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This CircBrief presents the views of municipal and regional road map creators concerning road maps to a circular economy and experiences of preparing them.
A circular economy road map makes sense The elements for preparing a successful local road map are: and enthusiastic team and commitment • Aoncompetent the part of management and participants • Ensuring resources for road map work • Thorough planning of the work • Local topics • Regular discussions with stakeholders • Focusing on road map implementation • Measuring and monitoring the impact of the road map • Peer support from other road map processes
• CircBrief – best practices of circular economy • December 2023 •
Preparing a road map is a circular process A circular economy road map is a plan prepared for a certain area that specifies objectives and measures for promoting the circular economy. The themes defined in road maps serve development needs in the region as well as objectives for the entire country. Preparing a road map is a multi-stage and circular process that involves planning; ensuring the commitment of participants; surveying the initial situation; specifying the focus areas, objectives, actions, schedule, respon-
sible parties and monitoring; road map approval; communications; implementation, monitoring and updating of the roadmap. The work requires the participation of the region’s business community, educational institutions, research institutes and other stakeholders as well as extensive commitment by the organisation. Citizens can also be included in the road map process.
© Finnish Environment Institute. 2023.
Preparing a road map is a circular process that requires extensive commitment.
Experiences of road maps and road map work Circular economy road maps were considered necessary. The municipalities felt that their own road maps were more ambitious than those of the regions. The strengths of municipal road maps were considered to be their cross-sectoral nature and actions to prevent waste generation. The broad range of tasks handled by municipalities and their strong administration provides support for road map impact. It was estimated that regional road maps increased regional cooperation and networking, the exchange of information on initiatives to promote the circular economy, and contributed to the launch of new projects.
Poor impact and difficulty in ensuring commitment from actors were mentioned as challenges when preparing regional road maps. Scarce resources emerged as the most significant challenge when preparing municipal road maps, as the municipalities were responsible for funding the road map process. Separate project funding was seen as a factor that facilitated road map work. Road maps were compiled in a wide-ranging manner to promote different themes. The selection of focus areas for the road maps was guided by resource wisdom and climate work, objectives for promoting the
• CircBrief – best practices of circular economy • A circular economy road map makes sense • December 2023 •
national waste plan, and legislation. Other factors included ‘benchmarking’ and experiences from other municipalities. The fact that a road map brings together policy objectives and organisational commitments was seen as a benefit. Municipal circular economy road
maps provide a link between, for example, the goals of urban and municipal strategies, climate road maps, waste policy programmes and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Waste management Public Food and and recycling procurement nutrient Construction, Transportation recycling housing Energy, Education, competence, and environmental awareness
WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment)
Forest-based cycles
Land use planning
Material reuse
Circular economy business
Consumption
Biodiversity
Water
Recycled materials in earthworks
energy efficiency
Sharing economy and smart services
Plastics
Focus areas of the regional and municipal circular economy road maps that were studied. The size of the text corresponds to the prevalence of the focus area in different road maps.
Commitment from management and participants is important Municipal and regional road maps were often prepared by a team consisting of several members, with a steering group to guide the work. The importance of commitment from the management was emphasised during road map preparation and in the updating phase. Participation in the process took place in different ways, such as meetings, workshops, interviews and surveys. Sufficient resources, a motivated team and expertise in road map content are key to success. Project management skills were also considered important. Joint
meetings, exchange of information, stronger stakeholder networks, and new projects were highlighted as the most important achievements. Implementers were also asked to make proposals for improvement, and the responses emphasised greater commitment from participants, direct discussions, clarification when linking several road maps together, and a stronger process for road map approval.
Road map impact and monitoring According to road map experts, a road map effectively promoted the circular economy by inspiring actors to cooperate and increasing the number of projects in the area. Circular economy awareness has increased, and some municipalities have already achieved savings, especially with regard to their material and energy efficiency actions.
Reporting, transparency and monitoring practices vary, but approximately half of the respondents believe it is important to document the phases of the road map process, and several municipalities closely monitor the resources utilised during road map preparation. Progress towards a circular economy is extensively monitored using different indicators, even though defining them is considered challenging.
Road maps for regions and municipalities Creating circular economy road maps was one part of the Circwaste project, which promotes mainstreaming of the circular economy. The Regional Council of Southwestern Finland, Regional Council of Central Finland, City of Lappeenranta and Regional Council of North Karelia established regional cooperation groups for the purpose of preparing regional road maps. Municipal road maps were compiled by Ii, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Pori, Porvoo, Riihimäki, Rovaniemi, Turku and Vantaa. In spring 2023, the experiences of the implementers were collected by means of a survey targeting people who were involved in different phases of the road map process.
• CircBrief – best practices of circular economy • A circular economy road map makes sense • December 2023 •
Pori’s resource-wise circular economy road map In the City of Pori, the road map is used to ensure commitment to responsibility work through targets and concrete actions. The purpose of the road map has been to develop new resource wise activities and to highlight existing sustainability work and bring together commitments related to the circular economy, low-carbon levels and sustainable development. The road map process was coordinated by the Circwaste project and the content was created in cooperation with the city’s personnel and stakeholders during nine workshops and dozens of stakeholder meetings that reinforced implementation of the actions. The resource-wise road map to a circular economy is the first of its kind in Pori, and its progress will be reported annually. After its initial approval, the road map will be updated when necessary and a new road map will be approved in 2030. The outer circle describes the process of preparing a road map while the inner circle shows the headings of the target entities selected for the road map.
Making the current sustainability work visible
Resident survey Participation in workshops and teams
Road map towards a resourcewise Pori
Co- operation across industry and organizational boundaries
Stakeholder cooperation, comments and suggestions
Change management Procurement Construction Urban planning and land use Natural resources and biodiversity The circular economy of everyday life Environmental knowledge Transportation Circular economy business Renewable energy Cooperation Linking the road map to the city strategy Annual monitoring and reporting
Website solution as a communication and promotion tool
Political commitment
Source: City of Pori, Finland. © Finnish Environment Institute. 2023. CircBrief – best practices of circular economy:
A circular economy road map makes sense December 2023 Authors: Hanna Salmenperä and Hanna Savolahti, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) Pepita Heurlin, City of Pori References: Circular economy roadmaps (in Finnish). https://www.materiaalitkiertoon.fi/fi-FI/Tyokalut/ Kiertotalouden_tiekartat Resource-wise Pori (in Finnish). https://resurssiviisas.pori.fi/ Communications specialist: Katja Lepistö, Syke Graphic design: Satu Turtiainen, Syke Layout: Annika Roitto Cover photo: stock.adobe.com Helsinki, Finland 12/2023 LIFE15 IPE FI 004 Circwaste-project receives financial support from EU for the production of its materials. The views reflected within the contents are entirely the project’s own and the EU commission is not responsible for any use of them.
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