On 31st October 2022, the National Meeting for Mapping Circularity in Georgia will be held in Tbilisi

On 31st October 2022, the National Meeting for Mapping Circularity in Georgia will be held in Tbilisi at the Hotel “Rooms”, to bring together all stakeholder groups key for this process. The event has been planned in the frames of the project ‘To Map Circular Economy in Georgia’ supported by the Government of Sweden, and implemented by CSO Georgian Society of Nature Explorers “Orchis” (GSNE “Orchis”) in close cooperation with the Government of Georgia.

The National Meeting will be organized to present the results of the circularity mapping that has been finalized recently. It took 24 months of intensive work by the Task Team consisting of 13 experts representing the highest level at various economic sectors. Lots have been done during 2-year period, including the initial screening of 90 economic activities listed in the register of National Office of Statistics to identify the sectors, which could be prospective for transition to circular models of economy. As a result of this, 14 sectors have been selected as having potential (medium; high; extremely high) for developing circularity. The selected 14 sectors have been assessed, and a snap-shot description of each has been prepared, including mass flows of materials (raw materials, products, by-products and wastes), losses and wastes generated, share of recycled wastes and estimation of potential for recycling. Based on this, the task team has recommended national quantitative circular economy policy targets and circular ambitions, identified sectoral opportunities, defined sector-specific policy options and developed a set of recommendations for the Circular Economy Road Map and Strategy for Georgia. And finally, the Circularity Mapping Report has been prepared for Georgia.

During the described complex process of the circularity mapping the Task Team interacted closely with the Inter-Ministerial Co-ordination Board consisting of 36 experts from various ministries and governmental agencies under the leadership of Accad. Solomon Pavliashvili – Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MoEPA). In addition, the Task Team carried out extensive consultations and interviews with business leaders and reviewed a great amount of most relevant and most recent reference documents.

The highly valuable feedback has been received in result of these collaboration and consultation processes as well as four plenary meetings organized during these two years to discuss the mapping process with the Inter-Ministerial Co-ordination Board and adequately considered in the Circularity Mapping Report to define national quantitative circular economy policy targets and circular ambitions for the country. The support obtained from the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Board during the circularity mapping process, and especially during the collection and interpretation of relevant data should be separately mentioned.

In result of the described immense efforts from the all parties engaged, the circularity level of Georgian economy has been successfully assessed and the Circularity Mapping Report has been prepared. Now, when this important document is available, it is time to present it together with main findings and recommendations to all key stakeholders at the National Meeting. In addition, this high-level meeting will be used to go through the whole mapping process once more and present the vision of the Task Team regarding the next steps to be made by Georgia towards the circularity.

The keynote speaker of the National Meeting will be the International Expert in the Circular Economy and Team Leader of the Circular Economy Mapping Programme Dr. Dariusz Prasek – the international expert in sustainable finance, environmental, social and governance areas, former Director of Operations in Environmental and Sustainability Department of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), member of the United Nations Advisory Board on Circular Economy, and Independent Expert on Development Financing at IDB Invest.

Another keynote speaker will be the Key National Expert in Sustainable Development and Deputy Team Leader Dr. Medgar Chelidze – the expert in environmental, social, governance and sustainability areas.

Mapping how circular is the economy of Georgia and developing recommendations for the Circular Economy Strategy are the first steps needed for the accelerated transition to circularity. Through the financial support of the Government of Sweden, this process was commenced in 2020 by the GSNE “Orchis” in close cooperation with and active engagement of the MoEPA, which has ensured the establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Board of the Government of Georgia as the main objectives of the project call for a close collaboration with key governmental structures to enable appropriate mapping of the current circularity level of the national economy and to establish appropriate national quantitative circular economy policy targets and circular ambitions.

The project ‘To Map Circular Economy in Georgia’ has been implemented through funding of the Government of Sweden to accelerate the transition to the circularity through setting national quantitative circular economy policy targets and circular ambitions, identifying sector circular economy opportunities, mapping priority sectors for circular economy initiatives and sector-specific policy options, and developing recommendations for the Circular Economy Roadmap and Strategy of Georgia.

In a circular economy, products are designed for durability, upgradeability, reparability and reusability, with a view to reusing the materials from which they are made after they reach the end of their life. Consumers use products efficiently and discard them in such a way that they can be reused or, if this is technically or economically unfeasible, recycling operators turn them into secondary materials that can enter a new production-consumption cycle.

The transition to a circular economy requires a radical change in the way we produce and consume. This needs to be supported by the whole system, from enabling technolo¬gies and infrastructures to a form of market organisation that facilitates collaboration along and across value chains and a form of governance and regulation that encourages companies to adopt circular approaches to social norms that make the circular production-consumption patterns socially preferable.

Georgia has recently embarked on an accelerated path to transition to the circular economy. With the concerted efforts of the Government, civil society organisations, academia and international partners, Georgia initiated the development of the circular economy strategy and roadmap aimed at multidimensional approach including production, consumption, waste management, secondary raw materials, innovation, investments as well as ongoing initiatives, in different sectors, by different players, and at different stages of the value chain or different stages of development.

The National Meeting is planned in the frames of the project ‘To Map Circular Economy in Georgia’ commonly by the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture of Georgia and GSNE “Orchis”. The project ‘To Map Circular Economy in Georgia’ is being implemented by GSNE “Orchis”, through funding of the Government of Sweden, with the support of Georgian Ministries of Environmental Protection & Agriculture, Economy & Sustainable Development, Regional Development & Infrastructure, and Education & Science.