Project summary
CircPro (Smart Circular Procurement) aims at promoting the transition to a more circular economy related national and regional decision-making by increasing the implementation of the circular procurement.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation has defined circular economy as a system that aims to redefine growth by focusing on positive society-wide benefits instead of the current take-make-dispose extractive industrial model. This means transition to renewable energy sources and gradually decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources, and designing waste out of the system. According to the European Commission, circular procurement as a specific approach to green public procurement pays special attention to "the purchase of works, goods or services that seek to contribute to the closed energy and material loops within supply chains, whilst minimizing, and in the best case avoiding, negative environmental impacts and waste creation across the whole life-cycle". This more holistic approach is expected to create conditions that would stimulate energy and material savings, spread innovative solutions and create markets for clean solutions and hence lead to a circular economy. CircPro’s main objective is to increase the implementation of circular procurement under the targeted policy instruments so that the circular economy principles and criteria are incorporated into them or taken into account as a horizontal principle. CircPro targets the circular procurement from different approaches that have different complexity: all of which facilitate closed loops, but where the focus shifts from better quality products to new and innovative products and new business concepts.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation has defined circular economy as a system that aims to redefine growth by focusing on positive society-wide benefits instead of the current take-make-dispose extractive industrial model. This means transition to renewable energy sources and gradually decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources, and designing waste out of the system. According to the European Commission, circular procurement as a specific approach to green public procurement pays special attention to "the purchase of works, goods or services that seek to contribute to the closed energy and material loops within supply chains, whilst minimizing, and in the best case avoiding, negative environmental impacts and waste creation across the whole life-cycle". This more holistic approach is expected to create conditions that would stimulate energy and material savings, spread innovative solutions and create markets for clean solutions and hence lead to a circular economy. CircPro’s main objective is to increase the implementation of circular procurement under the targeted policy instruments so that the circular economy principles and criteria are incorporated into them or taken into account as a horizontal principle. CircPro targets the circular procurement from different approaches that have different complexity: all of which facilitate closed loops, but where the focus shifts from better quality products to new and innovative products and new business concepts.
What did this project achieve?
Contributing to the selected policy instruments by incorporating the circular economy principles and criteria on the strategic level, the ultimate goal after the project is to get circular procurement as an established practice of the procurement procedures within the partnership regions’ municipalities and towns.
CircPro partnership consisting of 11 partners from 10 regions has identified main barriers that hinder the systematic implementation of the circular procurement in their regions. These are general lack of knowledge and expertise related to circular procurement, procedural and legal barriers, and procurers´ preconceptions about using, as well as lack of, recycled materials. With inter-regional cooperation, we aim to tackle these challenges by:
CircPro partnership consisting of 11 partners from 10 regions has identified main barriers that hinder the systematic implementation of the circular procurement in their regions. These are general lack of knowledge and expertise related to circular procurement, procedural and legal barriers, and procurers´ preconceptions about using, as well as lack of, recycled materials. With inter-regional cooperation, we aim to tackle these challenges by:
- increasing partner regions’ know-how on circular procurement and recycled materials
- identifying, assessing, exchanging and disseminating the existing national/regional initiatives, good practices, supporting measures, pilots and initiatives, main actors, organisations and networks that could boost the implementation of the circular procurement in the regions
- identifying the procedural and legal barriers experienced by procurers and suppliers when implementing procurements with circular elements
- providing a meeting place and enhance dialogue between procurers and suppliers (both groups are represented in the partnership and stakeholders’ groups)
- preparing regional Action Plans with specific proposals for improving the existing regional policies, programmes or instruments with their local stakeholder groups.
A few numbers
1,991,398 €
01 Jun 2018-31 May 2023
11 partners