Circular Minds: Driving circular procurement
Circular Minds is an initiative that helps organisations adopt circular procurement practices. By encouraging a shift in mindset, it supports the transition to a circular economy. As a project partner, Rijkswaterstaat contributes to international sustainability goals while helping organisations put circular procurement into practice.
This initiative aligns closely with Rijkswaterstaat’s commitment to sustainability, resource efficiency and reducing its environmental footprint.
A circular economy represents a fundamental shift towards more sustainable production and consumption. However, its true impact depends on widespread local and organisational adoption. While pilot projects have demonstrated the potential of circular economies, many organisations still struggle to translate circular ambitions into tangible results.
Bridging this gap is critical to unlocking the full potential of a circular economy and creating lasting environmental and economic benefits.
Helping organisations go circular
Circular Minds aims to change regional development policy by improving how public organisations govern their transition to a circular economy and by scaling up what already works. The project brings together partners from across Europe, creating opportunities for inter-regional exchange and learning.
By strengthening how they are organised and governed, the participating organisations embed circular thinking in their core activities, driving sustainable change from within.
From circular policy to jobs and growth
Circular Minds also looks beyond policy. When public authorities and private companies organise their work along circular principles, they create jobs within value chains and contribute to sustainable economic growth.
The project focuses on the practical building blocks, such as supply chain management, internal commitment and stakeholder engagement, that organisations need to make circularity work in practice, setting the stage for a more circular and resilient society.
What Circular Minds has delivered so far
Circular Minds is developing and testing practical tools that help organisations find out how ready they are for circular procurement, and what to do next.
Mindset Indicators Matrix
The Mindset Indicators Matrix helps organisations assess their readiness for circular procurement and identify barriers to implementation. It examines the organisational, cultural and governance factors that influence the successful adoption of circular practices.
- Organisations can use the matrix to
- gauge how ready they currently are
- identify strengths and areas for improvement
- support discussions between departments and stakeholders
- develop action plans for organisational change
View the Mindset Indicators Matrix.
Capacity Building Tool
Based on lessons learned throughout the project, Circular Minds is developing a Capacity Building Tool to help organisations build the knowledge, skills and governance structures needed for circular procurement. The tool translates the project’s findings into practical guidance that organisations can use to accelerate their circular transition.
Good Practices Database
Project partners continuously identify and analyse good practices from across Europe. These examples demonstrate how organisations have successfully applied circular procurement principles in areas such as construction and infrastructure, furniture, ICT procurement and waste management.
The collection helps organisations learn from proven approaches and apply successful solutions in their own context.
View the good practices.
Learning from partners across Europe
A key strength of Circular Minds is the exchange of experience between partners from 10 European countries. Through interregional meetings, workshops and stakeholder engagement activities, partners share insights into how governance, leadership and organisational culture influence circular procurement.
Topics range from organisational readiness for change and stakeholder engagement to scaling up successful procurement pilots and integrating circular principles into existing procurement processes.
The lessons learned are regularly shared through project news, events and publications. See the latest news articles.
How Rijkswaterstaat puts the results into practice
Rijkswaterstaat is not only a project partner but also applies the project's insights in its own work. Using the tools and frameworks developed through Circular Minds, Rijkswaterstaat supports public procurement organisations in integrating circular procurement into their day-to-day activities. To see how we apply this knowledge in other projects, visit the website Circular procurement | Afval Circulair.
Period
January 2024 - March 2028
Programme
Interreg Europe
Project website
Partners
Commission for Regional Development and Coordination of the Alentejo, Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY, Province of Antwerp, South Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency, Consejería de Sostenibilidad, Medio Ambiente y Economía Azul de la Junta de Andalucía, Cleantech Bulgaria Foundation, City of Lund, ACR+. Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management, Institute for Albanian Municipalities