The Ellen MacArthur Foundation identifies policy levers that decision-makers can use to enable urban circular economy transitions. These policy levers are interlinked and work to enable that waste and pollution be designed out of products and urban systems; materials be kept in use and maintain their value; and for natural systems in and around cities to regenerate.⁴² The policy levers are:

1. Legislation and regulation: shaping bylaws that stimulate circular economy practices; for example, organic waste treatment requirements for large commercial food retailers (grocery stores and restaurants).
2. Fiscal measures can be used to discourage or incentivize certain behaviours or market developments (including taxes, charges, fees, fines). Examples include tax benefits for circular economy products or businesses; tax reductions on use of recycled materials; tax increases on undesirable waste streams; and tax reductions for activities involved in share, repair and recycle businesses.
3. Financial support in the form of grants, subsidies, direct and indirect investments and procurements through which city governments can enable circular city developments within local governments, public asset management, public procurement and capacity building.
4. Using circular economy criteria for public procurements. These can range from the purchase of everyday office goods and services to large-scale urban infrastructure projects. Integrating circular economy criteria within public procurement policies and practices can stimulate the circular design, provision, management and servicing of goods. City governments have a large purchasing power which gives them the ability to create demand and shift the market to new ways of providing goods and services, from the individual product level to the system level.
5. Identifying opportunities in city-owned physical assets. The management of city-owned physical assets, including land, buildings, roads and bridges, water and sewage systems, amongst other items. The use of circular economy principles can help to unlock opportunities ranging from cost-savings to maximizing resource value, use and circulation (in the evaluation of the life cycle costs of the assets);



6. Using urban planning to enable circular economy networks. The physical shaping and development of a city. It assesses physical, social, and environmental factors and determines the allocation, development and usage of urban structures such as buildings, infrastructure and parks. It has a powerful impact on how people and goods move around in a city and whether materials, products and nutrients can be recaptured and kept in use.
7. Supporting capacity building in the form of training and advisory support programs for individuals, companies and organizations, to help mainstream circular economy understanding and practices within society, such as incubator programmers, and material-exchange platforms.
8. Raising awareness of circular economy opportunities is key to supporting local transitions (which includes knowledge sharing and communication campaigns).
9. Convening and partnering between public, private and civic leaders. Engaging multiple stakeholders in public policy creation and delivery is particularly valuable when innovating and making system changes (for enabling and developing circular opportunities). It can also help to achieve greater scale, shared ownership and mutually beneficial impact;
10. Creating roadmaps and strategies that set a direction of travel for cities offer an invaluable opportunity to raise ambitions and engage stakeholders in addressing future opportunities for the city.

All of these tools can be used by any level of government, and any level of policymaker, to help encourage the use of circular economy principles and create circular processes that improve the environment and quality of life for residents. Cities of any size can be "innovation drivers," if there is a willingness among local leadership to share responsibility for addressing urban issues with outside stakeholders.