Action plan

Detailed actions

1. Strengthening support for SMEs

• Objective: Helping SMEs access the funding needed for circular projects.
• Action: Setting up regional one-stop shops to support this target group, for example in partnership with institutions such as Grand Est Développement and the Grand Est chamber of commerce.
• Concrete example: The funders of the circular economy are mainly the Grand Est Region and ADEME. They do not have a single funding desk but agree on designing schemes so that they are complementary, and they forward applications to each other. They set up a joint ADEME - BPI - Region call for projects on eco-design but no applications were submitted. Support organisations therefore organise upstream to seek out SMEs and guide them towards funding.

2. Embedding sustainable purchasing in company policy and strategy

• Objective: Developing local supply chains
• Action: Enabling companies to frame and set their direction, and to meet suppliers matching their needs (local suppliers, recyclable materials, etc.)
• Concrete example: Thanks to the chamber of commerce's collective support programmes, companies such as NORCAN formalise their purchasing policy and set up monitoring of eco-responsible products, add indicators for suppliers on recyclability and product origin, and ask their suppliers to make commitments on the origin of raw materials. Actions could also consist in creating synergies between local manufacturers so that the waste of some becomes the resources of others.

3. Valorising local bio-based materials

• Objective: Promoting the use and storage of local renewable resources in production chains.
• Action: Developing the use of bio-based products by manufacturers, supported by public funds.
• Concrete example: Subsidies for the development of local bio-based products using raw materials from the region. Developing a "regional catalogue of bio-based materials" with an inventory of the materials available in the Grand Est (plant fibres, agricultural resources, wood, etc.) and technical data sheets: provenance, applications, players, life cycle assessment, available standards.

4. Pooling recycling infrastructure at regional or even national level

• Objective: Optimising treatment and recycling costs for regional and even national companies.
• Action: Creating shared sorting or secondary sorting centres, able to meet market needs (upstream and downstream) and economically viable
• Concrete example: The company GALLOO France is doubling its metal secondary sorting and regeneration capacity thanks to support from ADEME through the "Objectifs Recyclages Matières" call for projects. The company captures these material streams within a 50 km radius (waste collection centres, car bodies, SMEs, micro-businesses, private individuals).

5. Developing training

• Objective: Training and supporting young people for a better match with current economic needs.
• Actions: Training centres will need to create new pathways in order to close the gap between existing training and market needs. In addition, it will be essential to raise the standing of manual and technical occupations, which are often perceived as harder.
• Example: encouraging training organisations and universities to work in collaboration with companies in order to pool needs and trial a few pilot modules before rolling them out more widely.

6. Supporting local repair workshops

• Objective: Promoting the repair of consumer goods in order to extend their service life, reduce waste and create local employment.
• Action: Developing networks of repair workshops, notably in rural areas, funded through extended producer responsibility schemes in order to make repair more accessible.
• Concrete example: The Strasbourg Eurometropolis could work with the chamber of trades to develop the repair fund in its area, publicise it among craftspeople and help them put together applications and change their practices. This network, called "Répar'acteurs", already exists but could be scaled up.

7. Raising awareness of local consumption

• Objective: Encouraging consumers to favour local purchasing in order to reduce the carbon footprint and support the region's companies.
• Action: Launching awareness campaigns to inform citizens about the economic and environmental benefits of local consumption (notably via social networks). Enabling companies to trial initiatives on the subject. 
• Concrete example: The "Consommez Local Grand Est" campaign could be rolled out to promote local products among residents and retailers, with online visual materials and events in partnership with local markets. Building on the events already organised by the Strasbourg Eurometropolis as part of the "rendez-vous de l'alimentation". Beyond citizens, these awareness-raising processes could also involve companies wishing to trial initiatives on the subject. The creation of incubators would make it possible both to prepare consumers and, for companies, to trial innovative practices on the subject.

8. Identifying replicable, high-impact solutions to spread across the region

• Objective: Ensuring consistency in circular economy practices between the former regions in order to maximise the impact and effectiveness of initiatives.
• Action: Setting up a framework for identifying and promoting practices between the former regions, and organising events and communication actions to publicise these examples.
• Concrete example: Identifying good practices, through the CollECtif network, aimed at the region's economic developers and companies, and running events across the region to promote them, again through the network.

9. Involving local authorities in the circular transition

• Objective: Strengthening the role of local authorities in the transition to a circular economy by providing them with resources to launch local projects.
• Action: Setting up co-funding schemes to allow local authorities to launch circular projects, notably in the fields of responsible consumption and reuse.
• Concrete example: Co-funding textile reuse projects in the Haut-Rhin, with the participation of local authorities in setting up collection points and textile processing workshops, in consultation with the extended producer responsibility schemes.

10. Developing the collaborative economy

• Objective: Encouraging the adoption of collaborative economic models, such as bartering, sharing and low-tech, in order to reduce the consumption of primary resources.
• Action: Encouraging the creation of local bartering and goods-sharing platforms, particularly in urban centres, in order to meet collaborative consumption needs.
• Concrete example: Developing local bartering and sharing apps, supported by the Grand Est Region, to facilitate the exchange of everyday items between residents of cities such as Strasbourg or Nancy. These apps could offer collection points and neighbourhood meet-ups.

Summary table