Vereniging Circulair Friesland

About Vereniging Circulair Friesland

Vereniging Circulair Friesland is a regional network organization and transition platform based in Leeuwarden that brings together businesses, governments, knowledge institutions, and social organizations to accelerate the circular economy in Fryslân. The association was founded in 2016 after a raw-materials flow analysis of the province, and it has grown into a broad coalition of around 180 members working on circular solutions across sectors.

Its role is to connect initiatives, share knowledge, identify bottlenecks, and help turn circular ambitions into practical action. Circulair Friesland positions Fryslân as a region where circularity is not treated as an abstract ideal, but as a route to ecological, social, and economic value, with the long-term ambition of a fully circular province by 2050 and a leading circular region in Europe by 2035.

Core Values

• Collaboration: The organization emphasizes doing things together, with members, partners, and public authorities working side by side. Open knowledge sharing and equal participation are central to its way of working.
• Practical action: Circulair Friesland values concrete steps over abstract discussion. It focuses on turning ambitions into visible results, pilots, and scalable regional solutions.
• Circular impact: The association frames circularity as a way to create ecological, social, and financial value at the same time. Its work is aimed at reducing primary resource use, lowering emissions, and strengthening regional resilience.
• Regional pride and responsibility: Fryslân is presented as a place that can lead by example. The organization stresses local ownership, shared ambition, and responsibility for building a future-proof regional economy.

Unique Aspects

• Broad regional coalition: Circulair Friesland unites roughly 180 members across business, government, education, and civil society, giving it unusual reach for a regional circular-economy network.
• Recognized circular frontrunner: The organization states that Fryslân became a worldwide circular frontrunner in 2025, and it is now working toward becoming Europe’s first fully circular region by 2035.
• Strong thematic partnerships: It works closely with partners such as Water Alliance/WaterCampus, Economic Board Fryslân, Future Up, NVCE, and regional initiatives in biobased building, procurement, and food systems.
• Concrete regional deals and programmes: Recent initiatives include the Fryske Vezelhennepdeal, which brought together more than 30 parties and aims to apply locally produced hemp insulation in at least 1,000 building and renovation projects in Fryslân.
• Policy influence and regional agenda-setting: According to supplementary news coverage, provincial policy briefs on agriculture, water, food, and the built environment are informed by Circulair Friesland’s transition agendas, showing that the network helps shape regional circular policy.