Circular economy
-
-
Circular economy
Making smarter use of resources, producing less waste and reducing CO2 emissions? Discover what happens in Ghent with regard to circular economy.
We are limiting Ghent’s carbon footprint by using fewer primary raw materials, and allowing resources and products to circulate longer and with higher quality. This way, we are transitioning from a linear into a circular economy. As a European Technology Capital, Ghent is focusing on clean technology to accelerate this transition. We apply new technologies with regard to resources, water, energy and mobility to build a sustainable future for our city, our citizens and our environment.
Renewable energy
Ghent wants to maximise the available amount of renewable energy from the sun, soil, wind and waste flows.
programme
-
Smart examples from the circular economy in Ghent
-
-
CAPTURE - Tech Lane Ghent
Reusing water, plastics and CO2 in a sustainable manner? CAPTURE researches the possibilities.
CAPTURE stands for Centre for Advanced Process Technology for Urban REsource Recovery. This research and valorisation centre in the Tech Lane Ghent Science Park joins forces with its core partners Ghent University, VITO, University of Antwerp and VUB to promote the flow of new technologies on the sustainable reuse of water, plastics and CO2 to industry and society. Ghent is the European pioneer in clean technology and is investing around €500,000 in CAPTURE between 2020 and 2025.
The CAPTURE building - which was built with the help of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - consists of 7,200m2 of laboratories and brings together scholars and companies from various disciplines to provide answers to societal challenges, such as the increasing water problems. For example, researchers within the ‘water’ pipeline feed the debate with concrete proposals to make Flanders more resistant to water shortages. Dialogue with the stakeholders involved is central in this respect. This way, CAPTURE bridges the gap between knowledge institutions, government authorities and industry.
Read more about CAPTURE
-
PlastiCity
We are increasing the recycling of plastics in Ghent through the PlastiCity project.
The City of Ghent is coordinator of the Interreg Europe project ‘PlastiCity’. We are looking for new solutions for collecting, sorting and processing plastic waste, together with cities from the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom. Companies, designers and the educational sector play an important role in this project. With their cooperation, we are researching new processing methods for ‘lost plastics’. This way, we want to raise the recycling percentage of plastics in urban areas from 20% to 50% and reintroduce plastic waste in the city in an innovative way.
Read more about PlastiCity
-
URBCON
Via the URBCON project we want to reduce CO2 emissions in the construction sector.
The Interreg Europe URBCON (URBan CONcrete) project wants to reduce the considerable raw materials consumption and the high CO2 emissions of the construction sector. We work with Ghent University and several companies in this context. This project focuses on concrete, the most commonly used building material in the world. The overall goal of the project is to produce concrete with industrial by-products and captured CO2, instead of primary raw materials.
We are experimenting with these new, clean and circular techniques in the streets of Ghent via this European project. For example, you will find circular street furniture on the square near primary school De Zonnepoort: 2 benches and 4 ornaments made of low-carbon concrete. The cement was largely replaced by by-products such as slags and axes from the steel industry. In addition to this circular street furniture, Ghent also has a circular pavement in Leeuwstraat and a circular fire escape in primary school De Zonnepoort.
Read more about URBCON
-
The Circular Kickstart
Ghent allows entrepreneurs to successfully transition to sustainable and circular business models.
The accelerator programme The Circular Kickstart of The Circular Hub focuses on companies that want give a circular impulse to their business models. The programme focuses on start-ups, because they are the engine of the circular transition. The ultimate goal of The Circular Kickstart? To ensure that every start-up adopts sustainable and circular business practices.
Via The Circular Kickstart, start-ups who are committed to sustainability and circularity receive a lot of insights into sustainable and circular business models. They get an answer to the following questions: What does their sustainable and circular business model look like? Where can they find partners to close the chain? How can they integrate sustainability and circularity into their value chain and supply chain?
Read more about The Circular Kickstart
-
Circuit Circulair
Circular actors with promising ideas receive support.
An ambitious climate policy is not limited to tackling direct carbon emissions. Through the circular economy, we save raw materials and also tackle indirect emissions. That is why the City of Ghent supports entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions, associations and enthusiastic citizens who come up with circular ideas. With the ‘Circuit Circulair’ competition, the City of Ghent wants to encourage and support ‘circular actors’ with promising ideas and thus put the circular economy in the spotlight.
These are innovative projects that consider waste as a raw material, initiatives that offer new, sustainable products or services, projects that share resources and products or that encourage people to consume less.A professional jury will select 10 finalists from all the entries. They will receive professional guidance to further develop their business plan. The final winners (maximum 3) will share a grant of 100,000 euro to realise their idea.
-
Low-waste events
In Ghent, we love partying. But in a clean way.
In Ghent, we love partying. But in a clean way. That is why we opt for 100% recyclable products. We are doing away with the amount of plastic waste produced by disposable cups, plastic plates, straws and forks.
During the Ghent Festivities, one of the biggest popular festivals in Europe, the majority of the food stands will switch to reusable tableware, for everything else there will be a temporary transition period. Reusable cups have been obligatory on all squares since 2018.
In order to stimulate a customer-friendly system and limit the environmental impact, the City of Ghent supports the organisers of the Ghent Festivities with subsidies. The fewer different types of cups are in circulation, the easier it is for visitors and the organisers. That is why the reusable ‘Negenduust’ cup can be returned almost everywhere.
-
Temporary use of available space
Space is scarce in an ever expanding city such as Ghent. We (re)use it in a clever way.
Space is scarce in an ever expanding city such as Ghent. That is why we use the available space efficiently. Even if it is only temporarily available.
Ghent opts, where possible, for a form of temporary use, in which sites or buildings are made available to the neighbourhood for a period of time. People can then set up their own initiatives that will benefit the neighbourhood. This way, we avoid residents having to look at a piece of wasteland or an empty building for years. By temporarily using certain buildings or sites, we can make qualitative use of vacancy and create opportunities for local circular activities.
-
Ghent Repairs
Something broken? In the Ghent Repair Cafés, volunteers repair all kinds of objects.
Ghent Repairs is a cooperation between IVAGO, the City of Ghent’s Meeting and Connecting department, and intends to spread Repair Cafés all over Ghent.
A Repair Café is a free meeting at which voluntary repairers help repair all kinds of objects, such as clothing, electrical appliances, furniture and bicycles. These meetings are the perfect opportunity to meet local residents in a new, surprising way and to have a chat. The voluntary contributions allow the volunteers to buy spare parts and materials. This ensures that every Repair Café has sufficient professional materials to repair broken items.
The community centres and local service centres of the City of Ghent play an important role in the organisation of the Repair Cafés. IVAGO takes care of the overall communication.
-
Reusable nappies
The City of Ghent is tackling the amount of waste produced by disposable nappies.
The City of Ghent has been tackling the amount of waste produced by disposable nappies for a while.
Few parents realise that disposable nappies produce an impressive amount of residual waste: an estimated one tonne of waste per child. The CO2 emissions from the production and waste processing of disposable nappies is also 1.5 to 2.5 times higher than those of reusable nappies.
That is why the City of Ghent supports the use washable nappies in the form of subsidies, which allow young families to rent a package of washable nappies free of charge for four weeks.
-
Less food waste
In Ghent, as little food as possible goes to waste.
Since 2013, the City of Ghent has been a pioneer in the fight against food waste, one of the objectives of the ‘Gent en Garde’ food strategy.
Proof of this can be seen in initiatives such as Restorestje, Foodsavers Gent, the success of the Too Good To Go app in Ghent, and the reduction in food waste in industrial kitchens. Several projects received a Food Waste Award.
The Ghent Food Council supports many Ghent civil society organisations that get creative with surpluses. They are processed into new products, like in the ‘Rabot op je bord’ project, or into ready-made meals for people in poverty. In the Let’s Save Food rescue vending machines, you can save bread and pastry surpluses from being thrown away on a daily basis.
-
Sharing drained groundwater
Sharing drained groundwater with residents is a condition to get a building permit.
The City of Ghent encourages sharing groundwater that is drained during construction works. In fact, sharing this water is a condition to get a building permit.
An ideal scenario is when the drained water is reinfiltrated into the soil locally. As often there is limited space in an urban setting, another possibility is to drain the water towards a waterway or rainwater recuperation site nearby. If that is also not possible, the City of Ghent still wants to avoid the water flooding into the sewerage. That's why, when there is no risk of soil contamination in the area, the water is put neighbouring residents' disposal for usage in their gardens or to fill up their water tanks.
The city's website features a map of all construction sites currently sharing drained water.
-
Circular economy within the City of Ghent
How does Ghent stimulate and increase a circular economy within its own organisation? Take a look behind the scenes.
Read moreTogether for a circular economy
The transition to a circular economy is not something we can do alone and requires changes in each link of the chain. The City of Ghent, North Sea Port, Ghent University, the Province of East Flanders, the provincial development agency of East Flanders and Cleantech Flanders are joining forces via the Cleantech Cluster Region Ghent. This partnership develops a resilient cleantech ecosystem in the wider region of Ghent and signs up for sustainability with vigour.
But Ghent citizens, companies and the educational sector are also experimenting with the reusability of products and raw materials and the reduction of primary raw materials. For instance, Ghent has numerous citizen initiatives on waste management, recovery of resources and consuming less. By exchanging knowledge between the various links and setting up experimental projects, we are accelerating the circular economy. This makes Ghent a pioneer within Europe.