Circular economy, public procurement, and increased resource efficiency: Environmental and social effects of resource flows in the City of Malmö.

The procurement practices in public organisations are traditionally performed in a linear way. Using circular economy solutions could help public organisations to save both natural and economic resources and tackle climate change. The Swedish City of Malmö strives to include circular economy solutions and become a circular municipality. The scope of the project named “SINA – Sluta med Ineffektiv Användning” SINUS (stop ineffective Use) was to increase the practical knowledge regarding circular procurement and circular user flow within public organisations. In practice, the project tried to increase the efficiency and circularity of material flows in the city of Malmö. The goal of the project was to explore activities for increased reuse and visualise how circular material flows can reduce environmental impacts. The goal was also to develop a method for mapping material flows that can be used in the City of Malmö and other public organisations. Within the project, the purchase and waste flows within the City of Malmö have been mapped and analysed to identify circular activities and product categories. The studied activities and product categories included in this study are the reuse of furniture and replacement of single use plastic with reuse alternatives, as well as prolonged lifetime of IT products and textiles. Life cycle analysis (LCA) based methods were used to estimate the reduction in environmental impact from the studied circular activities. The results showed that most reduction can be achieved though purchasing agreements with increased lifetime from 3 to 4 years, such as for IT products and clothing (25%). The reuse of furniture and the replacement of single use plastic also leads to reduced environmental impacts. Some methodological difficulties might be found in data collection, not for environmental data, but for procurement and waste data. The perception of circular activities within the City of Malmö were analysed with a survey. The results also showed that most employees value the function of the product rather the need of new products, and they are interested in using a digital sharing platform. Additionally, the results pointed out the need for a circular manager handling the material flows, handling storage and repairs and handling the values of employees. This research has been resulted in a draft roadmap for circular economy for the City of Malmö, as well as a description of the methodology developed within the project, to be shared with other public organisations through various networks and digital channels.