The Partnership learns about circular economy initiatives in Oslo and continues discussions on the Action Plan during the 11th Partnership Meeting

Day 1

Oslo hosted the 11th partnership meeting on the 28th and 29th March, initiating the two-day event with visits to recycling stations located within the city; the Mini-recycling Station Colosseum, and Smestad Recycling Station, where local residents can discard of their bulky waste for sorting and recycling, and take items left by other residents for reuse

The visit was followed by presentations on relevant initiatives by the City of Oslo – such as their actions on plastics and marine pollution, circular economy, food waste prevention, among others – and a welcome speech by the Deputy Mayor for Environment and Transport.

Initial discussions kicked off with an introduction from the coordinator, stressing the importance of consistent partner feedback on the partnership’s 12 actions. This was followed by a review of the infographic, and a discussion on the partnership's finalisation, after which Action Leader’s will decide on whether or not to continue with any post-Partnership activities.

Talks then moved on to reporting on the actions in the preparation line. The Action Leaders for these delivered updates on the progress of the following actions: Develop a Collaborative Economy Knowledge Pack for cities; Develop a Circular Resource Management Roadmap for cities; and City Indicators for a circular economy. The Charter, which will be presented in Brussels at during the Green Week in May, was also discussed, and it was agreed that feedback on this would be provided by the 1st April.

Day 2

The second day of the meeting began with discussions on the Partnership’s session during the Green Week, and continued with workshops on implementation for which the aims were to: 1) take stock of the progress of the actions; 2) identify common challenges; 3) identify solutions that can foster implementation; 4) share implementation experiences; and 5) include the whole Partnership in the work taking place for each of these actions.

The first session discussed the actions dealing with legislation, including the actions on water legislation, waste legislation, and the regulatory barriers and drivers for a circular bio-economy. As an outcome of this discussion, six general challenges arose, for which Partners suggested potential solutions.

The second session discussed the actions proposing ‘knowledge packs’ (portals and toolkits), including the actions on the circular city funding guide, circular city portal, PAYT toolkit, re-use of buildings and spaces, and urban resource centres. As an outcome of this discussion, four general challenges arose, for which Partners suggested potential solutions.

Conclusions and next steps

Provisions for increased communication and feedback on the actions were made in order to keep the momentum and better track progress on the actions.