We are reshaping Berlin’s metabolism by applying circular principles in the fields of strategy & urban planning, product & material design, food & biomass, and textile & fashion. Having a strong focus on community, we offer platforms for engagement and knowledge exchange and support local actors through collaboration.
Circular Economy (Kreislaufwirtschaft) in Berlin evolves as a bottom-up heterogeneous system and as a topic remains part of the waste industry, due to regulation specifics it is decoupled from the economy. Based on the existing city strategies, the main priorities identified for a CE transformation in Berlin are: product reuse, waste prevention, improvement of eco-procurement including material use, the link between CE and energy efficiency, eco-construction, food and bio waste, and place-based actions. Indirectly, CE points could be identified in the Berlin Urban development strategy 2030. For more details, see the report, Circular Berlin conducted on the staus for Berlin (report). To conclude by the statement of Mr. Schwilling, Kreislaufwirtschat-Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz: We need impactful projects to showcase that Circular Economy is economically viable.
Circular Berlin took the following steps to push Circular Economy in the city forward:
The key outcomes of each workshop varied by sector, and gave the basis for the next transformational steps.
The built environment and construction workshop brought the following results:
The key results for materials and products workshop:
The challenges of food waste, unsustainable agriculture and alternative ways of using biomass had the following results:
The last workshop on textile and fashion came to the following conclusions:
The workshops attracted altogether around 150 different stakeholders including local NGOs, initiatives involved in CE industry work, open workshop spaces, academic partners, design and funding institutions, and municipality representatives. The strategic partners that helped to design the workshops were public private partnership organisations that aim to bring together the city needs and local industry development. During all three phases of the development of Circular Berlin, close interaction and communication with the Berlin CE community was established. In less than 10months, Circular Berlin reached more than 450 followers via Facebook, more than 300 subscribers via LinkedIn and more than 30 Berlin projects applied to be listed on the platform with the request for collaboration. After eight months, the website had reached 13.000 unique visitors globally.We initiated and took part in 3 projects creating extra 5 job positions. One of the projects is on the topic of Circular Construction Ecosystem another is in the area of Plastic Packaging waste prevention, together with other international partners. Also local projects were launched, like a project on the topic of Berlin Circular School. Through the monthly collaborative meetings we reach out to more than 540 people and projects.
The challenge remains still in the explanation what is circular economy and how the city might profit from this topic. A lot explanatory work has to be conducted. One of the important lessons is crucial to understand in the first place the local specifics, knowledge and stakeholders operating in this field. Knowledge exchange, and facilitation of the knowledge exchange is very important, having organisation or entity that might take this role is needed.
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
European Secretariat
Leopoldring 3
79098 Freiburg
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 761 – 368 92 0
Fax: +49 (0) 761 – 368 92 19
E-mail: info@sustainablecities.eu
Website: www.sustainablecities.eu