The Ellen MacArthur Foundation works to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

How it started

Cleveland’s circular economy journey is deeply rooted in years of collaboration between the city, local organizations, and community leaders. The foundation for this effort was laid during the city’s Sustainable Cleveland 2019 initiative, which ran from 2009 to 2019 and annually focused on various sustainability goals, including the Celebration Year of Zero Waste in 2014. These initiatives created an environment where community members, grassroots organizations, and local institutions collaborated to embed sustainability across the city. 

In 2018, however, Cleveland’s recycling program was abruptly halted due to high contamination rates. In 2019, as the Sustainable Cleveland initiative reached its culmination, city leaders and community partners recognised this as a critical moment to rethink the city’s approach to waste management. Leaders across the city saw an opportunity to expand beyond traditional recycling, and to explore circular economy strategies to support waste reduction, reuse, and encourage local economic development whilst also meeting the city’s climate goals.

In 2020, with support from a grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, the City of Cleveland, and Neighborhood Connections launched the Circular Cleveland initiative. This initiative aimed to unify and amplify the city's circular economy efforts under a singular banner. Designed as a comprehensive and community-centered approach, the initiative aims to mitigate climate change impacts, foster new economic opportunities, and strengthen community resilience through the adoption of circular economy principles.

The role of community actors

Since 2003, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and Neighborhood Connections have supported several grassroots initiatives including many that embodied circular economy principles, even if they didn't explicitly use that terminology. These organizations have historically worked closely with the City of Cleveland, which has funded various initiatives and projects in collaboration with them. As a local intermediary, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, has worked closely with the City of Cleveland to launch and implement several initiatives that require a neighborhood-based approach.  The initiative’s objective was to bring community members into the decision-making process, ensuring that the City’s circular economy program was shaped by residents’ needs and aligned with city-wide strategies.

The initiative recognised that community actors were already the driving force behind circular economy initiatives and that genuine change could only occur with active participation from local residents and community organizations in developing and implementing solutions. Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and Neighborhood Connections helped to bridge the divide between policy and practice by empowering community voices to be heard and their ideas included in city decision-making, fostering a foundation of community resilience. Their leadership has ensured that the circular economy is not merely a top-down mandate but a movement driven by the community, with residents actively participating in the development and success of local projects. This collaborative approach has instilled a sense of ownership and pride among residents and community organizations, who feel they are directly contributing to the city's sustainability objectives.

Key activities and initiatives

Several key activities and initiatives helped Cleveland engage community actors and drive the circular economy forward:

1. Circular Cleveland Ambassador Program: Cleveland's innovative Ambassador program positioned residents at the forefront of the city's shift toward a circular economy. Community leaders were selected for their diverse networks, geographic representation, and ability to engage with a wide range of people, serving as vital bridges between the Circular Cleveland leadership and local communities. Going beyond traditional community engagement, these Ambassadors played instrumental roles in both crafting the city's circular economy roadmap and stewarding community resources through their various community projects in their neighborhoods. 

2. Community grants: Since April 2021, grassroots circular innovation was catalyzed by awarding more than $70,000 to over 37 diverse organizations across the city. A local committee of resident grantmakers engaged in neighborhood initiatives selected recipients based on their neighborhood connections, alignment with circular principles, and potential for project replication. These awards empowered local changemakers - many first-time grant recipients - to pioneer circular solutions in their communities. The funded initiatives focused on four key areas: food systems transformation through community gardens, food rescue, and composting, textile reuse and upcycling programmes, innovative waste reduction and recycling services and skills development and community education. In addition, Circular Cleveland Ambassadors were provided one-time dedicated small grants to advance circular economy concepts in their neighborhoods through workshops, events and engagement projects. 

3. Composting pilot: Through funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation the City launched its first composting program at West Side Market in partnership with Rust Belt Riders and the Hunger Network. This initiative includes a food rescue programme that redistributes surplus edible food to local organizations supporting those in need, and diverts food waste for composting to enrich soil at local farms. After a successful pilot, composting is now part of the Market’s regular operations. 

4. Circular Cleveland Roadmap and Implementation Plan: The City of Cleveland and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress collaborated with a team of international experts to develop a Circular Cleveland Roadmap for the city. A detailed landscape analysis assessed the flow of materials, energy, and water across Cleveland’s industrial, commercial, residential, and transportation sectors, and established a baseline, pinpointing data gaps and revealing high-impact areas for change. Guided by input from stakeholders, the Roadmap identifies four strategic areas: manufacturing, remediating pollution, the built environment, and getting more value from resources.

5. Economic development grants: Circular Cleveland has actively supported innovative solutions to waste and pollution through various grant initiatives.

   • Circular Cleveland partnered with SCORE Cleveland, a non-profit specializing in business mentorship for entrepreneurs and startups, to launch three business incubation grants. Each grant, valued at $10,000, was designed to support small businesses and entrepreneurs developing innovative solutions to material waste and pollution using circular economy principles.

   • Circular Cleveland collaborated with MAGNET, a manufacturing advocacy non-profit, to award a $10,000 prize for circular and sustainable innovation as part of MAGNET's annual pitch competition.

   • Cleveland Central Kitchen, a food business incubator, was awarded a $30,000 incentive to reduce food waste. The funding is being used to study food waste streams and develop value-added processes to repurpose byproducts currently sent to landfills. One of the hub’s key projects involves creating fruit vinegar from large quantities of fruit pulp generated by a member business. Another project is investing in food processing equipment to expand the farm surplus recovery program that partners with Northeast Ohio farms to turn surplus produce into organic products used by member businesses and a local school districts. 

   • A total of $30,000 was allocated to develop a webinar series designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt circular practices. The funding also supported five businesses through micro-grants, enabling them to enhance their waste and materials management efforts following participation in the webinar series. 

Major achievements

The circular economy has been institutionalized in the city administration: Cleveland's circular economy initiative has achieved meaningful environmental and social impacts, establishing itself as a vital part of the city’s long-term urban planning. Now a reference point in city reports, the circular economy is embedded in the city’s 10-Year Strategic Plan. Plans are also underway to incorporate circular economy principles into upcoming updates to the city’s Climate Action Plan and Municipal Action Plan. Circular Cleveland has also led to the institutionalization of the circular economy within the city through the creation of a dedicated position: a Sustainability Senior Manager for the Circular Economy, further embedding circularity into Cleveland’s future. Additionally, a notable outcome of the Ambassador program is the hiring of one participant by the City of Cleveland’s Public Works Department as community outreach staff for the Division of Waste Collection and Disposal’s recycling program.

Composting is being scaled up across the city: Cleveland's composting initiative is scaling up dramatically, evolving from a focused pilot at West Side Market to include a programme for residents. The City has attracted significant federal support through a $341,000 USDA grant, enabling a major expansion from 7 to 17 drop-off sites across the city. Rid-All Green Partnership's 18-acre Kinsman farm will serve as both a composting hub and training center. The initiative will also create green job opportunities, with Ohio Means Jobs contributing $20,000 for workforce development and Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District offering in-kind support valued at $35,000 in educational resources and assistance. Building on the model of the Circular Cleveland Ambassador program, Composting Ambassadors will be designated for each neighborhood. These individuals will receive a small stipend and play a key role in promoting and supporting efficient composting practices within their communities.

Fix-it CLE Repair Workshops are being run as an ongoing partnership: Fix-it CLE Repair Workshops were established as a result of Circular Cleveland. Residents are encouraged to bring broken items to the workshops and work with volunteer repair coaches to fix them. From March to October, the Cleveland Public Library hosts a workshop on the 3rd Saturday of every month at rotating branches. In 2024, nine workshops were held across different neighborhoods, facilitated by 20 volunteer repair coaches.

Case Western Reserve University’s (CWRU) Sears think[box], a six-floor maker space open free of charge to both students and the public, hosts a workshop on the fourth Monday of every month. Additionally, the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District has organized two Reduce, Reuse, Repair Fairs. The workshops and fairs feature skilled coaches from diverse backgrounds, including electricians, mechanics, sewists, and carpenters. Hundreds of patrons have attended, bringing a wide array of items needing repair, such as lamps, laptops, smartphones, fans, vacuums, small kitchen appliances, as well as clothing and accessories. Bicycle repair services provided by the libraries have been particularly successful in engaging the broader community, especially families. A significant outcome of these workshops has been the development of a repair ecosystem. Some patrons who initially came to repair items gained enough skills and confidence to eventually become repair coaches themselves. The inclusion of an onsite tool library for coaches and patrons has been especially valuable, providing necessary resources to facilitate repairs.

Project funding and structure

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress received $476,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which supported the initiative's core components. The grant covered stipends for the ambassador program, supported the composting pilot, and provided for three consultants to conduct the landscape analysis and develop the city’s circular economy roadmap. Additionally, it funded both the economic development and community grants.

The Circular Cleveland initiative was a joint initiative of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and the City of Cleveland. It was structured with clear roles for the project partners, maximizing expertise and community impact. Project and partnership management was led by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, which also oversaw the ambassador programme, implemented economic development grants and co-led the development of the comprehensive Circular Cleveland Roadmap with the City of Cleveland. Neighborhood Connections facilitated the community grants program, and the City led the West Side Market composting pilot and the economic development grants.