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Circular economy

‘Designing out’ waste, keeping products and materials in use for longer, and supporting reuse, repair, and recycle approaches can allow our towns to reduce their environmental impact and create opportunities locally.

The circular economy is a practical way for our towns to become more sustainable, resilient and prosperous. Many of the principles of a circular economy are already familiar to towns, from repair services and second-hand shops to community sharing initiatives and local recycling schemes. By building on these strengths, towns can help reduce waste, support local businesses, create jobs and make better use of resources.

For businesses
Circularity means smarter business. Discover cost savings, drive innovation and build a sustainable future by embracing circular economy practices. Think of circularity as getting the most value from what you already have. Instead of the usual “take, make, dispose” approach, you design and manage products, components and materials so they stay in use for longer.

These tools help organisations understand their current position, identify opportunities to reduce waste and make better use of resources, and turn ambition into action. With practical guidance, templates and prompts, each toolkit supports organisations to plan, design and implement more circular ways of working.

Visit Zero Waste Scotland’s Business Information Hub

For communities
Across Scotland, communities are leading the way in creating more sustainable and resilient places. From sharing, repairing and reusing resources to developing local circular economy initiatives, people are finding practical ways to reduce waste and strengthen their communities. Find out more about the projects, organisations and communities helping to build a more circular Scotland.

Circular communities

The Circular Towns Toolkit demonstrates how different towns are putting circular economy principles into practice and the benefits this can bring for communities, businesses, and the environment. Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Zero Waste Scotland have combined expertise to demonstrate steps people can take to benefit from the sustainable possibilities in their own area.

View the toolkit and see examples from:

Grounds for Recycling an innovative partnership project held in Glasgow in August 2023, to coincide with the UCI Cycling World Championships. Used coffee grounds were collected using e-cargo bikes from over 60 Glasgow coffee venues and transported to the local Botanic Gardens, to be used in compost.

Tool Libraries save individuals from buying tools for DIY or other projects which can be really expensive and often not worth it, with the average drill being used for just 12 minutes in its entire lifetime!

Image supplied by Edinburgh Tool Library

ReTweed a social enterprise based in Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders, focusing on skills development in women through the use of pre-loved textiles – by repairing, reusing and recycling them.

Image supplied by ReTweed

Dundee West End Community Fridge run by Transition Dundee and available for anyone to use, takes donations of surplus food from supermarkets and other local food businesses to redistribute to the community.

Image supplied by Transition Dundee

Inspiration

Zero Waste Scotland’s ‘20 ideas to kickstart your circular community’ is a great resource you and your community could make use of. It covers:

  • Using waste to create local value
  • Reducing single use
  • Reducing consumption in your community
  • Tackling food waste at a local level
  • Creating sustainable opportunities for the local economy
  • Creating sustainable places
  • Running sustainable events

Download ‘20 ideas to kickstart your circular community’

Zero waste: Dunbar

Dunbar
Image supplied by Miixer CIC

Dunbar was Scotland’s first Zero Waste Town: the community-led Zero Waste Dunbar project ran from 2014 to 2017. Great results were achieved in getting schools recycling. Virtually no waste was being recycled in the 6 local schools, who just needed an expert guiding hand to get systems set up. A 50% reduction to landfill was achieved within a year, and led to a great relationship with the Zero Waste Town team who went on to deliver some really ground-breaking waste education work involving role-play, animation and puppetry.

The real breakthrough for Dunbar was through re-use though. An initially small scale re-use project consisting of a van and staff diverting re-usable items away from landfill at the local recycling centre eventually blossomed into a hugely successful and wildly popular re-use operation which has spread right across East Lothian. It has generated income that has allowed the project team to set up social enterprise ReUse Scotland to carry on beyond the funded project, opening two huge re-use hubs in Dunbar and North Berwick and employing a number of staff and volunteers.

Dunbar
mobile recycling station (image courtesy of Miixer CIC)
Image supplied by Miixer CIC
mobile recycling station (image courtesy of Miixer CIC)
Image supplied by Miixer CIC
raising awareness (image courtesy of Miixer CIC)
Image supplied by Miixer CIC
street fun (image courtesy of Miixer CIC)
Image supplied by Miixer CIC
reuse centre (image courtesy of Miixer CIC)
Image supplied by Miixer CIC

There continues to be a focus on a sustainable future for Dunbar, led by Sustaining Dunbar. Since 2008, they have been driving local change and opportunities. Their aim, to enable and incubate local projects that help to build a more resilient community.

Sustaining Dunbar delivers and supports a range of activity including a therapeutic community garden offering space for learning and growing; Dunbar Bike Hub and Library getting people moving and giving access to equipment including e-bikes and; coastal and river projects connecting people with place and improving outcomes for the environment.

Re-use and recycle: Transition Stirling

From its town centre shop unit, Transition Stirling has run a variety of projects since it was formed as a community organisation in 2009. All are aimed at improving awareness of, and providing a positive local response to, climate change in and around Stirling.

Their current main project – Share and Repair – was made possible by a grant from the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund to help the local community reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. The project includes a tool library, repair café, wood reuse scheme, workshops and conversation events.

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