Wuppertal starts Smart Circular: The future of the circular economy begins!

Wuppertal starts Smart Circular: The future of the circular economy begins!

The Smart City Competence Center in Wuppertal launched the “Smart Circular Wuppertal” project today, May 22, 2025, to strengthen the city as a sustainable place to live and do business. As part of this initiative, the circular economy is particularly emphasized in order to develop new circular business models. This measure is carried out in conjunction with the ongoing “Smart Waste Valley” project, which also focuses on sustainability and resource conservation. The project is supported by the state funding program “Circular Economy – CircularCities.NRW”, which will provide around 2.2 million euros until 2028.

The vision of “Smart Circular Wuppertal” is multiple use of raw materials and materials in order to significantly reduce resource consumption and promote local value creation. This initiative aims to strengthen the regional economy. As part of the project, two pilot projects will be carried out, which represent concrete measures to implement the stated goals.

Pilot projects to reduce CO₂

The first pilot project “WiederGut” aims to network repair initiatives in the Arrenberg district. Particular emphasis is placed on reducing CO₂ emissions by repairing items. This initiative is also important because almost 900,000 tons of electrical and electronic equipment will end up in waste in Germany in 2022. The project provides a visual representation of carbon savings, for example through interactive maps and stories to raise awareness that many broken devices are still repairable, including coffee machines, kitchen appliances and computers. In addition, a concept for recording and visualizing repair data is being developed that should be easy to use for voluntary initiatives.

The second pilot project “MehrwegTal” focuses on a sustainable lunch offer. Here, regional organic dishes are offered in reusable containers, which further supports the circular economy approach. The entire value chain is taken into account, from production to the return of the containers. In collaboration with the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE), packaging and process standards are being developed to enable a standardized system for delivery and electronic data exchange between the partners for packaging-free food.

Partnerships and collaboration

Important partners for the project are the Wuppertal Institute, the CSCP, the New Efficiency gGmbH and the social project Aufbruch am Arrenberg (Arrenbergstatt). Your expertise will make a decisive contribution to achieving the project goals and sustainably developing the city of Wuppertal. Through the combination of innovation and cooperation, “Smart Circular Wuppertal” strives to create a sustainable and resource-saving urban society that is not only environmentally friendly but also economically successful. Those interested can find further information about the project on the website City of Wuppertal and the Smart City Wuppertal.