Author: Gorka Ibañez Eizaguirre
Held in Brussels on Wednesday, March 11, the awareness-raising event “Circular economy in regions and cities: Tackling the challenges and seizing the opportunities”, organised by the European Policy Centre, provided a great opportunity to compare all the lessons learned throughout the Frontsh1p project regarding understanding the principles of circular economy and their implementation at a regional scale. In that sense, the event was organised as a panel discussion of experts on different aspects of circular economy, a fact that enriched the content of the meeting, proving a more complete insight on the matter.
The discussion was opened by Aurel Ciobanu Dorde, Director of the Circular Economy unit of the DG Environment department at the European Commission, who explained the official position of the EU regarding circular economy. He explained that even if there’s a strong political support and awareness for circularity, measures that make economic sense and that are helpful to reach the goals of decarbonisation and resource efficiency are needed. In that sense, he defined as essential to create a synergy and understanding between the European Commission and the European Investment Bank regarding the priority areas and technologies for the development of circular economy in the EU.
Rhodri Asby, Deputy Director Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency of the Welsh Government gave a practical example of how a country like Wales, whose circularity policies were almost non-existent a couple of decades ago, has evolved and transitioned to a point in which is considered a model to follow in terms of waste management and recycling, becoming the 2nd best country in the world in recycling. Among other aspects that contributed to that evolution, Mr. Asby mentioned the relevance of partnerships with businesses and local communities, as well as the Welsh government’s compromise for transitioning to a circular model, through the adoption of measures like the “2021 beyond recycling” strategy.
Louise Coffineau, head of Advocacy of Climate and Environment in Eurocities, introduced the concept of the “doughnut approach” practised in the city of Amsterdam, which consists of putting people’s existential social needs in the central hole of the “doughnut” on one side, while on the other side within the circle the planetary boundaries are set, so that everything people need has to be inside this doughnut. She also gave other relevant examples of circular practices in other European cities, explaining the “creating value by not losing value” concept applied by Bordeaux as a city that uses a WWII submarine terminal to store and reuse construction materials: also the city of Barcelona, who has invested in circular startups, or the city of Malmo, whose boat terminal is being reused to give it to architects and builders as a way to manage and practise their projects there.
Jordi Pascual Torner, senior programme lead in Circle Economy, discussed the necessity of solving an existing financial gap in terms of circularity, exposing the interconnected problem of cities lacking financing because financiers don’t find the projects in need of finance in cities. In that sense, as a useful tool, he introduced the Circularity City Centre (C3) as an institution that can provide learning, advise and support for cities in implementing CE in cities.
Finally, Freek van Eijk, director of Holland Circular Hotspot, closed the discussion emphasizing that we should focus on cities and regions as they’re the main spots of action. He also pointed out the need to generate a proper sense of urgency among all stakeholders involved in implementing circularity measures, for which multilateralism and support from national authorities is crucial to attain success.
After the presentation by all the speakers at the table, a Q&A session was opened, in which questions were raised such as whether the implementation of the circular economy would really generate more employment, or whether the issue of self-sufficiency was taken into consideration in relation to the fact that the raw materials that are then recycled are imported from abroad. Those questions are linked to the results provided by the work carried out in Frontsh1p, as by concentrating on industries including plastic and rubber waste, food and feed, wood packaging, and water and nutrients, the project seeks to improve regional self-sufficiency by fostering social integration and local employment.
In sum, this event has been of great help to gain interesting and useful insights into the implementation of circular economy principles in the EU, as well as to understand the challenges and difficulties that the adoption of these principles poses for the future of the Union. Circular economy and the transition from a linear to a circular model at a regional scale is a matter of great relevance for ensuring the sustainability of our societies, and the present even paved the way to put in common all the lessons learned in Frontsh1p and extract valuable conclusions about the way to ensure the effectiveness of the implementation of a project as this one.
