Page 19 - U4SSC: A guide to circular cities, June 2020

items or to products (e.g. shared accommodation or ride sharing) and non-commercial items (e.g.
sharing of household items on a complementary basis in a city among its inhabitants). In sharing,
it is important to introduce trust among city users. Hence, in sharing services, service providers
should ensure that they address the concerns of their customers, protect their rights, and provide
them with reliable and high-quality services to gain their trust. Additionally, it is important for these
service providers to ensure the safety and security of shared city assets and products. Over time,
addressing issues consistently and reliably builds trust for service providers.

e. ‘Urban industrial symbiosis’: It is a subfield of industrial ecology that takes a collective approach
to engage separate industries, in order to gain competitive advantages by facilitating the physical
exchange of materials, energy and services among them. For instance, waste resulting from one
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production process can be used as primary inputs (materials or energy) in another production
process. This allows the creation of closed loops within, and across, industries, which, in turn,
enhances circularity in cities.
f. Circularity-related strategic planning and policy making: Holistic circularity strategies and policies
led by a city administration can align city stakeholders to a common target and mobilize them
for successful implementation. Impact investment and corporate social responsibility initiatives
undertaken by the private sector can also catalyse circularity in a city.
g. Utilizing procurement as a lever for circularity: Procurement is a strong lever for emphasizing
and enforcing circularity in the public and private sectors. Incentive plans can be used as a tool to
avail the supply of circular city assets and products during their procurement (e.g. raw materials,
components).
h. Financial incentives for boosting circularity: City administrations and public sector organizations
may utilize financial incentives to boost circularity in a city. Monetary (financial) benefits can
be offered to consumers and suppliers of circular city outputs, which would encourage their
participation in circularity. Financial incentives include, but are not limited to, tax breaks, tax
reductions, tax exemptions, tax holidays, lower loan rates, impact investment alternatives, excise
taxes, VAT, and so on.

i. Public Private Partnerships for circularity: City administrations (public sector organizations) and
private sector organizations may collaborate and form partnerships to improve circularity in the city.
This approach would allow partners to align and unify their goals, and share the risks and rewards
of implementing circularity actions.

j. R&D programmes for circularity: Circularity provides enormous innovative potential for cities
in addressing their sustainability challenges. In some cases, further research and development
would be required to turn circularity ideas into reality. Well-designed research and development
programmes that target actual city challenges and are led by academia, private and public sector
organizations may help to overcome various obstacles of implementing circular actions.
k. Circularity regulations: City administrations can set out various regulations and standards to boost
circularity in the city. They may take the form of circularity-related technical standards, product
regulations, compliance standards, trade regulations, and waste and safety regulations. Regulations
are, in general, ancillary or subordinate to laws. However, they are enforceable and, therefore,
constitute a strong lever for circularity.

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