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 two-year policy dialogue with more than 100 stakeholders from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors across Ireland and with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) of Ireland.
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, Head of Unit, and Juliette Lassman, Policy Analyst. Andrea Accorigi, former Policy Analyst, contributed to the first draft of the report. Ander Eizaguirre, Policy Analyst, contributed to the report with written input and participation in the virtual missions to Ireland; he and Melissa Kerim-Dikeni, Policy Analyst, provided support with the organisation of the policy seminar. Peter Borkey, Principal Administrator, and Andrew Brown, Policy Analyst, OECD Environment Directorate provided comments on the use of economic instruments.
The OECD Secretariat is grateful for the high level of commitment and support from the DECC, notably from Philip Nugent, Assistant Secretary, Environmental Protection and Circular Economy, as well as from the core local team led by Bernie Kiely, Principal Officer, Circular Economy Materials, including: Fiona Hill, Executive Officer, Circular Economy Strategic Policy; Cathal Comey, former Higher Executive Officer, Circular Economy Strategic Policy; as well as Leslie Carberry, Principal Officer, Circular Economy Strategic Policy. Warm thanks are also extended to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), namely to: Shane Colgan, formerly Manager, Resource Efficiency Unit; Tara Higgins, Senior Manager, Waste Statistics Team; Odile LeBolloch, Food Waste Prevention Team Lead; and Mary Frances Rochford, Programme Manager, Climate Change and Circular Economy Programme. Special thanks are also conveyed to representatives from Regional Waste Management Planning Offices and local authorities, namely Philippa King, Regional Co-ordinator, Southern Waste Region, and Joanne Rourke, Regional Resource Efficiency Officer, Eastern-Midlands Regional Waste Management Plan Office, Dublin City Council, as well as to the Rediscovery Centre, in particular to Claire Downey, Policy and Research Director, and Sarah Miller, Chief Executive.
The policy dialogue benefitted from the insights of peer reviewers, who are warmly thanked for sharing their valuable expertise, namely: Andrea Accorigi, Policy Officer, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission; Laura Blair, Sector Manager, Cities and Regions, Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS); Lewis Douglas, Technical Officer, Glasgow City Council; Colin Hughes, Policy Officer, Sustainability, Glasgow City Council; Amanda Ingram, Bioeconomy Sector Manager, ZWS; Colin Kennedy, Manufacturing Sector Manager, ZWS; Cheryl McCulloch, Senior Project Manager, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce; and Rebecca Rickets, Senior Project Advisor and founding member, Circular Glasgow, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
This report builds on interviews conducted during three online missions (10-12 March 2020, 12-15 October 2020 and 6-9 July 2021) and a policy seminar (19 October 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 2nd OECD Roundtable on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions (31 March 2020), the 3rd OECD Roundtable on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions (18-19 May 2021) and the EPA Circular Economy Conference (15-16 September 2021).
Stakeholders are also warmly thanked for their written comments, namely: government departments and agencies (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine [DAFM], Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation [DBEI], Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment [DETE], Department of Finance, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage [DHLGH] and Transport Infrastructure Ireland [TII]) and stakeholders from Arup, Beauparc, BIM, Cement Manufacturers Ireland, Chambers Ireland, Circular Bioeconomy Cluster South-West (University of Munster), CIRCULÉIRE, Community Resources Network Ireland (CRNI), CRÉ, Dublin City Council, FoodCloud, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Ibec, Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA), Irish Water, National College of Art and Design, NewERA, Repak, University College Cork and WEEE Ireland. The full list of stakeholders can be found in Annex A.
The report was submitted to RDPC delegates for approval by written procedure under the cote CFE/RDPC/URB(2022)2. The final version was edited and formatted by Eleonore Morena, and François Iglesias and Pilar Philip prepared the manuscript for publication.