Drawing on more than 30 years' experience, lessons learned from EU-funded projects and the expertise of local and regional authorities across Europe, ACR+ is sharing its recommendations for the Circular Economy Act.

This position paper outlines 26 recommendations to strengthen the EU’s circular transition, focusing on:

• Establish a Circular Single Market with binding targets to increase circular material use and reduce residual waste;
• Leverage public procurement to drive demand for sustainable and circular products;
• Reinforce EPR to support prevention, repair and reuse;
• Tackle WEEE through stronger collection, treatment and recovery of critical raw materials;
• Create a more circular built environment via sustainable (de)construction practices;
• Support the circular bioeconomy and tackle waste.

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