycling
facilities available to them and encouraging local
food production. In line with Izmit’s Municipality
Strategic Plan 2020 - 2024, the Municipality proposes
to increase the total amount of waste recovered by atleast 20% for five different waste types namely,
packaging waste, textiles, electronics, batteries, andvegetable oil. Progress will be monitored by theEnvironment Protection and Control Directorate of
the municipality.

CCD

implemented. The application provides thelocations of all the recycling points spreadthroughout the city. Citizens can see theirclosest recycling point, see the waste categories
accepted, get directions and give feedback to
the municipality.

Key actions✪ Improving separate waste collection – Izmit

Municipality and Izmit City Council have worked
together to implement the “Children’s Prize
Market”. It is a recycling and waste collection
centre where residents can drop off theirrecyclable waste (for example batteries,
electronics, glass) in exchange for toys and prizes
for their children. Some items are brought to thecentre by philanthropists. The aim of the projectis to encourage the separate collection of wastefrom the source and promote and normalise
recycling within the household.

✪ An app for raising awareness – The web-based

and mobile application ‘Izmit Çınar Atık‘ aims toraise awareness about the importance ofrecycling and to inform citizens about the
projects which the municipality has already42✪ Resilience in the local food system – Wanting toincrease local resilience and to support local
farmers, Izmit aims to increase local agricultural
production (e.g. + 30% for local wheat production)and in 2020, began to cultivate and produce awide variety of summer and winter vegetables.
The Çınar Public Market has also been integrated
into this project in order to enable local producers
to sell their products for real value and prevent
price imbalances created by intermediaries.

✪ Composting of green waste – Green waste fromthe region is collected separately and used forcompost production. In the Durhasan
Neighbourhood, tree branches collected during
the mowing of local parks and gardens areconverted into compost fertiliser. The produced
compost will be used as a soil improver for bothparks and gardens of the Municipality.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Lappeenranta, Finland
General information
City population: 73,000
Mayor: Kimmo Jarva

Strategy & governance
The City of Lappeenranta approved its Circular
Economy Road Map in 2021. The roadmap is expected
to impact on all departments of the City’s council andwas produced by Greenreality Services and theregional Circwaste steering group. The stated aims ofthis road map focus on the sustainability aspect ofwellbeing, the role that the environmental sector canplay and the skills needed by businesses and civilsociety to ensure a successful transition towards
circularity. The authors, Greenreality Services andCircwaste will be responsible for monitoring progress.

Dreamstime / Tatiana Savvateeva

of design and marketing of circular products
called UpCycle was organised by the city. The
event also provides a platform to share ideas andexamples of the circular economy, aiming toencourage further innovation within this sector.

Key actions✪ Making urban infrastructure more sustainable –As part of the Urban Infra Revolution project
funded by the Urban Innovative Action initiative,
Lappeenranta city along with local partners
investigated and developed an innovative
geopolymer composite material suitable for use
in the Finish climate to replace virgin concrete inconstruction works. The project aims to reducethe carbon footprint of infrastructure by providing
an alternative to virgin concrete. To enable thecircular economy, new business models forconstruction based on local cooperation weredeveloped. Many local stakeholders including
Lappeenranta University of Technology, industry
groups and city departments were involved.
Development work for creation of industrial
symbiosis and finding new uses for local waste
streams is ongoing.

✪ Circular Economy Design Event – A knowledge

sharing and capacity building event on the topic

43✪ Sustainability Watch – As a demonstration oftransparency regarding its climate and circular
economy targets, Lappeenranta launched an
online Sustainability watch website to show
progress and activities contributing to seven key
thematic circular economy topics including
public procurement, land use planning,
construction, recycling and waste management,
nutrient recycling, and sharing economy andsmart services. The website includes 27 circular
economy (CE) actions based on the city’s CE roadmap and 99 climate actions based on the city’s
climate programme.

✪ Valorising wastewater sludge into biogas – Thebiogas plant in Kukkuroinmäki uses municipal
bio-wastes and wastewater sludges to produce
zero-emission fuel which is used for public
transportation. There are 5 delivery stations in theregion of South Karelia and all of the waste trucks
as well as some of the local buses and private cars
run on the biogas.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

La Spezia, Italy

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Alex Ghizila

General information
City population: 93,678
Mayor: Pierluigi Peracchini

Strategy & governance
La Spezia does not yet have a dedicated circular
economy action plan. The city development strategy
includes dedicated actions regarding waste, water,
mobility, energy, construction and demolition. Two
municipal departments, Mobility & Energy andEnvironment and Spatial Planning & Construction,
collaborate for the development of circular initiatives
in the territory under strategic coordination to alignwith both local economic development and EU
policies. Initiatives are monitored using indicators
under both strategic and management control
systems on a biannual basis.
Key actions✪ Awareness raising about waste management –The city carried out communication campaigns
targeted at trade citizens in areas with door-todoor collection to ensure proper separation of 5
waste fractions. Meetings were also held toengage local trade associations on the waste
separation. Information campaigns have also
been set up to encourage home composting,including a digital training course for beginnercomposters and a digital educational kit for
primary and middle schools.

✪ Shared mobility – The city is undertaking

multiple projects for lower-emission sharedmobility options including the expansion andelectrification of public transport, specificallytrains and buses. The ‘Speziainbici’ shared bikeservice is being strengthened by the introduction

44

of more stations, electric bike charging and repair
tools and the expansion of the network of cycle
paths and bike racks.

✪ Energy and Water efficiency – The municipality

joined framework agreements for the supply ofgas and electricity by introducing Capacity
Allocation Mechanisms (CAM). The agreements
provide for defined energy savings, energy
diagnosis and energy requalification. Energy
saving actions include the replacement of public
lighting and traffic lights with LED lights and thereplacement of thermal systems in publicbuildings with high-performance systems. Watersaving measures have been integrated into themunicipal building regulations which require
new construction and renovation projects to
install equipment to regulate the flow of waterand in the case of projects with green areas over
100 m2, the use of rainwater collected from roofs
for the irrigation of greenery and the cleaning of
paved areas.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Leuven, Belgium

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Kevin Liebens

General information
City population: 101,396
Mayor: Mohamed Ridouani

Strategy & governance
Leuven has a circular economy strategy which has beendeveloped within the framework of its urban circular
strategy platform “Platform Leuven Circular”. Leuven
Circular is the steering group of the platform andcomprises representatives from across the city’s mainstakeholder groups. The circular economy strategy isbuilt around 5 strategic objectives including circular
entrepreneurship, sustainable and circular consumption
and policy work. For each objective, targets and actions
are set out, defined in close collaboration with key
stakeholders within the Platform Leuven Circular. As acity, Leuven attributes much of its success to the powerof collaboration, acknowledging that government,
academia, industry and civil society cannot be
separated. Leuven 2030, is a city-wide network working
towards climate-neutrality through projects such as its
Roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality.
Key actions✪ Repair Hubs – The city and Maakbaar Leuven are

involved in running a digital platform called
LeuvenFixt to support residents in accessing
repair services. Another related initiative is Repair
Connects where citizens can register broken
devices and receive repair advice. There is aphysical space where repairers can experimentwith spare parts and citizens can come to fix a
broken device together with a voluntary repairer
or use the provided tools and repair the device
themselves. These projects have been amplified
by the INTERREG ShareRepair project.

✪ Circular Hubs for entrepreneurs – C3000 was set
up as a circular hub for circular and social

45

entrepreneurship (including training modules
and a desk counter to support companies,
start-ups and organisations on circularity). It
focuses on valorisation of waste streams such as
plastic & textile). The aim is to connect
sustainability ambitions to the strategic policy
choices of the City of Leuven.

✪ Building materials bank – Leuven is mapping thematerial and waste streams used and generated
in the city, with an eye on economic valorizationand closing loops. The objective is to reduce theuse of primary raw materials and contribute to
the city‘s climate ambitions. The city alsoestablished the Building Material Platform,
operated by local NGO Atelier Circuler, whereindividuals and companies can purchase or returnrecycled or reclaimed building materials. The
materials bank has been used as a case study in apaper from KU Leuven researchers on bottom-up
monitoring approaches.

✪ A Circular Makerspace – Maakleerplek is a circularmakerspace in Leuven which connects
educational, business and creative actors in an
open space. Maakleerplek comprises a Low TechLab, an open studio and wood workshop
connected to the materials bank, as well as aHigh Tech Lab, focusing on the plastic waste
stream and following the Precious Plastic
approach. No waste will be a basic housekeeping
rule of the makerspace.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Lille Metropole, France
General information
City population: 1,179,050
Mayor: Damien Castelain

Strategy & governance
The Métropole Européenne de Lille (MEL) has
developed a number of action plans and policies tosupport its transition towards a circular economy.
These include a Circular Economy Strategy, a Blueprint
on Household Waste, a Local Household Waste
Prevention Programme, and a Climate and Energy
Action Plan. Many departments of the council
contribute to these, in particular the Economic
Development Department and the Department for
the SECAP. Within the Circular Economy Strategy,
targets are broken down by waste stream andincludes a 15% reduction of household waste and 50%
reduction of bio-waste by 2050.
Key actions✪ Circular Construction – The metropole hascommitted to using dredged sediments fromlocal canals for construction projects. Initiated by
the Hauts-de-France region, this initiative saw
500 tonnes of sediment used to backfill a sewage
trench, create a parking lot and convert public
spaces into a town centre. The metropole has also
set up META,a materials bank to store, process
and commercialise secondary raw materials at
metropolitan level.

✪ Crowdfunding for entrepreneurs – MEL Makers isa crowdfunding campaign to finance local
start-ups which focussed its 3rd edition on
projects participating in the circular economy.
The campaign, which collected € 60,000 from932 contributors, is supporting 10 entrepreneurs
adopting “upcycling” methods.

46

Dreamstime / Dean Eldrick Tan✪ Local food focus – The metropole adopted a Local
Food Strategy in 2020 aimed at making the local
food system more circular and resilient. Morerecently, it launched a call for expressions ofinterest to further the sustainable food sector in
the region, encouraging local production andconsumption. Different strands of this call related
to nutrition, packaging, logistics and reducing
food waste.

✪ Circular fashion – The metropole is supporting

research and innovation on topics such as
traceability and recyclability in the textile stream
with the CETI innovation hub and cluster. It is now
preparing the launch of the European circular
fashion trophies (France-Belgium-The
Netherlands), aimed at giving visibility andrewarding organisations who act to limit the
impacts of the textile industry.

✪ Heat recovery for district heating – As part of the“Heat Highway” project, the metropole is setting
up a 20 km-long pipe network to connect theexisting district heating system to its local waste
incinerator (which until now has only been
generating power), in order to phase out a coalfired power station, thus improving air quality
and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Ljubljana, Slovenia
General information
City population: 295,000
Mayor: Zoran Janković
Pexels / Blaž Gostinčar

Strategy & governance
The municipality of Ljubljana has prepared its Circular
Economy Strategy in co-creation with over 80 different
stakeholders including all city-departments, public
institutions and public companies. The process was
led by a circular economy manager, who is also
responsible for the strategy implementation. It
includes the following four priority areas; single use
plastics, food loss and waste, textiles and waste
electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Ambitious
targets are set for the year 2027.
Key actions✪ Circular administration – Considered as one of thepioneer cities in the field of circular economy,
Ljubljana wants its administration employees tobe a role model for citizens. As such, themunicipality has been organising internal Circular
Challenges, encouraging employees to commuteby bike, reuse or upcycle old pieces of furnitureand reduce the amount of food waste generated
in public canteens. These challenges aim tostrengthen “circular thinking” and decisionmaking within the administration in a simple andsocially responsible way.

✪ Involving citizens in the circular transition –Public participation is a key enabler to the longterm success of Ljubljana’s circular transition andas such it forms a core part of several projects. In
APPLAUSE (supported by the Urban Innovative
Actions programme), the municipality encourages
citizens, through large-scale educational andawareness raising campaigns, to harvest invasive
alien plant species for production of various

47

innovative bio-based materials. Likewise when thecity hosted the UEFA European Under-21
Championship in 2021, citizens, schools and sport
clubs were asked to donate worn out footballs foruse as urban decorations and flower pots todecorate the streets. After the championships they
were donated finally as toys to animal shelters andzoos. Additional Library of THINGS were
established in two Youth Centres, thus supporting
citizens on their circular transformation.

✪ Industrial symbiosis – Public company Energetika

Ljubljana is using the excess heat from thecompany Lek for district heating. By using less fuelboth partners facilitated a reduction of annual CO2
emissions by 1000 tonnes. The amount of heatgenerated provides heating or domestic hot-water
for around 300 apartments, and is equivalent tosaving over 20 Olympic swimming pools-worth ofwater. The project represents a new good practiceof circularity in Ljubljana, connecting two different
industries – pharmacy and energy.

✪ Digitalisation and open data – Ljubljana isparticipating in several European projects in thisarea such as CIRCULAR4.0 and DEAS, aiming tostrengthen digitalisation processes by SMEs tofoster innovation processes and to improve thevalue of using open data for public service andbusiness, in order to accelerate the transition to
the circular economy in Alpine Space.

✪ International collaboration – Ljubljana was chosen

as one of the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
within the mission call of the European Commission
in the framework of the Climate-Neutral and Smart
Cities Mission. Ljubljana is also co-chairing theEurocities’ working group on waste.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Loures, Portugal
General information
City population: 201,646
Mayor: Ricardo LeãoStrategy & governance
While Loures does not have a strategy dedicated tothe circular economy, the topic is addressed
throughout city strategies relating to environmental
and sustainable policies. The Environmental
Education Plan and the Climate Change Adaptation
Plan have set circular actions for the next 5 years,
and have identified indicators and communication
objectives related to these actions. In 2023, the city
will start monitoring its Climate Change Adaptation
Plan, launch a Water Sustainability Plan and create aworkforce that will develop a sustainability
framework. This framework will also include circular
economy topics.
Key actions✪ Mobile environmental education – With the LRS

360° project, Loures wants to educate and raiseawareness among school children about thecircular economy and the environment. The
project carries out actions at schools in the
Municipality, with the aim to build sustainableconsumption habits and increase the recycling
and reuse of materials. Activities include viewing
a short 3D film about the life cycle of packaging
and visiting a waste packaging deposit.

✪ Home composting in suburban and rural areas –The “Compostar outra forma de Reciclar”
initiative focuses on the recovery of organic
waste, as well as the reduction of organic waste
sent to landfills or incinerators.Targeting houses
with gardens in the suburban and rural areas of
the Municipality, the project provided interested
participants with a composter, a shovel, a set of

48

CCD

ecopoints, 20 seedlings for planting and a
training session on domestic composting. To
date, 871 people have received training and theMunicipality estimates that this has led to a 40%
reduction of bio-waste present in mixed
municipal solid waste.

✪ Collecting and recycling cooking oil –The Municipality has equipped cooking oilcollectors, installed in the various city parishes,with a sensor system. This system allows remotemonitoring of the filling level of containers,
contributing to an optimization of the collection
process and avoiding more than one ton of CO2
emissions per year. Each oil collector has a QR
Code which informs citizens of the filling level.
Loures has an environmental education programassociated with this network, called “Vamos dar olitro” (let’s give the litre), with a contest and a
prize for the school that collects the most oil.

✪ Recycling cigarette butts – On average 7,000

cigarette butts per minute are thrown to theground, a total of approximately 10 million per
day in Portugal alone. Due to their lightweight,
the butts are transported by rainwater, following
the watercourse into waterways and ending up
in the ocean. With Eco.beatas, Loures collects
cigarette butts and aims to explore whether thiswaste can be transformed into raw material for
product production.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Malmö, Sweden
General information
City population: 344,166
Mayor: Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh

Strategy & governanceThe circular transition forms an integral part of thecity of Malmö’s Environmental Programme, a strategic
set of documents which lays out the direction of thecity’s long-term work regarding environmental
issues. This Environmental Programme sets out anumber of overarching goals such as achieving net
zero emissions, increasing biodiversity and increasing
resources
efficiency.
The
programme
iscomplemented by sectoral plans such as the Waste
and eco-cycle plan 2021 - 2030 for waste management.
All departments and municipally-controlled entities
are responsible for fulfilling the goals and regularly
report on progress made.
Key actions✪ Procurement of circular signs – A long-timemember of the Procura + network, Malmö takes
into consideration the whole life-cycle of goods
and services in its procurement policy. Within the
INTERREG ProCirc project, the municipality ispiloting a new procurement process for signs andnavigation (e.g. signs for buildings) that takes
their end-of-life into account, promoting reuse
first,either by the city or the supplier, and if notpossible recycling.

✪ Circular construction – Committed to a moresustainable construction sector, Malmö looking todrive the development of a local market forrecycled building materials by implementing a
number of pilot projects locally. The city is also
involved in a number of national initiatives, such as
Centrum för cirkulärt byggande - CCBuild, whichbrings different stakeholders together to foster

49

Dreamstime / Markovskiy

circularity and push the sector to become carbonneutral by 2030. The city engages with local
businesses through LMF30, another initiative thataims to create a shared vision at the local levelaligned with the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and build discussion on circular topics
including construction materials, business models,building design and carbon-neutral maintenance.

✪ Sharing economy – Malmö considers developing

the sharing economy as a way to improve resource
efficiency and close the loop on a number ofstrategic waste streams. The sharing economy isat the core of an open-source platform the city has
developed, where citizens can find a wide range ofsharing solutions, items, and services at a low cost.
The concept is also central to the Sege Park
redevelopment project, through which a numberof initiatives have been set up to promote thesharing economy to residents and further engage
them in participatory planning, events andpublic discussion.

✪ Recycling textiles – To improve circularity in asector that for now remains mostly linear, Sysav, aSouth Scania waste company, has set-up theworld‘s first large-scale facility for treating textile
waste; Siptex. At the facility, textiles are sorted bycolour and fibre composition using near-infrared
light. This makes it possible to handle large flows
and produce textile fractions that are adapted todifferent recycling processes.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Maribor, Slovenia
General information
City population: 113,778
Mayor: Aleksander Saša Arsenovič

Strategy & governanceThe city of Maribor approved a Circular Economy
Strategy in 2018. Maribor’s unique governance modelfor the local circular transition brings together publiccompanies for waste, utilities and public services, themunicipality and the circular innovation agency
W-Cycle as steering entities. Circularity is seen as an
economic model for the efficient management of
resources in Maribor and the city actively engages ininternational and European networks to learn andexchange further. Maribor’s circular initiatives cover
several sectors, including waste management,
construction, energy, mobility, water, planning as wellas the social economy.
Key actions✪ Urban Soil for Food – This project aimed to makeuse of urban bio- and mineral waste to produce
quality soil to be used in urban gardens,
landscaping and construction. This innovative
method for the production of safe, certified soil
was piloted in four urban gardens on unusedmunicipal land, also contributing to food selfsufficiency and regional, seasonal consumption.
An agri-living lab will be established alongside
the urban gardens to further support economic
development and innovation.

✪ Re-use Event – As part of the European Waste

Reduction Week 2021, Maribor hosted a 2-day
public festival to raise citizen awareness andencourage active participation of circularconsumption by asking people to bring anddonate their unwanted products (like books,
textiles, toys), use of a mobile electronics repair

50

Unsplash / Leonhard Niederwimmer

station, distribution of reusable cups andecological seeds.

✪ City Water Circles – This project has the goal toreform outdated urban water infrastructure
systems with circular principles by promoting awater saving culture. Techniques include
adopting urban rainwater harvesting andutilisation as well as greywater recovery measuresat city level. The pilot action will demonstrate thepotential of using treated wastewater andrainwater to produce secondary raw materials(SRM)-based construction products. Materials
produced from recycled water will be used forroad maintenance works.

✪ Education for Sustainable Food and Nutrition –As part of the European Union’s Development
Education and Awareness Raising Programme,
Maribor is working to raise awareness amongst
young people about the importance of sourcing
locally grown food in the context of sustainableeating. In Food Wave, activities involving local
youth organisations aim to encourage selfpreparation and avoid fast, often unhealthy diets.

✪ Citizen Involvement – Maribor organised an online

peer review to tackle the city’s policy challenge on
circular economy citizen engagement. Thematic
experts and six peers shared their experience andprovided recommendations such as long-term
citizen involvement and creating a holistic strategy
for citizen participation.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Mikkeli, Finland
General information
City population: 52,121
Mayor: Janne Kinnunen

Strategy & governanceAs part of the City Strategy, the Climate Programme
was approved in November 2021 via Mikkeli council
deliberations. The whole organisation is involved in its
delivery from food services, real estate, procurement
and environmental services. The Climate Programmeis governed by the Environmental Council. Mikkeli’s
central target is to achieve climate neutrality by 2035.
To achieve this there are specific targets related to theconstruction and demolition waste, bio-waste andprocurement. Progress is monitored in relation to eachtarget area. For bio-waste, metrics include greenhousegas emissions from waste management / year
(CO2 eq), shares of recovery fractions and bio-waste in
the total amount of waste, and biogas production andsales (tonnes / euro / year).
Key actions✪ Circular construction – Within the Horizon

2020-funded CityLoops project, Mikkeli has been
applying pre-demolition audits and selective
demolition approaches to boost the regional
recycling and reuse of construction materials. A
drone-based building scanning methodology isalso being developed to identify and track
construction material flows. The Finnish RAPURC
project also focuses on promoting business
opportunities and models for the reuse of
construction materials and components.

✪ Bio-waste – Within CityLoops, Mikkeli is carryingout demonstration projects aimed at a) improving
the quality and quantity of separate bio-waste
collection, and b) testing a number of treatment
and valorisation approaches for the waste

51

Dreamstime / Sergey Petermancollected. The city is also looking to adjust
procurement processes to promote a more circularbio-waste sector. The NGO ”Support from welfareorganisations in South Savo”, reduces food waste
and builds community spirit by serving freecommunal lunches made from food unused in five
local schools. The NGO ViaDia Mikkeli reduces thegrocery shop waste by distributing unused food in
fabric bags to people in need. The funding comesfrom ViaDia’s own recycling and reusing business.

✪ Recycling Centre – KIEPPI The city of Mikkeli has

implemented additional identification andsorting of waste sourced from residents and small
businesses in order to improve recoveryof recyclables.

✪ Wastewater management – Blue Economy Mikkeli(BEM) centre of expertise is a strategic
development platform of the city in wastewater
management. The new wastewater treatment
plant is utilised for developing solutions for
wastewater reclamation, sludge valorisation,energy recovery and digital smart water solutions.
BEM is a part of the Ecosystem Agreements
Programme (2021 - 2027) by the State of Finland.

✪ Biogas production from local resources – Etelä-

Savon Energia Oy (South-Savo Energy Ltd) produces
biogas in two power plants. The raw material forbiogas is agricultural side streams, manure,wastewater and bio-waste. In addition to fuel, thefinal product is soil conditioner and fertiliser.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Murcia, Spain

Reporting Cities

Dreamstime / Tupungato

General information
City population: 447,182
Mayor: José Antonio Serrano Martínez

Strategy & governance
Murcia has a comprehensive Circular Economy
Strategy which acts as an action plan for its activities
and circular targets. This strategy cuts across all
departments of the city council and includes otherpublic entities, business and residents. Those
departments with the most influence in Murcia aresubject to monitoring and follow up,including thedepartments of tourism, trade and agriculture. The
governance plan in the strategy (Section 5) defines theroles and relationships between stakeholders toeffective implementation. The city will lead on theimplementation of the strategy, creating various
bodies as required. Circular economy goals and targets
are set out in the MCES, this includes the overarchingtarget of achieving 100% circularity by 2050.
Key actions✪ Bio-waste – Murcia is currently participating in alarge number of projects which seek to tackle
food waste and promote a circular economy forbio-waste.
• The VALUEWASTE project is focused on
developing a system for urban bio-waste
valorisation through different value chains, suchas proteins and fertilisers.
• Within the HOOP project Murcia is creating an
online platform for knowledge exchange
between like-minded cities to help support theimplementation of large scale circular biowaste projects. As part of the HOOP project,
Murcia is also a member of BiowasteClub andparticipates biannually in workshops on the52

topic of bio-waste with seven otherparticipating cities.
• Murcia participates in the LifeEnrich project
which aims to maximise the use of nutrientsfrom wastewater sources by using themas fertilisers.
• Murcia is also a replication zone within the
CityLoops project, which is demonstrating aseries of innovative tools and urban planningapproaches, aimed at promoting circularity forthe bio-waste and construction and demolition
waste (CDW) material streams.

✪ Regional networking – At the “Circular Economy

Fair”, Murcia arranged more than 80 workshops,
presentations, round-table events and speeches.
Murcia brought together experts, politicians,
private companies, non-profit companies,
universities and citizens.The city also arranged
for a public Hub to be set up for privatecompanies operating in the circular economy,
providing assistance to help them develop theircircular initiatives.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Oslo, Norway

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Oliver Cole

General information
City population: 702,543
Mayor: Marianne Borgen

Strategy & governance
Circular economy principles are fully integrated into
many of the municipality’s planning documents
such as the Climate Strategy, the Strategy for Future
Consumption and the Action plan for reduced
plastic pollution of the Oslo Fjord. Technical andenvironmental experts are involved in the areas ofwaste and resources while actions are overseen by
the Department of Environment and Transport.
Measures related to the circular economy arereported annually within Oslo’s climate budget.
Key actions✪ Developing circular indicators – The city of Oslo iscurrently collaborating with three research
institutions to establish a set of indicators tomonitor the development of sustainable andreduced consumption in Oslo. The set ofindicators will look at the 5 waste streams
identified in the Strategy for Future
Consumption; food, plastics, electronics, textiles
and building and construction materials, as wellas considering climate accounts for indirect/
consumption based emissions such as mobility. It
will encompass all activities from the Oslo cityadministration as well as from citizens
and businesses.

✪ Resources centres – Oslo is involved in the

Resourceful Cities project. The project aims to
support the development of “resources centres”
which are physical spaces where citizens,businesses, researchers and the public sector
can connect and co-create to close local

53

resource loops and promote waste prevention,
reuse, repair and recycling. Vollebekk Factories
is a resource centre which provides affordable
production and office spaces for entrepreneurs
developing and testing circular solutions.

✪ Circular Economy Partnership – From 2017 to

2021, Oslo coordinated the Circular Economy
Partnership, an initiative of the European Urban
Agenda which involves a number of cities,
member states and european institutions andaims to stimulate the reuse, repair,refurbishment and recycling of existing materials
and products to promote new growth and job
opportunities. With a focus on closing material
loops, the sharing economy, and resource
efficiency, the Partnership identified 12 actions
and recommendations to be put forward to theEU, Member States and cities.

✪ Valorising wastewater sludge into biogas – On

top of purifying wastewater from over 600,000
inhabitants and thus contributing to making the
Oslofjord cleaner, the VEAS facility located southof Oslo valorises sewage sludge into biofertilizers
and soil improvers whilst also producing biogas
for energy production and fueling local buses.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Oulu, Finland

Reporting Cities

Dreamstime / Hilda Weges

General information
City population: 209,648
Mayor: Päivi Laajala

Strategy & governance
The municipality of Oulu approved a circular economy
roadmap in June 2021. The main focus areas of theroadmap are energy production and energy efficiency,
construction and demolition, material flows and foodsystems. For all these areas the city has set clear,communicable targets. Between 2020 and 2030, it
wants to decrease the use of fossil fuels by 60 - 80%
and increase energy efficiency by 30%. A target is set
to achieve 0% edible food waste by 2030. The city plans
to systematically raise the recycling rate of municipal
waste, but can report good successes in the recycling
rates of construction and demolition waste, andsewage sludge, at 75% and 100% respectively. The city
wants to further promote the Sharing Economy to leadto a more effective use of resources.
Key actions✪ Circular city planning and construction – Within

the Tahkokangas district development project anumber of measures are being taken to promote
circular planning and construction practices, inparticular increasing the use of secondary
materials.The project will also pilot circulardemolition processes. A Circular Economy Manual
will be produced, aimed at implementing thesemeasures in future projects.

✪ Circular education – Oulu has created a circular

economy guide for schools, to help children
engage with the concept of sustainable living, andfocuses on teaching transversal competences. The
city believes that these skills are necessary for thecircular economy of the future.

54✪ Circular economy store – Within the CircHubs 2

project Oulu is creating a “circular economy
store” concept - a new type of operating andservice platform that can deploy service concepts
with the principles of the circular economy andsustainable development. The target is to create
an operation model that leads to the creation of asolidified “circular economy store”. At the store
customers will purchase upcycled products, usesharing economy services and repair theirown products.

✪ Reducing food waste & supporting job creation –The Prikka kiertoon project aims to create a new
system for promoting the use of food waste in
Oulu. The food waste is collected from stores andother donors, sorted and distributed to food aid
operators. The project also focuses on job
creation in the circular economy, in particular in
low-threshold tasks. The primary target groups
for this are the unemployed, those at risk of
unemployment and those in a vulnerable position
outside the labour market.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Picanya, Spain

Reporting Cities

CCD

General information
City population: 11,409
Mayor: Josep Almenar i Navarro

Strategy & governance
Picanya does not yet have a dedicated Circular City
strategy, however all municipal areas, including theMayor’s
office,EuropeanProjects
Office,Sustainability, Rehabilitation and Maintenance Area,
collaborate to coordinate the integration of circularity
into public policies and monitor implementation.
This ensures alignment with the Sustainable
Development Goals. Local development goals are
set in terms of compliance with the 2030 Agenda forthe municipality.
Key actions✪ Waste management – Awareness campaigns

target improved selective collection for urban
solid waste, including the use of recycling parks.
A mobile ‘eco-parc’ promotes the collection ofsmall electrical appliances and household goods
for repair and reuse. Further, the local waste
collection company runs a second-hand shop
providing door-to-door collection of unwanted
and bulky household goods.

✪ Renewable energy rebates – Picanya offers

municipal tax rebates to encourage theinstallation of renewable energy selfconsumption systems in households andcommercial buildings. For those who install PV
panels on their building, there is a 95% discounton the Constructions, Installations and Works(ICIO) Tax, akin to the fee for a construction
permit. Further, there is a 50% discount on the55

municipal property tax (IBI) for homes, or 25%
discount for businesses, for the year following
the installation.

✪ Sustainable mobility – Picanya published a freeguide to the local cycle lanes with suggested
tours promoting cultural heritage and natural
resources. Electric vehicle charging points are
installed around the city.

✪ Citizen engagement – To involve citizens actively

in more sustainable lifestyles and consumption
behaviour, the city’s initiatives include organisingused book exchange points called ‘Libros Libres’,
providing fresh and seasonal food in the school
canteens, distributing reusable and recycled bags
and takeout containers to markets andcommerce and promotion of buying fromlocal shops.

✪ Public procurement – Public buildings are being

renovated to improve energy efficiency, including
solar panel installation on roofs. Paper and event
supplies in the public administration are procured
considering secondary material content andminimal environmental impact.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Porto, Portugal

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Gyovannazeredo

General information
City population: 231,962
Mayor: Rui Moreira

Strategy & governance
Porto has developed a “Roadmap to a circular city”
plan which sets out its ambitions for a circulartransition across a number of themes including thefood system. The responsibility for implementing thisplan sits with the Environmental Planning andManagement
Department
but
many
other
departments are key stakeholders, including theGreen Structure Municipal Office. The strategy is
structured around four areas; production andconsumption, natural resources and environmentalbalance, circular constructions and sharing resources
and waste prevention and management. Whilethese themes are linked to eight of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), there are also clear links
with relevant European and National policies,
directives and targets. Porto reports its progress
through many mechanisms including voluntarycommitments(Circular
CitiesDeclaration,
Carbon Disclosure Project), and local and national
statutory reporting.

✪ Local initiatives in the Food sector – At a local level,
Porto has developed many circular initiatives
including Organic Products Market, Municipal
Network of Solidarity Restaurants, Organico,Home and Community Composting and Municipal
Urban Vegetable Gardens.

✪ Sustainable Procurement Policy – beyond organic

waste, Porto aims to develop a roadmap andpolitical guidelines for sustainable public
procurement to guide the process of service andproduct acquisition in the municipality, and had
already set up an internal cross-departmental task
force to carry out the co-construction of a
Sustainable Public Procurement Policy, including
circular principles.

Key actions✪ European Funded Initiatives in the Food sector –Porto’s work with projects funded at theEuropean level includes CityLoops, FoodLoop(through CityLoops), Good Food Hubs,
INTHERWASTE and ECOVAL. With varying
focuses and levers, these projects all contribute to
the creation of a circular economy for organic
waste in the region and the reduction of foodwaste. FoodLoop, for example, is a competition
Porto promoted to encourage the application of
circular ideas and business models for the foodsystem in the city and in the region.

56✪ Water treatment infrastructure – The municipality
is investing to upgrade the water treatment
infrastructure to include reuse of treatedwastewater, recovery of nutrients and theelimination of micropollutants.

✪ Computer recycling and sharing – Through citizen

and stakeholder engagement, Porto is educating
its citizens on repair markets. A local network has
been implemented to train citizens to repair
donated computers which are in turn donated to
citizens in financial and technological vulnerability(ReBOOT initiative).

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Prague, Czechia

Reporting Cities

Unsplash / Ouael Ben Salah

General information
City population: 1,275,406
Mayor: Zdeněk HřibStrategy & governancePrague has developed the Circular Prague 2030
strategy, which is part of the wider Prague Climate
Plan 2030. The plan was developed based on ametabolic city scan of Prague carried out by theorganisation “Circle Economy”. While supervised by
the Deputy Mayor for the Environment, it is the
Department for Environmental Protection of Praguecity hall that is responsible for its implementation.The
aim of the Prague Climate Plan 2030 is to transformthe city into a climate responsible and environmentallyfriendly metropolis. There are 69 measures within theplan including a CO2 reduction target of 45% of 2010
levels by 2030.Biannual implementation plans areissued and monitoring of progress against the targets
and actions in the plans is required on a yearly basis.
Key actions✪ Circular Prague 2030 – This is the main strategic

document of the City of Prague for the transition
toward a circular economy, adopted in January
2022. The strategy contains strategic and specificgoals with 34 project cards in 7 main areas:
Construction, Water, Food,Waste, Procurement,
Business and Governance.

✪ Climate Action Plan 2023-2026 – The aim of

Prague’s climate action plan is to elaborate on
concrete implementation steps based on the
Circular Prague 2030 strategy. It should represent
a compact and easily understandable document
containing timelines and monitoring indicators,
and detail individual circular projects including
identifying the responsible organisations andoutlining the budget.

57✪ Reuse, Repair and Refurbishment – Prague has acomprehensive plan to meet the 3 Rs (reduce,reuse, recycle). 3 REUSE points have been set up
around the city, 1 furniture bank has been
established and “Green Sunday REUSE” meetups
are held on a monthly basis in various city districts.
Currently a circular map to inform residents about
the management of bulky waste and end
destinations for specific wastes is being developed.

✪ Closed Loop Biomass Processing – In 2021 Prague

implemented a food waste collection system forhouseholds. 15,000 of 90,000 collection points haveregistered for an organic waste bin so far. A pilot is
now being run to collect non-compostable foodwaste. Additionally, Prague has purchased a biogas
plant and plans to develop a state-of-the-art circularbiomass centre on the outskirts of the city.

✪ Circular Packaging – Prague’s goal is to separate

at source 65% of post-consumer packaging waste
produced per year by 2030. While this would
require a substantial increase from the current
rate achieved of 31%. It is hoped that improving
kerbside collection of plastics, metals and cartons
will enable this. Prague is currently opening up astate-of-the-art waste separation facility,
supported by city-wide communication
campaigns and a ban on single use plastics.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Roskilde, Denmark
General information
City population: 51,793
Mayor: Thomas Bredam

Strategy & governance
Sustainability is a core theme of Roskilde’s recently
developed Property Strategy which centres on
economic, environmental and social qualities. Thismeans for example that projects worth more than
one million euros must be preceded by life cycle
analysis (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) studies.
This strategy, which has generated wide politicalbacking, places circular principles at the forefront of
all new building projects and sets the scene for someof the city’s ambitious forthcoming objectives;
namely raising re-use and recycling rates by 2030
and ensuring that construction in the city is both
circular and profitable. The city also has targets inplace relating to the LCA/LCC commitments,
requirements for durability within design andclimate neutrality across the municipality including
within the heating network.

Unsplash / Daniel Marshall✪ Resource Efficient Construction Projects –Construction of waste sheds in the developmentof the Musicon Area involved reusing materials.
A key outcome of this project was to define a
new standard within the municipality regarding
how to use “end of waste criteria’’. This project
also implemented a new process for the city towork with its contractors, finding ways tocollaborate creatively to ensure constructions
are buildable and sustainable.

Key actions✪ Design for Disassembly – The City of Roskilde

constructed a new parking garage for 240 cars
with the principles of ‘designing for disassembly’
considered throughout. In addition, more than
1000 tonnes of concrete found at the site werereused in the construction, primarily as
aggregate material (backfilling).

58✪ Soil Reuse – In negotiation with a potential

contractor, the city influenced its practices toensure that instead of disposing of soil and using
newly extracted resources from a gravel pit, thecontractor reused all soil and concrete on theconstruction site, which decreased the cost of
the development by ~ 25% while also reducing
CO2 emissions by six tonnes.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Tampere, Finland

CCD

General information
City population: 244,233(greater urban area: 403,000)
Mayor: Anna-Kaisa Ikonen

Strategy & governanceTampere’s climate response takes the form of its“Climate Neutral Tampere 2030 Roadmap” whichsets measures for climate action through 6 themes.
Within theme 5 “Sustainable Consumption”, 10
measures due to be implemented before 2025 are
related to the circular economy. Tampere’s firstaction plan on circular economy, accepted in spring
2022, presents the strategy and the scheduled
implementation plan including the responsible
parties. The plan is implemented and its progress ismonitored as part of the city’s new strategic
development program “Climate Neutral Action”,
where circularity is one of its 3 focus areas. Tampere’s
City Strategy also recognises the importance of thecircular economy. In its ambitions to be a “city of the
future”, Tampere states “We support industrial
renewal, accelerated by the green transition,and thepotential of the circular economy. We boldly takeadvantage of the opportunities of digitalisation inservice development”.
Key actions✪ Procurement – Tampere has developed a set of

public circular economy procurement
procedures which it has applied to the
procurement of street construction, including
the street of Yliopistonkatu where this was first
implemented. The procurement received anational award and was also a finalist in
2022 Procura+ Awards.

59✪ Circular Economy Partnerships – Tampere’s“Partnership model for sustainableneighbourhoods” (KIEPPI) project has worked with
consultants to develop a model for partnershipworking to advance the circular economy. The
model enables organisations to analyse their own
activities and that of others to find synergies where
the circular economy can be developed. Companies
operating in the city, the city’s internal
departments, KIEPPI and technical advisors
undertook this work. The city also ran a Circular
Economy and Cleantech Ecosystem linking
businesses of all sizes to further their commitments
to the circular economy and cleantech.

✪ Construction Sector Projects – Tampere is part of

the EU-funded ReCreate project enabling the city
to evaluate and develop policies to promote
circular construction practices. It has also long
been working with the construction sector toenable a circular economy for soil and rock. A soil
management programme was approved in 2021
and the city specifically employs a member ofstaff for this function.

✪ Promotion of the Circular Economy – Tampere isa member of the KIERTO (Circulation) project
which aims to simultaneously promote thecircular economy and develop employment
opportunities. Both aims have been recognised
locally as very important.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Torres Vedras, Portugal
General information
City population: 83,072
Mayor: Laura Rodrigues

Strategy & governanceAlthough there is no formal action plan or road map
for the circular economy in Torres Vedras, first steps
are being taken in this direction. Once in place, it isexpected that the circular economy strategy will
have its own governance body comprising the Mayorand Members of the Council. The municipal circular
economy strategy will be transversal, relating to theentire local community, but with particular emphasison the operation of municipal services linked to theurban planning, construction, water and urban
waste sectors.
Key actions✪ Circular procurement – Torres Vedras has so far

launched two public tenders based on circular
procurement procedures, namely for the supplyof school meals and for the supply of specialist
working clothes.

✪ Pact for the Valorization of the Circular Economy– Torres Vedras became a signatory to theInstitutional Pact for the Valorisation of the
Circular Economy in the Centre Region which iscoordinated by the Commission for the
Coordination and Regional Development of theCenter (CCDRC). Its commitments as a signatory
relates to raising awareness of the circular
economy, tackling the use of single-use plastics
and fighting against food waste. Food waste
reduction will be in part achieved through thedevelopment of the School Meals
Sustainability Programme.

60

Unsplash / Adam Hornyak✪ Circular Economy Strategy development –It is considered essential to ensure the involvementof the local community and all sectors of economic
activity in the transition from a linear to circular
economy. The integration of circularity principles in
the urban metabolism of the city of Torres Vedras
assumes particular relevance, since the urban
planning and construction sector has aconsiderable weight in the use of resources and in
the production of waste. This paradigm shift willencourage innovation, creativity and theestablishment of new synergies between public,
private and social actors, to make Torres Vedras
more sustainable and resilient.

✪ CityLoops Replicator – Torres Vedras Water,

Waste and Waste Management, which is fully
owned by the municipality of Torres Vedras, but
operates autonomously, applied and was
accepted as a CityLoops replicator. Torres Vedras
believes it can learn from a wide variety of tools,
processes and actions related to two of the mostimportant waste streams in Europe: Construction
and Demolition Waste (CDW), and Bio-waste (BW).
This includes Seville’s work with wastewater
infrastructure; pre-demolition screening of CDW
and Mikkeli’s public procurement guidelines fororganic municipal waste (BW).

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Trikala, Greece
General information
City population: 81,355(Trikala region: 131,085)
Mayor: Dimitris Papastergiou

Strategy & governance
Trikala’s Circular Economy activities are referred to in
its Sustainable Urban Development Plan and the
Local Waste Management Plan. While there is no
separate Circular Economy Strategy, these two plans
along with two specific plans in development; theSustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan and theRoadmap of the city for Climate Neutrality set out
the proposed approach for furthering the circular
economy in the region. Tasks to implement thesestrategies will be spread across the departments ofthe city administration, likely involving the Smart
City Department; the Department of Cleaning andRecycling; the Department of Social Care; and theEnvironmental Department. The Roadmap for
Climate Neutrality is expected to define targets
until 2030.
Key actions✪ Food and first aid supplies redistribution –Local companies, city departments and otherlocal institutions have all been involved in thecollection and redistribution of materials andproducts such as meals for the vulnerable andfirst aid supplies for social services.
Redistribution networks for textiles have also
been established in conjunction with the
Department for Cleaning, citizens and nongovernment organisations (NGOs), whereby
textiles are collected, reused where possible andrecycled wherereuse is not an option.

61

Unsplash / Nestoras Argiris✪ Household Composting – residents of Trikala

were provided with home composting bins incollaboration between the City and the Regional
Environmental Development Company. Thisinitiative supported the city’s Local Waste
Management Plan and supports the efforts of
Trikala to reduce waste.

✪ Circular Projects – the city has organised two

circular projects; BIOCanteens and Circ4food.
Circ4food aims to study and develop agri-foodsystems inspired by the circular economy thatcombine composting and rainwater harvesting tocreate opportunities for urban vegetable gardens.
The BIOCanteens Transfer Network focuses on
distributing 100% organic food and where
possible, locally sourced products, reducing foodwaste and food miles.

✪ Repurposing, Reuse and Recycling – the city has

transformed a municipally run Christmas theme
park into a household recycling and reusecentre. In addition, it has repurposed an old windturbine blade into a bench for visitors to the parkand implemented separate collection of 5
streams of recycling.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Turku, Finland
General information
City population: 195,301
Mayor: Minna Arve

Strategy & governanceIn late 2021, Turku’s City Council approved the Circular
Turku roadmap. The roadmap was developed inpartnership with ICLEI and Sitra, the Finnish Innovation
Fund, and aims to make Turku carbon-neutral by 2029
and resource-wise by 2040. In the roadmap, fivesectors (food, water, energy, construction and mobility)
have been identified as priority to achieve this dual
objective. The roadmap was developed by the Climate
and Environmental Policy Unit. The complete process
involved more than 200 circular economy actors fromdifferent sectors including education, research, public
administration, and companies.
Key actions✪ Multi-Stakeholder collaboration – Turku is actively

collaborating with a number of actors at regionaland national levels to operationalise the circular
economy. A mapping exercise identified over 700
relevant circular economy actors and 90 local
circular projects, prompting the establishment of aworking group to discuss thematic issues withlocal stakeholders,. A number of clusters, such as
the Bastu business incubator and the circular
economy hub Topinpuisto have also been set up
to foster circular businesses.

✪ Innovative water management – Acknowledging
the need to reinvent water management in theregion to both improve the water quality andprotect local ecosystems, Turku Region Water
Ltd. and Turku Region Wastewater Treatment
Plant Ltd. have developed innovative water
management techniques to improve thesustainability of water networks in the Turku

62

Unsplash / Juho Luomala

region. Focus is placed on energy recovery using
heat pumps to provide district heating andcooling, wastewater nutrient recovery andcontinuous improvement of process circularity
through research and development.

✪ Supporting circular food systems through public

procurement – In order to contribute to the city’s
2029 carbon neutrality target and reduce
emissions associated with local food services, thestrategic procurement department of Turku set
the following objectives: (1) reducing food loss
from 12% to 6% and (2) doubling the proportion ofvegetarian meals from 24 percent to 48 percent.
To date greenhouse gas (GHG) calculators havebeen applied to service contracts for the City andadditionally the proportion of vegetarian meals in
the educational division has increased from one
vegetarian meal per week to eight vegetarian
meals in a six-week period.

✪ Industrial symbiosis to redesign the chemistry

sector – In 2015, Turku set up the Smart Chemistry
Park as a platform for regional companies inchemistry and chemical engineering tocollaborate and identify synergies. The chemistrypark fosters symbiotic relationships and provides
technical expertise to a wide variety of industrial
sectors such as metal, energy, paper andpackaging, building, and life science industries.
The stakeholders have access to sharedlaboratory spaces and the possibility to pilot andexpand production to an industrial scale.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Umeå, Sweden

Reporting Cities

Dreamstime / Emmoth

General information
City population: 130,224
Mayor: Marie-Louise Rönnmark

Strategy & governanceUmea has a Strategic Environmental Plan and isdeveloping its Action Plan for Climate Goals. While
this means that there is no dedicated circular
economy document, the city does employ a full-time
project manager whose remit is the circular economy.
There are a number of key departments which are
involved in the Strategic Environmental Plan and its
work on the circular economy including the Urban
Planning, Property Management, Procurement,
Waste Management and Business Developments.
The area most closely monitored at the moment is
the Waste Management Plan, developed by VAKIN.
Key actions✪ Networking and Collaboration – throughapplications for Green Deal projects, Umea has
worked with ICLEI and a range of local
enterprises, universities and civil society. This has
provided the city with the opportunity to expand
its network of key stakeholders in the region
who have an interest in applications of thecircular economy.

63✪ Procurement – Umea has reported its first useof circular criteria in the procurement of goods
and/or services. The city is looking at
developing its sustainable procurement
capacities and will employ two advisors on the
topics of circularity and sustainability to further
embed circular principals into its
procurement procedures.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Reporting Cities

Wiltz, Luxembourg
General information
City population: 7,533
Mayor: Fränk Arndt

Strategy & governance
Designated as Luxembourg’s first “Circular Economy
hotspot”, the municipality of Wiltz has set out its
ambition in a commitment charter for the circular
economy. Circularity is then put into practice acrossall projects led by the municipality through thefollowing 6 fields of application; health and wellbeing, innovation and capacity building, water andenergy, spatial planning and developments, the local
economy and resources and finally services andlogistics. A “circular economy” service has beencreated to support other departments in theimplementation and monitoring of progress. Within
the Pacte Climat initiative, Wiltz also receives someexpert and thematic support on circularity from
Luxembourg’s national government.
Key actions✪ Sustainable and circular construction for theCampus Géizt – The municipality has
commissioned the construction of a new school
campus including a primary school, a kitchen, a
day care centre, a children’s museum, a music
school and a sports hall. Circularity is central tothe project, notably regarding the choice ofconstruction materials, the ability to change theuse of the structures over time, reuse of rainwater,
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and useof renewable energy.

64Dreamstime / Oleksandr Tkachenko✪ Circularity in planning and new developments – In

the Op Heidert district, the municipality has
integrated circular economy principles in theplanning and the development of a newresidential area with 102 building plots. Plotpurchases will be subject to circular criteria andthe provision of a sustainable construction guide.
A community centre will be co-constructed with
future residents and circular business models
promoted for property management. The same
ambitions can also be found in the redevelopmentof the Wunne mat der Wooltz district.

✪ Circular Innovation HUB – Wiltz has set up a

dedicated hub to raise awareness about thecircular economy and engage local stakeholders.
The ambition is for the hub to become a national
centre of competence and training on this topic. A
number of activities are organised annually forschools, residents and businesses. The hub further
engaged municipalities from all over Luxembourg
through the annual Circular Economy Day.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

References

Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019. City
Governments and Their Role in Enabling a Circular
Economy Transition.
https://emf.thirdlight.com/link/lg3ap956qxbi66omej/@/preview/1.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Regenerative
Food Production.
https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/regenerativefood-production (accessed 01.09.2023).
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, reprinted 2021.
Completing the Picture: How the Circular Economy
Tackles Climate Change.
https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/completingthe-picture.
European Union, 2020. Circular Economy
Action Plan.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/
TXT/?qid=1583933814386&uri=COM:2020:98:FIN.
European Union, 2017. Public Procurement For A
Circular Economy Good practice and guidance.
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/pdf/Public_
procurement_circular_economy_brochure.pdf.

65

Global Resources Outlook, 2019. Natural Resources
for the Future We Want. A Report of theInternational Resource Panel. United Nations
Environment Programme. Nairobi, Kenya.
https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/globalresources-outlook.
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, 2021.
City Practitioners Handbook: Circular Food Systems.
Bonn, Germany.
https://circulars.iclei.org/wp-content/
uploads/2021/03/ICLEI-Circulars-City-PractitionersHandbook-Food.pdf
OECD (2020), The Circular Economy in Cities andRegions: Synthesis Report , OECD Urban Studies,OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/10ac6ae4-en.
Waste Framework Directive 2018/851/EU.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/
TXT/?uri=celex%3A32018L0851.

CIRCULAR CITIES DECLARATION REPORT 2022

Acknowledgements

Authors

Contributors

ICLEI Europe
Aisling Conolly - Officer
Dominique Sandy - Officer
Jon Jonoski - Officer
Kaitlyn Dietz - Officer
Nestor Gisasola-Maiztegi - AssistantNikolai Jacobi - Officer
Simon Clement - Coordinator
Simon Gresset - Officer
Stephan Köhler - Graphic Designer

The Circular Cities Declaration Support Partners
Circle Economy - Circular Flanders - Collaborating
Centre on Sustainable Consumption and
Production (CSCP) - ECERA - EIT Raw Materials European Committee of the Regions - European
Economic and Social Committee - European
Investment Bank - Eurocities - Metabolic Metabolism of Cities - ReLondon - The Regional
Development Agency for Podravje - Maribor The UN Environment ProgrammeEllen MacArthur Foundation
Joshua Newton - Cities Activation Manager
Pippa Henderson - Policy Analyst
Sarah O’Carroll - Cities Lead

The Circular Cities Declaration Signatories
Albergaria-a-Velha - Braga - Budapest - Capital
Region of Denmark - Copenhagen - Eskilstuna Espoo - Est Ensemble Grand Paris - Évora - Freiburg
im Breisgau - Genoa - Ghent - Grenoble - Guimarães Haarlem - Helsinki - Høje-Taastrup Kommune - Izmit Lappeenranta - La Spezia - Leuven - Métropole
Européenne de Lille - Ljubljana - Loures - Malmö Maribor - Mikkeli - Murcia - Oslo - Oulu - Picanya Porto - Prague - Roskilde - Tampere - Torres Vedras Trikala - Turku - Umeå - Wiltz

Cover picture: Unsplash / Robert Bye

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Contact
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability –European Secretariat
Leopoldring 3, 79098 Freiburg, Germany+49 761 368 92-0
info@circularcitiesdeclaration.eu

www.circularcitiesdeclaration.eu