Building on challenges and best practices identified among frontrunner cities and regions, ICLEI Europe and its members have provided nine policy recommendations to address the limitations of the current scope of the CEA:

1. Leverage circular economy to cut consumption-based emissions
2. Reduce material consumption to enhance the EU’s economic security
3. Ensure the transition to a circular economy is just and inclusive, leaving no one behind
4. Ensure a multilevel governance approach in policy development and implementation
5. Shift funding from piloting towards scaling-up
6. Build capacity in cities to support circular economy implementation
7. Build the case to reform the linear tax system
8. Leverage public procurement to provide a launch market for circular businesses
9. Send clear signals to de-risk private investment

THE LIFE BIOBEST project aims to guide the mainstreaming of best bio-waste management and recycling practices, with a view to enriching depleted soil with high quality compost.

Its Comprehensive Guidance sets out key policy recommendations to strengthen the EU legal framework for bio-waste management. Drawing from extensive research and stakeholder consultation, it outlines three interconnected areas for improvement: boosting effective models for separate collection and recycling, promoting reliable markets for compost and digestate, and enhancing monitoring and enforcement of bio-waste regulations.

It provides policy measures to help close the gap between current practices and potential capture rates, addressing the fact that only 26% of kitchen waste is collected separately in the EU.

The SMART CIRCUIT project is designed to accelerate the adoption of digital and technological solutions in the circular economy, particularly in Central Europe's manufacturing ecosystem. It focuses on capacity building and knowledge sharing, enhancing regional and transnational cooperation, focusing on key value chains, promotion of circular economy strategies, and implementation of practical solutions.

The project showcases success stories from across Europe, emphasising the practical application of circular economy principles in various industries. They demonstrate innovative solutions to challenges in recycling, resource efficiency and sustainable manufacturing processes.

This brochure sets out 122 success stories from nine countries (AT, CZ, DE, HU, HR, IT, PL, SK, SI).
 

This paper analyses CE policies and discourses in three European cities to draw critical insights and recommendations.

It first reviews the academic literature on urban CE policies to develop a new conceptual framework for analysing CE discourses and policies. This is then used to analyse and compare the CE policies of Glasgow, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Results show that technocentric approaches to the CE are dominant in the three cities. Moreover, they have very limited social justice policies for fair distribution of the costs and benefits of a CE transition. Key policy recommendations to address these shortcomings are thus proposed.

The insights offered by this paper are valuable for practitioners and academics seeking to improve urban CE policies.

For many islands, the answer to the question “Why a locally, self-sustaining, and regenerative economy is needed?” is clear. The struggle often lies in the “how”.

In this article, it is argued that tools from regenerative economics, which follow an island economy-as-an-organism analogy, offer valuable and complementary insights to socio-metabolic research.

Indicators from flow-based and information-based ecological network analysis can quantify properties of an island's socio-economic metabolism (SEM) which are related to cycling, resilience, and degree of mutualism, among others.

To illustrate the applicability of these methods, Samothraki in Greece has been selected as a case study.

The EU Interreg 2 Seas project FACET focused on implementing circular solutions in the tourism and leisure sectors.

The circular economy is about migrating from the current business-as-usual linear system of production and consumption toward a system that focuses on valorising and circulating resources for environmental,  social,  and economic sustainability.  

This white paper proposes a  six-step framework for local authorities in their efforts to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

This framework builds upon the experiences of the FACET project, which has accelerated the implementation of circular solutions in four local areas in the 2 Seas regions, as well as other existing literature and past European projects.

Small Scale Actions (SSA) are a new element introduced for this round of URBACT action planning networks (2019-2022). This compendium summarises all of the SSAs carried out within the Resourceful Cities Network. It aims to support and inspire other cities which want to accelerate their circular transition.

A wide range of SSAs were carried out by Resourceful Cities partners, each one responding to an identified need within the individual city context. Actions included promoting citizen engagement and participation, enhancing knowledge and raising awareness of the circular economy, business support, data collection and monitoring and trialling new business models.

The authors of the study apply ascendency analysis (a systematic method based on information theory for quantifying the efficiency and resilience of natural ecosystems) at EU level and discuss the implications for urban waste management systems, taking the Netherlands as an example.

They argue that ecological principles can be useful for developing human-made systems. The system is made sufficiently robust to be able to cope with shocks by including a diverse set of stakeholders who provide:

1. resource-use efficiency through specialised know-how in capturing, processing and delivering a range of resources, and
2. resilience by generating multiple paths that allow these vital resources to circulate throughout the urban network at different levels and rates.

Arup has joined forces with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to produce a report on the value of circular economy in real estate.

The circular economy offers real estate investors a framework for achieving environmental and social goals while delivering better economic performance. How do real estate business models need to change - apart from eco-design - if circular principles are to scale up in this sector?

The report defines five models to improve financial performance to the benefit of real estate investors and construction clients:

1. Flexible spaces
2. Adaptable assets
3. Relocatable buildings
4. Residual value
5. Performance procurement.

The transition to a circular economy is at an early stage in the EU.

Regulations, markets and investment tools, including financial risk assessment, are adapted to linear models. Generally speaking, externalities linked to linear business models are not taken into account. This poses a problem for emerging circular models, which have to contend with the challenge of accessing finance, as the financial sector sees circular projects as highly risky.

To improve the conditions for financing CE projects, the Expert Group on Circular Economy Financing identified the main areas where incentives are needed, addressing recommendations to policy makers, financial institutions and project promoters.

See also: Incentives to boost the CE report.