Italy's National Strategy for Circular Economy identifies the administrative and fiscal tools designed to strengthen the secondary raw materials market in terms of availability, performance and costs; contribute to the achievement of climate neutrality objectives; and implement a roadmap of actions and measurable targets up to 2035. It sets out the legislative framework governing the objectives and the ways and means of achieving them. 

Macro-objectives include: enhance competitiveness of secondary raw materials; consolidate EPR schemes; develop fiscal reforms promoting the circular economy; improve traceability of waste streams; mandatory minimum environmental criteria for GPP; focus on strategic industrial supply chains; support industrial symbiosis; and foster circular skills.

This programme builds on the solid foundations laid by previous programmes.

• Chapter 1 sets out a vision of the circular economy up to 2030 and 2050.
• Chapter 2 addresses general measures used to help deliver a circular economy in the Netherlands. They affect the various phases of the product value chains.
• Chapter 3 describes measures that relate to specific product groups, such as furniture, plastic packaging and housing.
• Chapter 4 addresses supporting measures for a number of topics, such as knowledge & innovation, the Circular Netherlands Accelerator!, market incentives, financing instruments and circular procurement.
• Chapter 5 covers the collaboration between the parties involved in this programme.
• Chapter 6 describes which resources are available for the plans in this programme.

On 17 July 2024, the Catalan government launched the Roadmap for the Circular Economy in Catalonia (Full de Ruta de l’Economia Circular a Catalunya, FRECC), highlighting its push for sustainable development and accelerating the transition to a more circular and equitable economy that maximizes the value of resources by 2030.

The plan, developed by the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya), experts and citizens, aims to decouple economic growth from resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The roadmap will be implemented by means of two action plans: one for 2024-2026 and another for 2027-2029.

This strategic plan is about making the circular economy in Wales a reality. 

The Welsh Government set out their commitment to use the powers and levers available to them to accelerate the transition to a circular, low-carbon economy. Wales is already doing well in terms of recycling, but further efforts are needed. The strategy recognises that resource use is key, and states that a circular economy is a critical element of a green and just recovery because it will reduce consumption and prevent waste.

The strategy lists 8 headline actions for delivering a circular economy in Wales, from helping Welsh businesses reduce their carbon footprint by becoming more resource efficient to phasing out unnecessary single-use items, especially plastic.

In 2022 the Podravje region (Slovenia) became part of the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) and was selected as one of the 12 CCRI pilots being supported for the implementation of Circular Systemic Solutions (CSS) which could provide answers to major challenges beyond resource management and waste/water recovery.

The region is now developing a circular bioeconomy strategy which is the key document describing the available regional resources and linking them to suitable CSSs.

So far, two rounds of consultations with regional stakeholders have been organised and 9 key CCSs have been identified as the key activities within 4 priority areas:

• developing biobased products
• reclaiming resources
• producing regional resources
• capacity building to foster circular bioeconomy.

The Austrian circular economy strategy was developed and led by the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, together with many economic, scientific, administrative and civil society actors.

The transformation into a circular economy entails factoring resource flows into production, sales and consumption processes and thus massively reducing the use of materials (raw or otherwise), as well as the volume of waste and the strain on the environment.

Austria's circular economy strategy therefore aims to:

• Spare resources
• Achieve zero waste
• Achieve zero pollution
• Protect the environment.

The Romanian Government has approved an Action Plan promoting the Circular Economy as part of the National Strategy for the Circular Economy (NSCE). The action plan sets out a national vision for speeding up the transition to a circular economy, with measures geared to the nine economic sectors with the greatest potential for circularity in Romania's economy: agriculture and forestry; automotive; construction; food and beverages; packaging; textiles; electrical and electronic equipment; waste; water; wastewater.

The action plan has a cross-sectoral strand including promotion activities and a monitoring platform. It also stipulates 52 priority measures scheduled to be rolled out between 2024 and 2032.

See the Executive Summary of the Romanian Circular Economy Action Plan.

Kosovo, a potential EU candidate country, has embarked on an ambitious journey – the transition towards a circular economy. The aim of this journey is:

• to preserve the country’s nature and rich biodiversity
• to valorise its resources and talent, 
• to contribute to a more resilient and regenerative economy and a society where everyone has the opportunity to live a good life.

This roadmap by Kosovo's Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure identifies six priority areas: a) food and b) forestry systems, c) creative and d) retail sectors, e) built environment and the f) manufacturing sector. 

Given the strong interdependency of these sectors, the Roadmap also introduces horizontal areas that enable and support priority areas and further promote circular transition.

The Nordic Sustainable Construction programme (2021-2024) aims to deliver the Nordic Vision 2030, which seeks to make the Nordic region (Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, The Faroe Islands and Åland) the most sustainable and integrated region by 2030.

The programme focuses on how construction can help create a green transition with green growth in the Nordic region by working towards carbon neutrality and a sustainable, circular and bio-based economy centred around knowledge, innovation, mobility and digital integration.

It is divided into five strands, including Circular Business Models and Procurement, which promotes tools helping businesses go circular. The Nordic Circular Economy Playbook and its version 2.0 are part of the Nordic tool box for CE.

The roadmap for Ostrobothnia (Finland) provides practical examples on how to get started or develop sustainable thinking, based on the latest research and current trends. The focus is on developing concrete guides, tools and checklists to make the change easier for entrepreneurs.

1. Get started - Focus on sustainability
2. Facilities & energy - Less is more?
3. Raw materials - Everything starts from the choice of materials
4. Design & product development - Right from the start
5. Purchases - Have courage to set strict requirements
6. Production & manufacturing - Produce for the future
7. Transports & distribution - The closer the better
8. Communication & marketing - Tell!
9. Sales - New requirements
10. Waste & recycling - Go through your waste recycling
11. Co-workers & social corporate responsibility.