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Try googling ‘circular frontrunner countries’, and the Netherlands comes out on top. Today, the country’s reputation as a leader in the global shift to a circular economy is undisputed. Yet few people know it all began as a daring proclamation, a classic case of ‘fake it till you make it’.
Perhaps declaring the Netherlands a circular frontrunner in 2013 was not such a crazy idea after all. The Dutch tradition of zuinigheid (frugality) suggests a nation adept at doing more with less. This is evident in the country’s status as the world’s second-largest food exporter (after the US), despite occupying a territory only slightly larger than the US state of Maryland. The idea of a circular future for the Netherlands was already ‘in the air’—and it was Guido Braam, then Executive Director of Circle Economy, who seized it.
His reasoning was straightforward. The Netherlands is not a country rich in natural resources, with the notable exception of water, which is so abundant that it can just as easily become a problem. To remain prosperous, it must therefore use what it has wisely and for as long as possible. Just as the Dutch once learned to deal with water and went on to export that expertise worldwide, circular economy know-how could become another valuable export product. Both water management and the circular economy emerged from necessity—and both have become poster children of Dutch innovation. Well, the circular economy hadn’t reached that status in 2013. Not yet, anyway.
According to Guido Braam, the best way to develop this expertise was to self-declare the Netherlands a circular frontrunner—a self-fulfilling prophecy designed to rally politicians, businesses, and citizens around the shared goal of making it a reality.
The idea was pitched to then Prime Minister Mark Rutte—and resonated immediately. Whether convinced by Circle Economy’s arguments or intrigued by its estimate that circularity could generate €17 billion in additional value for the Dutch economy, Rutte called key figures in his government right after the meeting. On the other end of the phone line were Wiebe Draijer, then Chairman of the Social and Economic Council (SER), Minister of Economy Sharon Dijksma, and Prince Carlos of the Dutch royal family.
To support the Netherlands’ new role on the global stage, a trade mission was organised, bringing international delegations, governments, and companies to experience Dutch circular innovation first-hand. At the same time, Holland Circular Hotspot (HCH) was launched to serve as a central platform connecting businesses, knowledge institutions, and governments working on circular solutions. Circle Economy played a crucial role as a knowledge partner in this early phase, helping shape the narrative, supporting the trade mission, and leading the launch of HCH. Guido Braam describes the contribution of the HCH in accelerating the circular movement in the Netherlands:
‘The concept of a circular economy, especially at that time, opened many eyes. I heard entrepreneurs say, “How strange it is that we waste so much. How strange it is that we invest so much energy, labour, and materials into products, only to discard them instead of extending their life”’.
The model of circular hotspots proved contagious: inspired by the Dutch example, 26 local Circular Hotspots emerged across the globe. Today, Holland Circular Hotspot remains a thriving force behind the global transition to a circular economy. For over 10 years, it has been connecting forward-thinking businesses, knowledge institutions, and governments to foster international collaboration and share circular expertise globally.
In 2016, the Netherlands adopted the world's first circular economy roadmap, Nederland Circulair 2050, aiming to build a fully circular economy by 2050. The roadmap’s goals are no less ambitious than the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ of global circular leadership. For example, it aims to halve virgin resource use by 2030.
A few years later, Circle Economy’s Circularity Gap Report Netherlands confirmed what Guido Braam and his colleague long suspected: the country is more circular than the world on average. Its circularity rate has not yet been surpassed by any nation for which Circle Economy calculated this figure.
‘Why has the Netherlands really become a circular frontrunner? I think we have just the right scale: we are big enough to matter on the global stage but small enough to embrace the change, to bring all parts of the society together and move towards a common goal’, says Wiebe Draijer, the Chairman of the Social and Economic Council (2012-2014).
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