Economic leaders understand the need to develop the sector , and to create equitable transition pathways for sunset industries .
How can local councils support the transition towards circularity ?
DECARBONISATION Many councils approach the circular economy in tandem with strategies to reduce their carbon footprint .
In this respect , the approach taken by many local councils to support the circular economy and decarbonisation has been to set clear targets and flightpaths to transition towards net zero .
In Australia , it is estimated that over 40 % of local governments have made commitments to reach a zero-emissions target by or before 2050 for their community emissions , with a number aiming to even reach net zero emissions by 2030 . 3
Of all of the sectors that contribute towards decarbonisation , electricity is probably the only one that is ‘ on track ’ towards net zero 2050 . Moving forward , the following offer promise :
• Standardised certification of renewable energy that meets consistent environmental and regulatory standards , providing councils with certainty and consistency of green credentialling .
• Availability of commercial solutions for councils to access renewables on a large scale , e . g . Flow Power enables customers to contract directly with wind and solar farms to buy power at lower cost than what is available through traditional retailers . It also offers active management of electricity contracts to help businesses further cut their power costs .
However , decarbonisation of electricity supply only goes part way towards net zero emissions . Local economies can get to 100 % renewables to power its streets , assets and amenities – examples include the cities of Sydney , Melbourne and Canberra . However , this represents only part of local economies ’ emissions profile .
Zero carbon is much more complex . The settings to get there are different for urban versus regional areas , and for residential versus industrial centres . Cities also present additional complexity , as they don ’ t have vast tracts of vegetation that act as carbon sinks . Other interventions are needed , particularly in the built environment , transport systems , urban form and design , public spaces and urban greening , and water use . Councils can support this by :
• Circular economy procurement . Procurement of circular economy goods and services . Closed loop solutions for materials and products like plastics and e-waste .
• Leveraging local infrastructure pipelines including the planning and design of the built environment and green spaces , and use of smart technologies to optimise traceability , productivity , and recyclability .
• Incentives for households and businesses which may take the form of , for example , concessions , low-interest loans and rebates to transition , free smart meters and energy assessments , replacement for inefficient appliances .
CIRCULAR ECONOMY PROCUREMENT Procurement frameworks can explicitly consider and seek circular economy outcomes to achieve environmental , social and economic outcomes . This could involve , for example , assigning weights in the procurement evaluation criteria to the environmental impacts , circularity benefits , risks of reliance on unverified virgin product ( particularly of materials of indeterminate origin or which are difficult to recycle ) and costs of disposal in major procurement decisions .
Councils can also use joint procurement activity to achieve better value-formoney outcomes . For example , Victoria ’ s Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group ( MWRRG ) procures and manages collaborative contracts to deliver waste and recycling services on behalf of 31 councils across Melbourne . It manages 14 contractors for waste and recycling services , valued over $ 130 million annually . By doing so it can aggregate larger volumes of waste and recycling to bring to the market , delivering economies of scale for councils and greater investment certainty for service providers . This in turn helps drive more cost-effective procurement ( creating savings which can be passed on to the community ), opens the market to more players and reduces reliance on international markets .
Circular procurement can also leverage the increased buying power from collaborative procurement to create costeffective closed-loop markets for local waste streams . In South Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils ’ ( SSROC ) “ Paving the Way ” initiative , 16 councils collaborated to procure asphalt with recycled crushed glass ( RCG ) as substitute for natural sand . SSROC generates 71,000 tonnes of municipal glass waste annually . This was the largest council-led procurement of its kind in NSW . The Sustainable Pavements contract resulting from the procurement commenced 1 July 2021 and is expected to lead to the creation of a local closedloop market for all remaining recoverable domestic glass in SSROC , equivalent to recycling 80 million glass bottles a year back into local roads .
Finally , circular procurement can explore the use of service models such as shared benefits arrangements , where the savings from performance-based outcomes are reinvested into procuring organisations . These can largely be developed from traditional performance-based contracts in the energy and waste sector . For example , the Batesville school district in Arkansas ( US ) used the annual savings of nearly $ 300,000 from their energy performance contract – including from their solar energy installation -- to pay for the project costs and generate additional savings , with part of the money going toward increasing teachers ’ salaries .
LEVERAGING LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE PIPELINES There are three major circular economy opportunities from the infrastructure sector : planning and designing for circularity , reducing the disposal of waste in the system ; and creating new markets in the use of low-carbon materials .
First : Planning and designing for circularity Local economies are particularly well suited to circularity , especially with regard to the planning and design of local infrastructure such as land use planning ( including land zonings and permissible uses ) and key development standards relating to building standards such as floor space ratios , heights and subdivision land sizes .
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 14 NO 3 2021 09