Regional Actions on Citizen Involvement in Circular Economy

For a successful circular economy transition, the involvement of all the actors is fundamental. Among these actors are governments, municipalities, businesses, and citizens. Nearly four years, the CECI – Citizen Involvement in Circular Economy Implementation -project has been working on developing regional circular economy policies and emphasize the role of citizens. (Interreg Europe 2023a) Link to CECI website

Policies could be improved in three ways: (1) new projects funding the addressed issue; (2) improved governance of the policy instrument, or (3) a change in a structural focus of the instrument. For achieving such a policy change, six regional circular economy action plans on citizens involvement were designed in project partners’ regions. These action plans are specific for each region based on their prioritization and needs. They contain selected actions with concrete measures to achieve those. (Interreg Europe 2023b) Link to CECI Action Plans

There are people sitting in four rows of seat and tables in an auditorium-like room. On the left, there is a big screen and one person presenting the content on the screen. The audience is listening. — Picture 1. The CECI final event gathered 76 participants both in person and online. (Photo: Oona Rouhiainen)

On 6 June 2023, the final CECI event was organized in Lahti and online. The first part of the event was dedicated to presentations given by esteemed expert speakers tackling circular economy on various levels (EU, national, and regional). Whereas the second part focused on the action plans implementations and achievements. Partners selected one of their actions to be presented to the audience in more details.

CECI Regional Action Plans

In the Päijät-Häme region, Finland, five actions were identified in the action plan. The actions focused on (1) Sustainable housing services, (2) Business based on circular and sharing economy, (3) Circular economy in the creative sector, (4) Disposable textiles, and (5) Sustainable mobility. All the actions have been successfully implemented via dedicated projects. The region achieved four policy changes. (Medkova & Snell 2023.)

The Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France has focused on three actions: (1) Regional circular economy platform, (2) Circular economy projects funded by LEADER, and (3) Textile valorisation and responsible fashion. One policy change was achieved related to Action 1 by adoption of the Circular Economy Roadmap. (Bonnoit 2023.)

The Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic also listed three actions focusing on: (1) Reuse Centres, (2) Circular Scans and Material Market, and (3) Education of cities and municipalities. The ambitions were achieved and led to one policy change. (Lupieńská 2023.)

a table with seven columns: Country, Policy Instruments, Targeted Policy Instrument, Structural Fund Yes/no, Other policy instrument, Structural Fund Yes/no, Policy Change achieved and several rows dedicated to selected countries: Finland, France, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Spain and Belgium. — Table 1. Overview of policy changes achieved by CECI project partners and list of related policy instruments tackled either as a targeted policy instrument or other policy instruments. (Source: Katerina Medkova)

In the Aragon Region, Spain, two actions were selected targeting (1) Implementation of Library of Things and (2) Prevention and Waste Management Plan towards Circular Economy. The region will report two policy changes. (Zárate Diez 2023.)

The Varna municipality, Bulgaria determined three actions related to: (1) Increase circular economy awareness at the municipal administration, (2) Launch CIRCULAR VARNA platform, and (3) Proposal on Varna development in the municipal plan. The action plan was successfully implemented, and two policy changes submitted. (Aleksieva 2023.)

Finally, the City of Mechelen, Belgium, set four actions in their action plan: (1) Raising awareness on circular consumption, (2) Strengthening circular community, (3) Promoting shared mobility, and (4) Circular principles in renovation scheme. They achieved one structural focus change (Poppe 2023.)

Author

Katerina Medkova works as an RDI Specialist at LAB University of Applied Sciences and is CECI Project and Communication Manager. CECI – Citizen Involvement in Circular Economy Implementation -project is an Interreg Europe co-funded project led by LAB University of Applied Sciences, Finland. The project ends in July 2023.

References

Aleksieva, N. 2023. CECI Regional Action Plans Implementation. Presentation given at the CECI Final dissemination event on 6.6.2023. Lahti, Finland.

Bonnoit, H. 2023. CECI Regional Action Plans Implementation. Presentation given at the CECI Final dissemination event on 6.6.2023. Lahti, Finland.

Interreg Europe. 2023a. Project Summary. CECI. Cited 15 Jun 2023. Available at https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/ceci/

Interreg Europe. 2023b. Action Plans. CECI. Cited 15 Jun 2023. Available at https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/ceci/action-plans/

Lupieńská, I. 2023. CECI Regional Action Plans Implementation. Presentation given at the CECI Final dissemination event on 6.6.2023. Lahti, Finland.

Medkova, K. & Snell, J. 2023. CECI Regional Action Plans Implementation. Presentation given at the CECI Final dissemination event on 6.6.2023. Lahti, Finland.

Poppe, J. 2023. CECI Regional Action Plans Implementation. Presentation given at the CECI Final dissemination event on 6.6.2023. Lahti, Finland.

Zárate Diez, G. 2023. CECI Regional Action Plans Implementation. Presentation given at the CECI Final dissemination event on 6.6.2023. Lahti, Finland.

Links

Link 1. Interreg Europe. 2023a. Project Summary. CECI. Cited 15 Jun 2023. Available at https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/ceci/

Link 2. Interreg Europe. 2023b. Action Plans. CECI. Cited 15 Jun 2023. Available at https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/ceci/action-plans/