Information slides about circular materials economy focus area

1. Efforts to date have been focused on
achieving our zero waste goal of 85% waste
diversion by 2025. For decades we have
focused on ensuring access to – and
participation in – recycling and composting
programs, making progress on a solution
within our current economic system.
WE ARE
ZERO WA S T E BOULD ER
2018 COMMUNITY WIDE DIVERSION RATE – 57%
Universal Zero Waste Ordinance requiring all
properties in the city to have recycling and compost
collection service; all businesses to provide
3-sort-system bins, signs and education to their
employees, and bins and signs to their customers.
Zero waste facilities:
IN PLACE NOW PLANNED ACTIONS
• Boulder County Recycling Center
• Eco-Cycle Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM)
• Hazardous Materials Management Facility
• Yard and wood waste drop-off center
• Creative reuse center
• Resource Used Buildings Material yard
• Tool lending library
• A1 Organics compost facility
Pay-as-you-throw waste pricing
Disposable bag fee on paper/plastic bags at food stores
Partners for A Clean Environment (PACE)
• Zero waste advising service for city and county
Green Bag Giveaway
• Ensuring businesses in Boulder can properly contain
compostable organic waste
University of Colorado Green Teams
• Student-to-student outreach
Eco-Cycle Multi-family Complex Eco-Leader program
Food Waste Awareness Week events
• Raise the profile of food waste as a climate issue
Urban Metabolism Study - Metabolic, LLC. is
helping the city evaluate materials flows into and
out of Boulder to find the materials streams for
which we can have the most impact in creating a
more circular economy.
Food systems focus - We know that reducing
food waste and addressing nutrition is one of the
top climate solutions globally, and we can be a
leader in this effort.
Procurement - We will work within the city and
with industry partners to drive change by leveraging
our collective power as large purchasers of goods.
Innovation Hub - A vision for the current home of
Eco-Cycle and Resource Central at 6400 Arapahoe
Ave. to be expanded to include a cutting-edge
circular economy innovation hub to support new
solutions and new business ideas.
Legislative work- Continued efforts to drive policy
at the state and federal level that will better enable
communities to address problem materials and
require manufacturers to be more responsible for
the waste their products create.
GAME CHANGERS
CIRCULAR CHARLOTTE
THERE ARE OVER 150 SHARING
ECONOMY PLATFORMS
ACTIVE IN AMSTERDAM
The city of Charlotte, NC developed a circular economy plan in order to
reduce waste and boost economic development. Their“Circular Charlotte”
report estimates that the program could capture up to $111 million in value.
This economic development strategy aims to help the city address key issues
impacting the entire city such as economic and social mobility. They intend for
Circular Charlotte to help the city become the epicenter for people and cities to
learn how to experiment, create and innovate.
AMSTERDAM SHARING ECONOMY
Amsterdam has developed a proactive approach to the sharing economy to
support the goals of its Sharing Economy Action Plan. This is designed to enable the
city, businesses and residents to reap the benefits from sharing platforms.
The plan sits alongside the city’s circular economy activities, recognizing that the sharing
economy opens up opportunities to make better use of materials and resources. Multiple
innovations have sprung from it that increase access to and use of public and private
assets, including the sharing of household items, space, modes of transport and even
food.
MAKING GREEN COMMERCE MAINSTREAM
Loop is a reusable ecommerce shopping platform that
sells name brand products in long-lasting packaging
that is designed for multiple reuse before ultimately
being recycled. Empty packaging is picked up for free at
users’homes and returned to Loop for cleaning and
refilling. Loop has launched in partnership with Kroger and
Walgreens in the Mid-Atlantic states but is expected to
expand quickly.
The Jeans Redesign Guidelines set out minimum
requirements on garment durability, material health,
recyclability and traceability. Based on the principles of
the circular economy, the guidelines will work to ensure
jeans last longer, can easily be recycled, and are made in a
way that is better for the environment and the health of
garment workers. The project brought together more than
40 denim experts from academia, brands, retailers,
manufacturers, collectors, sorters and NGOs, to develop
the guidelines, including mainstream retailers like GAP
and Tommy Hillfiger.
CIRCULAR MATERIALS ECONOMY
We’ve been working for decades to become a zero waste community. While we’re making great
progress, we need to move beyond recycling and composting to a circular economic model that
doesn’t create waste materials to begin with.
The City of Boulder and most other U.S. communities who measure emissions from waste
historically only include emissions from materials that are already wasted. They don’t include all the
emissions created during production and use of the materials.
If emissions associated with our consumption were figured into emissions
inventories, then emissions associated with our “stuff” would be 60% higher.
Looking beyond the current take-make-waste extractive industrial model, a circular economy aims
to redefine growth, focusing on positive, society-wide benefits.
This entails gradually decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources and
designing waste out of the system. Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources, the
circular model builds economic, natural and social capital based on three principles:
• Design out waste and pollution
• Keep products and materials in use
• Regenerate natural systems
CREATING CIRCULARITY
SOURCE: C40 CITIES REPORT
SOURCE: ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
LINEAR
ECONOMY
TAKE
MAKE
BUY
WASTE
RECYCLING
ECONOMY
RECYCLE
TAKE
MAKE
BUY
WASTE
CIRCULAR
ECONOMY
RECYCLE
TAKE
MAKE
BUY
REUSE REPAIR
BOULDER’S LEADERSHIP