Circular economy processes in the Nordic municipal building sector – a comparison of practices and policies

The initiation of circular economy (CE) within the built environment is imperative to address the impact of climate change and to fulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the public sector is a key factor in this. The ambition of this paper is to investigate monitoring approaches to circular initiatives in the municipal sector of the Nordic countries, and their potential for improvement. The study was conducted in two stages, the first stage being a preliminary mapping of the reuse practices in selected Norwegian municipalities, where interviews (N=8) and site visits were conducted. These piloting interviews gave the basis for an extension of the mapping, including other Nordic municipalities and the research design. In the second stage, semi-structured in-depth interviews of key actors (N=20) in Nordic municipalities were carried out, along with renewed site visits and unstructured interviews (N=10). While several municipalities have implemented CE systems, there are significant discrepancies in the approach. It varies between using public procurements as a key measure to simulate the stakeholders in the built environment to initiate internal systems. The differences are less variable within the countries, likely due to frequent communication and easy availability. Recommendations and ways forward for the municipalities are provided. Municipalities should establish standardization of reuse mapping. The paper emphasizes the importance of setting requirements to facilitate a circular value chain. By implementing chosen measures and monitoring systems it will improve the understanding of circular economy, enable process tracking and unlock the potential of CE initiatives in municipalities.