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About CircleUp

CircleUp is a Horizon Europe research project working closely with households to encourage them to adopt circular economy behaviours to reduce the amount of waste they produce. The project is trialling a mixture of online and in-person interventions to see which households find most helpful.

The focus is on the households' experience with the aim to gather stories of successes and challenges. The project concept is summed up in our full project title: "100 households, 100 circular stories - inspiring sustainable living in Europe".

Material streams

To focus the work with households, four priority material streams have been selected:

  • textiles
  • food
  • packaging (paper and plastic)
  • electronics

The materials were selected because they're pervasive (everybody uses them regularly), they have large environmental impacts, and there are currently low levels of circularity (linear practices are still the norm).

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Pilot projects

CircleUp works directly with households in pilot projects across four countries: Latvia, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

Latvia

Latvia is currently implementing a national action plan for a circular economy. This pilot looks specifically at engaging households in rural areas.

Lead partner: Latvian Rural Forum

Bottrop, Germany

Bottrop is a city in the Ruhr industrial region of Germany. Evolving from its history as a coal-mining centre, the city is now aiming to become a reference for circular economy innovation.

Lead partner: Verbraucherzentrale NRW

Bergen, Norway

Bergen is Norway's second largest city, but has ambitions to be its greenest. As part of this, Bergen is committed to becoming a circular city and is a fellow in the EU's Circular Cities and Regions Initiative. 

Lead partner: Naturvernforbundet

Wantage, UK

Wantage is a small town in the south of the UK. It has a thriving network of community circular economy activities coordinated by the local environemntal group, Sustainable Wantage.

Lead partners: Oxfordshire County Counil and Earthwatch Europe