On Friday, November 24, 2023, the event “Circular Economy: the City at Stake” took place, organized by the City of Turin in collaboration with Turin Social Impact, the Chamber of Commerce of Turin, and Circular Market.

On this occasion, the citizens were introduced to two European projects, RESPONDET and SME4GREEN, aimed at developing two local action plans contributing to achieving the city’s climate neutrality goal by 2030. Over the past months, organizations from the Community of Practice on Circular Economy of Turin Social Impact have been involved through consultation meetings to identify the needs and challenges of the territory and contribute to the drafting of the two documents.

The event was part of the XV European Week for Waste Reduction and coincided with the Circular Days Festival by Green Pea, which, from November 24 to 26, offered workshops, experiences, and labs to promote circularity.

During the meeting, facilitated by Mercato Circolare, the over 40 participants engaged in a team-based game to explore key terms related to the presented project documents: circular economy, renewable energy communities, food, and packaging.

The evening also provided an opportunity to showcase businesses and organizations from the Torino Social Impact Community of Practice. These entities, serving as ambassadors for one of the “R”s of the circular economy, included: Liberitutti Cooperative with the “Ci2 – Circular Foods” project at Cascina Falchera; Triciclo Cooperative with the bike workshop and reuse center on Via Arbe; the startup Around, offering a vacuum packaging return service; Off Grid Italia with the ReuseGame project; Panacea Social Farm, a social bakery experimenting with new flours and ingredients for baking using food waste; the benefit corporation Mindful Morsel, studying how to enhance and transform excess fruits and vegetables into nutritious snacks; and finally, SIAVS Atelier Riforma, optimizing the selection of end-of-life clothing with the Re4Circular technology, directing them toward the most optimal circular strategy, including reuse, upcycling, and recycling.

The presentation of the two projects, SME4GREEN and RESPONDET, marks the beginning of a dialogue with the community on the issues addressed during the evening..