The Circular Europe Network closer to local and regional authorities

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The Circular Europe Network guidelines on circular economy strategies at local and regional levels are now available in five languages, in order to facilitate the development of circular economy in more territories.

Local action is essential to achieve a circular economy. It is one of the key pillars of ACR+ vision for circular economy planning and a founding principle of the Circular Europe Network (CEN). But local decision makers do not necessarily have a clear understanding of what circular economy is or how to get started. This is why the CEN is now providing translations of its Guidelines on circular economy strategies by local and regional authorities published in English in 2015.

The guidelines aim at clarifying the concept and objectives of circular economy, and presenting circular economy in a practical approach with for example the first steps to take for building a circular economy strategy or which instruments, cross-sector and thematic measures to include. These guidelines were translated by ACR+ members into four languages in addition to the original English version: Portuguese (by LIPOR), Italian (by AICA), Catalan (by ARC) and more recently Spanish (by the Fundación para la Economía Circular).

Translated versions of the guidelines were presented during events organised by those ACR+ members during the year 2016. The most recent translation, the Spanish version, has just been officially presented today by ACR+ president Josep Maria Tost during a Meeting Point organised in Madrid by the Fundación para la Economía Circular. All versions of the guidelines are available on the Circular Europe Network website.

The guidelines are complemented with concrete examples of strategies and actions on circular economy implemented by local and regional authorities. At the moment, about 150 cases are already available on the CEN website, providing for instance information on the regional plan for circular economy and the sustainable food strategy adopted by the Brussels-Capital Region, the implementation of Green Public Procurement in London and in Rome, and industrial symbiosis activities in Sweden and Catalonia. Users can look for good practices using a map and different criteria – Instruments, Business models and Resources.

This database will continue to be enriched in the future with the view to showcase innovative strategies and actions focusing on the topics of interest for ACR+ members. Future activities of the Circular Europe Network will include in particular guidelines on sustainable food strategies, as well as the preparation of training material on circular economy.

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