About
The circular economy is key to solving the North Sea Region's waste crisis and the rising cost of new materials. Circular procurement is an effective pathway to achieve this, with EU public authorities spending 14% of their GDP on public procurement (€1.9 trillion annually) i.e. providing a direct opportunity to invest in the circular economy. ProCirc will reduce the use of raw materials, help to close material, product loops in sectors such as construction and infrastructure, furniture and ICT.The challenge is that procurement practices are linear by nature and not conducive to circular solutions. Procurement agencies are responsible for buying products, but usually not involved in how materials and resources are used or disposed of. ProCirc brings together 8 public and 3 private sector organisations that will leverage 30 plus circular procurement pilots with a combined value of €40M to address this. Each pilot aims to reduce 20-25% raw materials, waste and CO2 emissions. Transnationally ProCirc organises:
- Procurer-to-Procurer Learning and Action Programme – setting up a learning network approach to support local and regional organisations and their purchasers with arguments, methods and tools to make the right decisions and choices;
- Circular Procurement Expert Task Forces – creating helpdesk functionality for local, regional and national purchasers, procurement officers and sustainability responsible officials;
- Transnationally & Cross-industry Communities of Practice – developing another learning network to stimulate and accelerate (trans)national dissemination of the findings of the pilots in construction, infrastructure, furniture, textiles and ICT
ProCirc focuses on three pivotal scaling strategies:
- Minimum Circularity Requirements to help building markets of scale for suppliers
- Transnational & cross-industry communities of practice to build new and sustained partnerships between procurers, suppliers and the supply chain
- Learning and practical collaboration between procurers.
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