A roundtable discussion with the practitioners coming from the ICLEI Circulars African Hub leading cities to identify the critical support they need for implementing or scaling inclusive circular economy actions

Circular development is not only about reducing material and waste production, it supports local governments in improving human wellbeing and health, achieving climate neutrality, protecting and enhancing biodiversity, and promoting social justice, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Join Africa’s leading cities on their circular development journey: this session opens up a roundtable discussion, in which we will hear from the practitioners of Africa’s leading cities about their current and planned circular economy interventions in their main economic sectors and public services like waste management, and their needs to implement these efforts. Breakout sessions offer a room for exchange among technical staff and circular economy experts from the private sector, academia and international organizations. Insights gathered from the session will be translated into workable solutions and will be disseminated throughout the ICLEI Network and media outlets.

This ICLEI Circulars Dialogue kicks off a series of dialogues organized by the ICLEI Circulars platform to convene peer-to-peer city exchanges. The recently launched platform aims to facilitate cities’ circular development journey by providing support, resources and fostering conversations and collaboration.

Le développement circulaire ne consiste pas seulement à réduire la production de matériaux et de déchets, il aide les gouvernements locaux à améliorer le bien-être et la santé humains, à atteindre la neutralité climatique, à protéger et à renforcer la biodiversité et à promouvoir la justice sociale, conformément aux objectifs de développement durable.

Rejoignez les principales villes africaines dans leur parcours de développement circulaire: cette session ouvre une table ronde, au cours de laquelle nous entendrons les praticiens des principales villes africaines parler de leurs interventions actuelles et prévues en matière d’économie circulaire dans leurs principaux secteurs économiques et services publics comme la gestion des déchets, et leurs besoins pour mettre en œuvre ces efforts. Les séances en petits groupes offrent un espace d’échange entre le personnel technique et les experts de l’économie circulaire du secteur privé, du monde universitaire et des organisations internationales. Les informations recueillies lors de la session seront traduites en solutions viables et seront diffusées à travers le réseau ICLEI et les médias.

Ce dialogue sur les circulaires ICLEI lance une série de dialogues organisés par la plate-forme ICLEI Circulars pour organiser des échanges entre villes entre pairs. La plateforme récemment lancée vise à faciliter le parcours de développement circulaire des villes en fournissant un soutien, des ressources et en favorisant les conversations et la collaboration. 

Host: ICLEI

Bonn, Germany

Session Summary

A Circulars Dialogue: Tell us what your city needs to support its Circular Economy interventions was hosted by the ICLEI World Secretariat. Before splitting into breakout rooms, attendees heard from the mayor of Accra in Ghana, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, Major General Mohammed Badi from Nairobi and Xanthea Limberg, the Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste from the City of Cape Town.

During this conversation, moderated by Burcu Turner, Head of Circular Development at ICLEI World Secretariat, the plenary learned how these three cities are exploring circularity and how the public can help them in achieving their goals. During this engaging session, attendees split into 3 breakout rooms to discuss ways in which to get started and identify stakeholders and priorities; how to promote circular innovation through city-business collaboration; and the use of organic waste segregation for recovery.

The three main takeaways from the session were:

1. It is important to leverage existing frameworks to initiate discussions surrounding circular development and public awareness campaigns to gain ground level support.

2. Scalability has to be considered when embarking on new, innovative projects such as organic waste separation, as starting at a smaller scale allows for projects to be tested before national rollout.

3. City-business collaboration should provide benefits for both the public and private sectors in order to make such initiatives appealing to all stakeholders.