Innovative cities, circular solutions: Tackling urban waste challenges

About the event

This EU Green Week Partner Event, organised on 2 June 2025, aimed to explore how cities across Europe are addressing urban waste challenges through projects and initiatives focused on waste reduction, resource efficiency and the creation of sustainable urban environments.

By highlighting practical, on-the-ground experiences, the event showcased how local efforts are driving the shift towards more circular practices and approaches. With the EU Circular Economy Act expected in 2026, the event also provided a timely opportunity to reflect on key challenges, exchange insights on advancing circularity in urban contexts, and discuss how local actions can inform and shape broader policy ambitions.

Key messages

Following the presentations of local projects and initiatives, the panellists engaged in a discussion on the challenges of transitioning from traditional waste management to circular systems, effective stakeholder engagement and the upcoming EU Circular Economy Act.

Below are some key takeaways from the discussion:

• Municipalities often serve as key drivers of circular initiatives, even in public-private collaborations. However, the long-term goal is for the public component of the business model to gradually become redundant as circular solutions become self-sustaining.
• Legislation must better support the development, scaling and economic viability of circular materials and products, ensuring they can compete with conventional alternatives.
• Citizen engagement remains a challenge in circular initiatives. It is important to communicate the broader benefits in ways that resonate with citizens’ daily lives, values and circumstances. Only by doing so we can secure public buy-in and foster meaningful shifts in mindset.
• Inclusive stakeholder involvement is crucial when developing new circular solutions. This helps ensure relevance and long-term viability. In addition, testing scalability is key to building sustainable and replicable models.
• Ahead of the upcoming EU Circular Economy Act, cities expressed the following needs:
  • Dedicated funding for municipalities to support investment in circular solutions.
  • Enhanced support from the European Commission for inter-city knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices.
  • Greater EU-level support to scale up and replicate successful circular solutions across sectors and cities in Europe.
  • Simplified and more effective regulations that remove barriers to circular innovation.