From 7–13 December 2025, a team of circular economy practitioners and other international stakeholders, from TIPC member countries Panama and South Africa, came together with TIPC researchers in South Africa as part of a TIPC-led initiative to investigate practical applications of circular economy principles within urban areas.
This initiative aims to promote knowledge exchange and to strengthen innovation capabilities in the Global South by examining how Panamanian and South African cities are approaching urban waste management and developing circular economy systems. As circularity becomes increasingly essential for reducing the unprecedented demand on the planet’s ecological resources, the project seeks to understand how cities can transition toward more sustainable and inclusive waste management models.
The TIPC team, which included Matias Ramirez, Claudia Obando Rodriguez, Chux Daniels, and Rob Byrne, participated in an immersive programme of workshops, policy discussions, and site visits. The delegation met with a range of public agencies, community-led initiatives, and organisations involved in waste management, recycling, and circular economy experimentation, including:
- African Reclaim Organisation (ARO)
A cooperative of street pickers that recycles solid waste from close to 9000 residents in Johannesburg. ARO is a membership-based democratic organisation of reclaimers working with in residential areas and landfills. The organisation prioritises the health and safety of its workers and invest so that more plastic can be collected and diverted from landfill. A large part of their work is focused on educating residents to separate waste at source.
- Madame waste
A demonstrator project on the edge of Johannesburg, that promotes the use of biogas from manure and other organic garden waste as a flexible and cheap source of energy, particularly for poorer households. The liquid by-product from this process can be used as fertiliser for vegetables.
- Taking Care of Business
An NGO that provides a two-year training course for some of the unemployed young women and men in the urban cities of South Africa to be able to resell garments or faulty E-waste (such as kettles) donated by large garment wholesalers or residents.
- Blue Waters Hammarsdale
A demonstrator site near Durban working on all area of circular economy to reduce landfill waste. The photos show a new approach to housing construction, where individuals can self-construct houses or rooms using bricks, that can fit like Lego pieces, at a fraction of the price of conventional houses. These bricks also contain broken down glass and ABS plastics, therefore they are very difficult to break down naturally.
It is anticipated that this visit marked the first step toward a comparative pilot study that will examine urban waste systems in Global South cities: how they are constructed, who the relevant actors are, and the challenges of introducing circular systems and making these inclusive. A second visit to Panama, planned for March 2026, will extend this analysis, with the longer-term aim of developing a substantial research project proposal that responds directly to the circularity needs of Global South cities.
“This visit provided an important opportunity to engage with diverse actors working in very different contexts. These interactions allowed the team to observe practices first-hand, compare experiences, and built a better understanding of how circular systems take shape in the Global South and what is required to support their transformative potential.” — Dr Matías Ramírez, TIPC’s co-director and Director of TIPC’s Latin American hub.
Co-developed with partners in South Africa and Panama and seed-funded by the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC), the project is jointly coordinated by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), and SENACYT (Panama).