2 Rives, the circular-economy neighbourhood in Paris

When companies start pooling their efforts, sharing their tools and valuing their resources, does that create a circular economy? That’s certainly what the circular-economy neighbourhood of 2 Rives is trying to achieve, nestled between Paris’ Gare de Lyon and Gare d’Austerlitz train stations. Behind all this, Paris City Hall and RATP, the state-owned public transport operator, are showing the ambition of a business district dedicated to the circular economy. Their target? 700 businesses (SMEs and larger groups), representing nearly 100,000 jobs over 350 hectares. A good-sized playing field and geographic concentration likely to lead to synergies between stakeholders. Initiatives include shared waste management, shared mobility tools, bespoke transport solutions, bike schemes, events pooling, food packaging, space sharing … in September 2018, the first workshops on the topic took place, bringing stakeholders together and identifying the needs of participating companies. In the longer term, start-ups operating within the circular economy will support businesses with a range of practical solutions. As the dedicated networking tool, the lesdeuxrives.paris platform offers details on initial ways to share and pool resources, as well as calling for changing behaviours. For example, Natixis employees have donated unused office equipment, while the “Farinez-vous” bakery have suggested water fountains are installed in stores selling bottled water, encouraging consumers to opt for the use of refillable bottles rather than plastic ones. The next goal for the thirty or so companies that have already joined the project? Convincing their neighbours to join the scheme …