Strong cooperation between regional actors, municipalities, businesses, R&D, communities, and other stakeholders is the key for creating sustainable and resilient circular ecosystems at local and regional level. The Council of Tampere Region and Circular Pirkanmaa (Regional Circular Economy Development Centre), are driving systemic change in the region’s circular economy operating environment. Therefore, our focus is on three different key themes: strategic level, ecosystem development level, and operational level.

Vision and objectives

The pilot set out to develop and stabilise totally new Regional Circular Economy Development Centre designed to help public bodies (especially municipalities) and businesses work together to speed up the shift to a more circular economy.

The overall vision was for municipalities in the Tampere Region to become more self‑sufficient and create more value from materials generated locally, while reducing CO₂ emissions.

In the longer run, the “ideal scenario” described is a point where the centre is no longer needed because circular ways of working are embedded across municipalities and organisations.

The objectives included securing project funding; co‑developing with new and existing partners across the value chain; advocating for aligned strategies, policies and commitments; and delivering pilots, practical resources and events to build skills and commitment across the region.

From the outset, the centre planned to support three main areas of work: housebuilding, infrastructure development, and industrial material flows, providing guidance, coordination and practical services to municipalities, public companies and businesses.

The plan also recognised a key need to bring public and private actors together, with public institutions shaping the framework for action while enabling private investment and delivery, supported by structured market dialogue.

Implementation journey

The centre officially launched in 2023, and a website was developed intended to share tools, benchmarks and case studies.

The work progressed through mapping, design and implementation activities, and the roadmap states that the pilot is considered to be at the implementation stage.

In practice, the pilot focused on creating tangible support for municipalities: developing criteria and tools for land allocation and planning, improving public procurement approaches for infrastructure, and convening actors to work on industrial material flows and cooperation models.

The pilot also ran practical reuse activities, including pilots in Nokia and Orivesi, where bricks were dismantled intact, stored and prepared for reuse, with the work focusing especially on the dismantling and storage process and producing guidance based on what was learned.

Market dialogue was used as a recurring method to understand what companies can offer and what municipalities need, to improve cooperation and make procurement a better match with what the market can provide.

Alongside delivery, the pilot documented what helped and what got in the way, noting that external funding enabled testing and tool development, while barriers included limited awareness of benefits, weak markets for circular solutions, and the ongoing need for clearer governance and more committed stakeholders with authority to push implementation.

The roadmap was used as a living planning and monitoring document and was updated throughout the support phase, with the final update completed in October 2025.

Key results

The pilot’s main objective was to develop and stabilise a completely new Regional Circular Economy Development Centre (which is now known as Circular Pirkanmaa), and it reports success in developing an operational model and delivering work across the three main themes (housebuilding, infrastructure and industrial material flows).

It reports that the Centre reshaped collaboration between public and private organisations in the region, bringing clarity to efforts that were previously fragmented, and building trusted relationships that position it as a recognised regional partner to orchestrate and implement practical solutions.

Measured results reported include: 4 municipalities cooperating or piloting with the centre; 2 circular economy Green Deal commitments made by municipalities, 1 regional circular economy Green Deal commitment, which will act as a basis for the cooperation in the area made by the Council of Tampere Region, 6 market dialogues; 8 new tools published; and €964,020 of funding acquired for operations.

For the reuse pilots, the roadmap reports “48,000 bricks saved”, with CO₂ impacts still being calculated, and “1 operating model produced” from the work.

Deliverables and outputs

A core output was the creation and operation of the Circular Pirkanmaa (= Regional Circular Economy Development Centre ) as a totally new operator with a legal address and a small team (reported as 3.5 full‑time staff), working across thematic and communication tasks.

In addition to developing and stabilising the Centre, the pilot produced practical tools and criteria, including circular economy criteria for land allocation, circular procurement criteria and an environmental checklist for infrastructure projects, and a reuse specification tool, among other resources referenced as part of the pilot’s toolset.

The pilot also established a publicly available “Material Bank” to share good (and bad) experiences and provide guidance, tools and useful materials easier for municipalities to reuse rather than starting from scratch.

The Council of Tampere Region signed a regional circular economy Green Deal commitment in 2025, which acts as an umbrella for cooperation in the area and drives systematic circular economy change at a strategic and political level.

This profile section draws only on the pilot’s own reporting outputs, including the Solution Booklet, Roadmap, and the Recommendations and next steps.

Vision for the future

Looking ahead to the future plans of the Centre, the reporting emphasises strengthening long‑term financial sustainability, not only by seeking more grants but by diversifying income through clearer service packages, productised expert support and selective cost‑recovery mechanisms such as fee‑based advisory services, training products, and a light membership model (subject to mandate and rules).

It also highlights multi‑year funding pathways, including participation together with the Council of Tampere Region in relevant LIFE Programme calls and complementary opportunities under other EU funding instruments, alongside potential national and regional co‑financing routes.

A recommended next step for the Centre is to move from project‑based delivery towards a stable regional service platform through a hybrid model that balances public service functions with paid services and partnership elements, supported by a business plan and investment case development.

For scaling impact, the recommendations call for deeper collaboration with municipalities and private actors, with structured peer learning and joint pilot actions, supported by shared ways of working and a shared digital workspace for guidance materials, templates and data exchange (noting this could link to the Material Bank under development).

Finally, the roadmap reiterates the longer‑term intent that municipalities build their own leadership, goals and ways of working so that circular action becomes embedded across the region and the centre’s role can reduce over time as systems mature.

The Council of Tampere Region and EcoFellows Ltd./Circular Pirkanmaa, together with other regional actors, have been actively participating in the national policy instrument process known as the Circular Economy Green Deal, coordinated by Finland’s Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Economic affairs and Employment.

As a result of the process, Council of Tampere Region signed a Regional Circular Economy Umbrella Green Deal commitment in summer 2025, Additionally, other regional actors and municipalities are considering signing their own more targeted commitments.

Additionally, circular economy transition and solutions are integrated into the region’s Climate Neutral Roadmap, which was updated in June 2024. Therefore, the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) is now part of the climate plan.

The original Climate Neutral Roadmap was published in 2020, identified circular economy as one of the six main themes. Additionally, circular economy principles are embedded in the regional programme including Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisations (RIS3).

Leading organisation

Council of Tampere Region

Unit/department/section

Regional development

Participation in other relevant initiatives

EfoFellows Ltd / Circular Pirkanmaa