Bulding evidence
to inspire action

Insight and evidence sit at the core of everything we do. We also run pilots and demonstration projects to discover what really works; and communicate our findings through informative publications, engaging webinars and inspiring events.

In 2023-24, we continued to grow engagement with our audience across London and beyond through our content and events, with greater visibility of our work in the press and on social media.

Our three key reports in 2023-24

We produced three key reports in 2023-24. They brought new insights on material flows (how stuff is moved around) and circularity in London, focusing on fashion, the built environment and household waste and recycling.

The first report ‘London’s fashion footprint’ traced the flow of clothing throughout Greater London’s fashion supply chain. Through this research, we showed the impact of what Londoners wear on both waste volumes in the city and damaging greenhouse gas emissions.

The second report ‘Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities – Insights from the CIRCuIT project’ presented the key learnings, tools, methodologies and recommendations from the four-year CIRCuIT project to accelerate market transformation towards a circular, regenerative built environment.

The final report ‘Estimates of London household waste composition’ provided the most comprehensive picture yet of what Londoners put in their bins. This is highly valuable information for waste authorities to help them improve recycling rates and better understand the potential impacts of the incoming packaging reforms.

Circular Economy Week

Our sixth annual Circular Economy Week in 2023 focused on how the circular economy can build cities’ resilience against both the cost-of-living and climate crises, while driving green growth.

Sponsored by Visa, the week inspired 700+ people to take part in 78 in-person and online events. For the first time, we expanded Circular Economy Week beyond London and the UK to create global connections. We invited circular economy leaders and pioneers from businesses, governments and NGOs across Africa, Asia and the Americas to tell their stories and share learnings from their cities and regions through a series of insightful webinars.

Evidence shows the people who engage with our work take action

We know our work inspires change. In a 2024 survey circulated to London’s local authorities, 75% of borough respondents reported that our research and data, pilots, events or other related resources have helped enhance their knowledge, competencies and capacity internally to take action. These actions included creating or making changes to new and existing services, policies, activities and programmes.

Plus, our Circular Economy Week survey showed 81% of delegates agreed that the event empowered them to explore ways to encourage behaviour change towards lower waste lifestyles. 50% said they would explore collaboration opportunities with industry actors, and over a third said they were inspired to explore opportunities for new policies, or update those already in place.