Rwanda, through the Ministry of Environment and partners, will host the inaugural National Circular Economy Forum with key stakeholders, including the private sector, to harness the opportunities that lie in the circular economy and explore how they can support the country’s green growth. The forum will take place on 8 August 2019 at the Marriott Hotel in Kigali.

The forum will bring together participants from the private sector, development partners, financing institutions, and key government institutions responsible for advancing the circular economy, defining opportunities and encouraging tangible actions that foster this new way of doing business.

Rwanda is not only committed to green growth, but also having a circular economy that promotes efficiency in industries through minimising waste and making the most of resources. Rwanda has introduced several policies in line with this commitment, including the recently updated National Environment and Climate Change Policy, which promotes the circular economy.

In addition to banning plastic bags in 2008, a law phasing out single use plastics has been adopted by parliament. This creates the need for alternatives that can be utilised by the private sector and a circular economy that supports such efforts

The National Circular Economy Forum will include sharing of experiences and lessons from the private sector including from e-mobility firm Gura Ride, My Green Home as well as Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA). Firms involved in the manufacture and the use of PET bottles, including Inyange Industries and Bralirwas Plc, will also discuss solutions for their recovery and recycling.

Contrary to our current linear economic model, in which we ‘take-make-consume and throw away’, the circular economy offers an opportunity to use resources to their highest value and continuously re-use rather than being thrown away. It rests on three principles:

• Preserve and enhance natural capital by controlling finite stocks and balancing renewable resource flows.
• Optimise resource yields by circulating products, components, and materials at the highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles
• Foster system effectiveness by revealing and designing out negative externalities

The National Circular Economy Forum is organised in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, National Industrial Research and Development Agency, Rwanda Environment Management Authority, the Rwanda Green Fund and the Private Sector Federation.

Media Enquiries

• Josee Umubyeyi, Public Relations & Communications Officer, Ministry of Environment, on +250 788 455 198 or at jumubyeyi@environment.gov.rw.
• Doreen Nakure, Public Relations and Communications Specialist, Rwanda Green Fund, on +250788563451 or at d.nakure@fonerwa.org.
• Jean d'Amour Mbonyinshuti, Public Relations and Communications Specialist, National Industrial Research and Development Agency, on +250 782 086 953 or at damour.mbonyinshuti@nirda.gov.rw.

National Circular Economy Forum Programme