This report was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work and Budget of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC). It is the result of a 20-month policy dialogue with more than 60 stakeholders from public, private, not-for-profit sectors and representatives from the city of Glasgow, United Kingdom (see list in Annex B).
The report and underlying policy dialogue were led by Oriana Romano, Head of the Water Governance and Circular Economy Unit, under the supervision of Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division in the CFE. The report was drafted and co-ordinated by Oriana Romano and Ander Eizaguirre, policy analyst, with contributions from Juliette Lassman and Melissa Kerim, also policy analysts in the CFE.
The OECD Secretariat is grateful for the high level of commitment and support from: Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council; Iain Gulland, Chief Executive Officer at Zero Waste Scotland, and Alison McRae, Senior Director at the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. Warm thanks are also extended to the local team including Colin Hughes, Policy Officer (Glasgow City Council), Cheryl Robb, Stakeholders and Partnerships Manager (Zero Waste Scotland), Laura Blair, Sector Manager – Cities & Regions (Zero Waste Scotland) and Cheryl McCulloch, Senior Project Manager (Glasgow Chamber of Commerce). Special thanks are also due to Anna Richardson, City Convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction (Glasgow City Council) and Gavin Slater, Head of Sustainability (Glasgow City Council).
Experts and peer reviewers who joined the OECD online interviews and seminars are also warmly thanked for sharing their valuable expertise and guidance, namely: Shane Colgan, Manager, Resource Efficiency Unit (Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland), Yann Françoise, Head of the Climate-Energy and Circular Economy Division (City of Paris, France), Fiona Hill, Executive Officer (Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Government of Ireland), Bernie Kiely, Assistant Principal, Waste Policy and Resource Efficiency Division (Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Government of Ireland), Philippa King, Regional Co-ordinator Environment (Southern Waste Region), Sarah Miller, Chief Executive (Rediscovery Centre, Ireland), Sarah O’Carroll, Cities Lead (Ellen MacArthur Foundation) and Dr. Joanne Rourke, Regional Resource Efficiency Officer (Eastern-Midlands Waste Region, Dublin City Council, Ireland).
This report builds on interviews conducted during the online missions (27-30 April and 22-25 June 2020) and the policy seminar (22 July 2021), as well as insights from an OECD Survey on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions and desk research. Interim findings and progress results were presented at the launch event of the OECD synthesis report on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions (4 November 2020) and the 3rd OECD Roundtable on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions (18-19 May 2021). Thanks are also due to stakeholders who shared written comments.
The report was submitted to Regional Development Policy Committee delegates for approval by written procedure under the cote CFE/RDPC/URB(2021)18. The final version was edited and formatted by Eleonore Morena and François Iglesias and Pilar Philip prepared the manuscript for publication.