GP3 The Municipality of Thermi – Greece #

📍 Location: Thessaloniki Metropolitan Region, Greece

Introduction: #

Description:

The Municipality of Thermi is one of the most dynamically growing areas of the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Region and a leading example of integrated circular economy governance in Greece. With a strategic goal of climate neutrality, Thermi became the first Greek local authority to receive funding from the European City Facility (EUCF), positioning itself at the forefront of sustainable urban development.

An organization that municipalities like Thermi cooperates often is Kyklos (meaning “circle” in Greek) is Incommon’s (an sustainable living a civil society NGO based in Thessaloniki) Circularity & Reuse Lab, located in the historic part of Ano Poli (Old Town), in Thessaloniki. Established as the first space in Greece to test the application of circular economy practices at the neighbourhood and city level, Kyklos serves as a living laboratory where residents, businesses, and institutions come together to reimagine how resources flow through their community.

Through a blend of practical applications, community events, and educational programmes, Kyklos demonstrates how a neighbourhood can become genuinely “circular” where people come together to utilize all available resources (organic waste, water, materials, objects) and the skills of its residents to close the loop and reduce overall environmental impact.

NEB Principles:

• Sustainability: A 20-year composting programme of the municipality of Thermis, Extending the life cycle of objects and materials through repair, reuse, and composting; reducing waste at neighbourhood scale and promoting long-term changes in daily consumption habits.
• Aesthetics: Urban regeneration projects, pocket parks with climate- resilient planting, and transforming the underutilised urban spaces into vibrant community hubs; blending circular economy practices with participatory culture and inclusive design to create a welcoming, living environment.
• Inclusion: Engaging all members of the neighbourhood equally and without discrimination; offering free and open programming to ensure participation across economic backgrounds, ages, and abilities.

Website: www.incommon.gr/en/project/kyklos/

🏛️Political-sector #

The Municipality of Thermi offers political leaders and policymakers one of Greece’s most comprehensive examples of circular economy governance at local authority level. Thermi demonstrates how elected authorities can translate circular economy principles into concrete policy, investment, and institutional partnership, and how local authorities can champion bottom-up circular transitions either through creating policy frameworks, resource systems, and community partnerships that scale beyond a single district.

Here are the key takeaways for the political sector and how they can be adapted to other places:

1. Legislations for a Circular Neighbourhood

Lesson: Thermi demonstrates that circular economy governance requires coordinated action across multiple policy domains simultaneously such as waste management, urban planning, mobility, biodiversity, and digital infrastructure. At neighbourhood level, by piloting neighbourhood-scale interventions such as composting, repair cafes, tool libraries, it shows how policies can enable circular economy at the most local level.

Adaptation: Political authorities can adopt Thermi’s multi-domain approach: developing zoning frameworks that reserve public space for circular activities. Legislation can incentivise repair-and-reuse enterprises, mandate composting facilities in public squares, and create licensing pathways for community tool libraries that are free.

Practical Steps:

◦ Develop urban planning frameworks that reserve public space for circular economy activities.

◦ Create licensing and permitting pathways for community-run repair and reuse spaces.

◦ Introduce tax incentives for businesses and organisations operating circular economy models at neighbourhood scale.

◦ Establish coordination mechanisms between municipalities and civil society organisations to co-manage circular hubs.

◦ Fund pilot programmes in diverse neighbourhoods to test and evaluate circular economy interventions.

2. Public-Civil Society Partnership for Circular Governance

Lesson: Thermi’s relationship with outside NGOs such as Kyklos, a civil society organisation, and it operates in public space and serves the broader community. This model provides the strategic framework, public space, and institutional legitimacy; Kyklos delivers community-facing programming, participatory engagement, and on-the-ground circular practice. This complementary division of roles means the municipality’s circular ambitions reach residents in their daily lives, while the civil society partner brings flexibility, community trust, and innovation that a public authority alone could not replicate.

Adaptation: The political sector can build institutional partnerships with civil society organisations to co-develop and co-manage circular economy programmes. Rather than top-down municipal waste management, this model fosters participatory ownership and greater citizen engagement.

Practical Steps:

◦ Develop legal frameworks for public-civil society partnerships in circular economy service delivery.

◦ Create transparent grant and co-funding mechanisms that support community-run circular hubs.

◦ Establish shared monitoring and reporting systems so public authorities can measure impact.

◦ Design multi-year funding agreements that provide stability for civil society circular initiatives.

◦ Implement community consultation processes to guide the location and design of circular hubs.

3. Circular Economy as a Long-Term Urban Policy Strategy

Lesson: Thermi’s circular economy trajectory is not a single-project initiative, it represents decades of sustained, evolving commitment. Its home composting programme has run for over 20 years. This patient, evidence-based approach to behavioural change offers political leaders a model for embedding circularity into multi-term urban development strategies.

Adaptation: Political leaders can treat the circular economy not as a single-term project but as a cross-party, multi-phase urban priority that builds on pilot results, expanding successful models, and embedding circular principles into broader sustainability and resilience planning.

Practical Steps:

◦ Develop comprehensive circular economy strategies that span multiple political terms.

◦ Create phased implementation plans with clear milestones and performance indicators.

◦ Establish cross-party circular economy committees to ensure policy continuity.

◦ Integrate circular economy targets into municipal budgeting and procurement.

◦ Commission independent evaluations of neighbourhood-scale circular initiatives to guide scale-up decisions.

💶 Business-economical-sector #

The Municipality of Thermi and the associated circular economy ecosystem offer the business and economic sector a compelling model for how circular principles can drive innovation, reduce operational costs, and create new market opportunities. Thermi’s integrated strategy of combining different areas of sustainable living such as municipal waste valorisation, smart micro-mobility, bioclimatic urban regeneration, and digital environmental data creates a fertile environment for circular businesses to operate and grow.

Here are key lessons for the business and economic sector:

1. Circular Business Models and New Revenue Streams #

Lesson: Thermi’s ecosystem illustrates multiple circular business model archetypes operating simultaneously. Its shared electric micro-mobility system. As a possible associated partner, Kyklos has The Library of Things and Repair Cafe model shows how access-over-ownership services can generate revenue while reducing material consumption.

Adaptation: Businesses can draw on Thermi’s ecosystem to develop circular service offerings — product-as-a-service, rental and lending models, repair services, and materials recovery schemes — that reduce dependence on single-use sales and build durable customer relationships.

Example Implementation: A local garden services company could partner with Thermi’s green biomass programme, contributing pruning waste to the municipal shredding and composting system while receiving processed compost for resale, while converting a disposal cost into a revenue opportunity

Practical Steps:

◦ Develop product-as-a-service or rental models that keep materials in circulation.

◦ Create repair and refurbishment services that extend product life and generate skilled employment.

◦ Design take-back and materials recovery schemes integrated into sales channels.

◦ Establish pricing strategies that reflect the true value of durability and repairability.

◦ Build partnerships with circular economy hubs and community organisations to access repair expertise and customer networks.

2. Environmental Sustainability as Competitive Advantage #

Lesson: Thermi’s commitment to climate neutrality signals a clear direction while Kyklos example shows that circularity in general (composting, reuse workshops, resource mapping) can actively reduce environmental impact at community level. Businesses that embrace these practices gain tangible environmental credentials, which are increasingly valued by consumers, investors, and public procurement bodies.

Adaptation: Businesses operating in or alongside municipalities with ambitious circular economy strategies can turn sustainability into a genuine competitive differentiator. It will also help them align their operations with municipal goals, leveraging open environmental data, and communicating circular performance transparently to customers and investors.

Practical Steps:

◦ Conduct circular economy audits to identify material flows, waste streams, and reuse opportunities.

◦ Prioritising durable, repairable, and recyclable inputs.

◦ Establish waste reduction targets and publicly report on circular economy performance.

◦ Partner with neighbourhood circular hubs to manage organic waste (e.g. coffee grounds recycling) and surplus materials.

◦ Develop marketing strategies that authentically communicate circular economy

3. Community Engagement as Economic Strategy #

Lesson: Thermi’s model is built on deep institutional collaboration. These partnerships create an innovation ecosystem that generates ideas, tests solutions, and builds the social trust that underpins long-term economic resilience. Businesses embedded in this ecosystem benefit from proximity to research, access to a skilled and engaged workforce, and the reputational advantage of operating in a community that values circular and sustainable practices.

Adaptation: Businesses can learn from the community-rooted economic strategies that serve local needs, prioritise local hiring, and contribute to the social fabric which is helpful in building a cycle between economic activity and community wellbeing.

Practical Steps:

◦ Develop community benefit agreements linked to local hiring and skills development.

◦ Create circular economy partnerships with local schools, civil society organisations, and community groups.

◦ Design inclusive business models that serve diverse socio-economic groups.

◦ Invest in local circular economy infrastructure (e.g. community composting, shared workspaces for repair).

◦ Measure and report on social and economic impact alongside environmental performance.

🎓 Educational-sector #

The Municipality of Thermi offers the educational sector a rich, multi-layered example of how circular economy knowledge can be built, practiced, and transmitted at every level. There is a large ecosystem

Here are what the educational sector can learn from Kyklos and adapt:

1. Embedding Circular Economy in Academic Programmes #

Lesson: Thermi demonstrates that the most effective circular economy education is grounded in real, live municipal practice. The Thermi Air Portal gives schools access to real-time environmental data as a primary source for science, geography, and environmental studies lessons. Thermi’s 20-year home composting programme can provide an evidence-rich case study for curricula on waste, soil science, and behavioural change.

Adaptation: Educational institutions can develop integrated curricula that use local circular economy infrastructure, as living laboratories for interdisciplinary study, connecting theory to place-based practice.

Example Implementation: A secondary school in the Municipality of Thermi’s Thermi Air Portal which is a network of 24 real-time air quality monitoring stations, they offer schools live data for environmental science lessons and citizen science projects.

Practical Steps:

◦ Partner with local circular economy organisations to develop curriculum-linked educational programmes.

◦ Create interdisciplinary modules that connect circular economy with chemistry, design, social studies, and economics.

◦ Leverage municipal environmental monitoring networks (such as real-time air quality portals) as primary data sources for student research and science lessons.

◦ Develop teacher training workshops on using local circular and sustainability initiatives as educational case studies.

◦ Establish student research projects that document, evaluate, and improve local circular economy initiatives.

2. Building Partnerships Between Educational Institutions and Circular Hubs #

Lesson: Thermi’s strategic collaborations with CERTH, NOESIS Science Centre, and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki show how a municipality can act as the connective item of a local education and innovation ecosystem which links primary schools, universities, research centres, and community organisations around shared circular economy goals. Kyklos reinforces this by conducting educational programmes directly for schools, creating a pathway from community-level circular practice to formal academic engagement.

Adaptation: Schools and universities can become active stakeholders in municipal circular economy ecosystems by contributing research, student projects, and educational programming that supports circular transition while enriching academic offerings. The Thermi model shows that municipalities, research institutions, and community organisations can all play complementary roles within a single, coherent learning partnership.

Practical Steps:

◦ Establishing formal partnership agreements between educational institutions, municipalities, and community circular hubs.

◦ Develop joint programmes where students spend time at circular labs, municipal departments, or research institutions.

◦ Create student internship and volunteer programmes

◦ Develop shared infrastructure, fo instance, school tool libraries linked to community Library of Things networks.

◦ Use the municipality as a broker to connect schools with universities and research centres active in circular economy fields.

3. Integrating Circular Practices into Everyday School Life #

Lesson: Thermi’s experience shows that circular habits grow gradually from small, consistent actions rather than sweeping institutional overhauls. Kyklos follows the same logic at neighbourhood level: a monthly Repair Cafe, a tool library, a community composter. These are manageable interventions that accumulate into meaningful change. Schools can take the same approach by introducing one or two practical circular activities and building from there, rather than attempting to redesign the institution.

Adaptation: Educational institutions can look to the Thermi and Kyklos examples for inspiration on small, concrete steps that bring circular economy into school life in a realistic way, whether through a composting corner in the canteen, a repair workshop afternoon, or a borrowed tools programme for school projects.

Example Implementation: A primary school could start simply:by putting a composting bin for canteen food scraps, tended by rotating student groups. A secondary school might run a termly repair workshop in collaboration with a local community hub like Kyklos. Neither requires a large budget or a policy overhaul — just a willingness to start somewhere practical.

Practical Steps:

◦ Start with one manageable circular activity and build from experience.

◦ Partner with local circular economy initiatives like Kyklos to run workshops or field visits without needing to develop all content in-house.

◦ Use Thermi’s composting education model as inspiration: consistent, simple guidance over time matters more than a single ambitious event.

◦ Invite students to take ownership of circular activities

◦ Connect small school circular actions to the wider municipal context, helping students see their efforts as part of a larger community effort.

🌍 Environment sector #

The Municipality of Thermi presents the environmental sector with one of the most comprehensive circular economy and environmental management strategies at local authority level in Greece. As the first Greek municipality to receive European City Facility (EUCF) funding with a strategic goal of climate neutrality, Thermi has developed an integrated portfolio of environmental interventions.And they offer the environmental sector a scalable, multi-level model.

Here are key takeaways and how they can be adapted:

1. Circular Practices as Waste Prevention Strategy

Lesson: Thermi’s waste strategy is built around prevention and valorisation, not just collection and disposal. Three complementary streams work in parallel: free compost bin distribution combined with continuous citizen training;; organic waste separation via brown bins for households and catering businesses; and a green biomass programme that collects garden prunings from public and private spaces, shredding them and transforming them into biofuel or compost. At neighbourhood level, Kyklos reinforces this municipal strategy through coffee grounds recycling, and a Library of Things and Repair Cafe that prevent products from entering waste streams in the first place.

Adaptation: Environmental professionals can develop waste prevention frameworks that operate simultaneously at municipal and neighbourhood scale

Example Implementation: A municipality seeking to replicate Thermi’s approach could begin with a pilot neighbourhood composting scheme and progressively scale to a citywide home composting programme, brown bin collection, therefore building citizen capacity and institutional infrastructure at each stage.

Practical Steps:

◦ Develop integrated waste prevention strategies combining home composting, brown bin organics, and green biomass collection at municipal scale.

◦ Design neighbourhood circular economy hubs — modelled on Kyklos — that deliver composting, repair, reuse, and sharing as a coherent package.

◦ Establish waste prevention targets and monitoring systems tracking material flows at both neighbourhood and municipal level.

◦ Integrate circular economy hubs into formal municipal waste management planning and budgeting.

◦ Implement source separation programmes for catering businesses alongside household schemes.

◦ Develop participatory resource mapping tools to identify underutilised neighbourhood materials and assets.

2. Bioclimatic Urban Design and Biodiversity as Environmental Strategy #

Lesson: Thermi’s environmental strategy extends beyond waste to encompass the quality and ecological function of the urban environment itself. Its Biodiversity Park, developed through the Interreg Next Black Sea programme, creates a model space for the protection of local flora and environmental education. These green infrastructure investments complement the circular economy principle of resource efficiency by extending it to natural systems.

Adaptation: Environmental sector practitioners can advocate for and implement bioclimatic urban design and green infrastructure as integral components of circular city strategies such as by connecting material circularity with ecological circularity and demonstrating that the two reinforce each other.

Practical Steps:

◦ Integrate bioclimatic design principles and climate-resilient planting into urban regeneration and public space projects.

◦ Develop biodiversity parks and nature-based learning spaces that combine ecological protection with environmental education.

◦ Install smart irrigation systems in public green spaces to minimise water consumption.

◦ Use EU cross-border cooperation programmes to develop and share best practice in biodiversity and green infrastructure.

◦ Connect green infrastructure planning with circular waste strategies — using compost from municipal composting schemes to enrich urban soils.

◦ Integrate neighbourhood circular economy outcomes into municipal climate neutrality strategies and environmental reporting.

3. Digital Environmental Monitoring as a Tool

Lesson: Thermi’s Thermi Air Portal which is a network of 24 real-time atmospheric pollution measurement stations, represents a significant investment in environmental data infrastructure. By providing open, real-time air quality data to citizens, researchers, and policymakers, the Air Portal raises environmental transparency, supports evidence-based circular and climate governance, and builds public environmental awareness.

Adaptation: Environmental professionals can advocate for and implement open environmental monitoring infrastructure as a foundational tool of circular city governance so that the generated data will be used to track the progress, engage citizens, and make the case for further circular investment.

Example Implementation: A small municipality could start with just a handful of low-cost air quality sensors placed in key public spaces such as a main square, near a school, along a busy road. Even basic data from these sensors is enough to start conversations with residents about local pollution, help decide where to plant more trees or add greenery, and show funders that the municipality is paying attention to its environment.

Practical Steps:

◦ Develop real-time environmental monitoring networks providing open data on air quality, waste streams, and resource flows.

◦ Use environmental monitoring data to track progress towards circular economy and climate neutrality targets.

◦ Partner with universities and research institutions to analyse environmental monitoring data and generate actionable insights.

◦ Integrate open environmental data into community engagement and participatory planning processes.

◦ Use monitoring data to identify priority areas for circular economy investment and intervention.

◦ Publish regular environmental performance reports using monitoring data to build public trust and political accountability.

👥 Social sector #

The Municipality of Thermi demonstrates how circular economy principles can be embedded within a social equity and inclusion agenda where creating a city and its steps are accessible to all residents. Through its Urban Accessibility Plan, inclusive shared micro-mobility infrastructure, participatory urban regeneration, and open environmental data, Thermi shows that circular cities must be socially just cities.

Here are key takeaways for the social sector and how they can be applied in other contexts:

1. Creating Inclusive, Accessible Circular Spaces #

Lesson: Thermi made accessibility and inclusion serious commitments. Its Urban Accessibility Plan guarantees an uninterrupted chain across all public spaces and buildings. Which ensures equal use by including all citizens, including people with disabilities.

Adaptation: Social organisations and municipalities can embed accessibility and inclusion as non-negotiable design principles in all circular economy spaces and programmes. Thus, ensuring that the circular transition does not leave behind those with fewer resources or greater needs.

Practical Steps:

◦ Integrate universal design principles into all public space interventions starting from the project planning stage.

◦ Develop Urban Accessibility Plans that guarantee barrier-free access to all public circular economy infrastructure.

◦ Design circular economy hubs with free entry, multilingual resources, and physically accessible facilities.

◦ Create multi-generational circular programmes that serve all age groups.

◦ Establish targeted outreach to engage marginalised or isolated community members through circular activities.

◦ Conduct regular community activities to ensure circular programming that responds to the actual needs of the residents.

2. Shared Infrastructure as Social Circular Economy #

Lesson: Thermi’s public transportation system is adapted for all of its residents. By ensuring that low-carbon, sustainable transport is available to all residents, Thermi municipality embeds social equity into its circular transition. In parallel, Kyklos Kyklos extends this principle of sharing to everyday objects through its Library of Things and Repair Cafe where people borrow tools instead of buying them and repair things instead of buying them.

Adaptation: Social sector organizations can adopt the shared infrastructure model as a practical mechanism for reducing material consumption and economic inequality at the same time, while building cohesion through the shared sources of circular economy.

Example Implementation: A social housing organisation could partner with a Kyklos-style community hub to establish a residents’ Library of Things and monthly Repair Cafe, therefore reducing household expenditure on tools and replacements while creating regular, inclusive community gathering events.

Practical Steps:

◦ Develop shared tool libraries and repair cafes in community spaces, particularly in lower-income neighbourhoods.

◦ Introduce vehicles adapted for people with disabilities as a circular and socially equitable transport solution.

◦ Design community hubs that integrate circular economy activities with social services, employment support, and community development.

◦ Create volunteer and skills-sharing programmes that connect circular economy activities with personal development and employment pathways.

◦ Develop partnerships with social enterprises, food banks, and employment services to co-locate circular and social services.

3. Participatory Circular Economy as Civic Empowerment #

Lesson: Both Thermi and Kyklos are built on the principle that circular economy is not something done to communities but with them. Kyklos’s participatory resource mapping, community-led repair days, and open design processes give residents genuine agency over circular solutions in their neighbourhood. Thermi’s partnerships with research centers and universities further enrich this civic ecosystem by connecting local governance with research capacity and scientific credibility.

Adaptation: Many social sector organizations can adopt participatory circular economy approaches that combine community-led activities (repair, composting, resource mapping) with access to open municipal data

Example Implementation: A social sector organisation working in a neighbourhood could partner with the local municipality to use open environmental data (such as air quality or green space metrics) as the basis for participatory planning workshops.

Practical Steps:

◦ Establish community advisory structures that give residents meaningful input into circular hub programming and governance.

◦ Implement participatory resource mapping exercises to identify neighbourhood assets, skills, and needs.

◦ Leverage open municipal environmental data as a tool for community empowerment and evidence-based civic advocacy.

◦ Create community-led circular economy projects, neighbourhood swap events, community repair days, participatory composting schemes.

◦ Develop peer-learning programmes where community members share repair, upcycling, and composting skills.

◦ Measure and communicate community impact, tracking social outcomes such as skills gained, connections made, and waste prevented.

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Parts of this material were created and structured with the support of ChatGPT (OpenAI, GPT-5); other parts were searched and created using CoPilot. The content was created to support analysis and reporting and was adapted and reviewed by the project team. Research was conducted using Bing and/or Google searches.

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17.04.2026 Europe, BeCom Project Team