Circular Procurement Green Deal – Netherlands

In 2013, the Dutch Government established the Circular Procurement Green Deal to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. This programme brought together 45 public and private parties, and tasked each of them with carrying out two circular procurement initiatives in order to increase experience, share insights, and create a pool of good practice. Over three years, 80 circular procurement pilots were conducted and their lessons shared. The success of this programme resulted in the Dutch Government placing special emphasis on circular procurement and the consideration of life-cycle costs in its 2016 Roadmap to a Circular Economy. Moreover, it included an aim to raise the proportion of circular procurement to 10% by 2020.

KEY LEARNINGS

• Need of a shared definition on circular procurement
• Adress circularity as early as possible. Start of formal tender process is too late
• Need of support ‘from the board’, but ALSO from project managers
• Customization is crucial. No standard approach
• Importance of market consultation, market dialogue
• Objective assessment of circular criteria is still a challenge
• Pilots are ‘easy’/ low risk for suppliers, are they able and willing to upscale?