After a four year ’establishment phase’, we have begun exploring what areas of work we need to be involved in across every sector of the Bega Valley’s socio-economy if we are to successfully make the circular transition happen.​

Whilst the theory behind shifting our current linear global economic system to become more circular is relatively simple, the practice of re-engineering all the complex, intertwined socio-economic systems that stem from our current linear approach is not. In the Bega Valley for example, 28 distinct, but interconnected, areas of the current socio-economic framework have been identified as needing to be shifted towards circularity if the region is to successfully become a world-leading circular regional economy by 2050.​

This inherent complexity talks directly to the need to adopt a systems-based approach to address this complexity. In the case of the Bega Circular Valley program, it has led to the growing realisation that a tight focus on four or five sectors of the socio-economy is not necessarily going to enable the shifts needed to build a circular economy here. ​

This realisation is why we have started to look at how we can structure and resource ourselves to be able to work across as many of the work areas simultaneously as possible. One of the mechanisms being looked at to facilitate this is how the RCC can play more of a co-ordinating role rather than trying to lead every single project; another is how autonomy can be encouraged across the different work areas whilst still maintaining the ability to connect and integrate them, so they all build towards the overall objective of building a more circular economy.​

Our understanding of the interconnected work areas and ‘workstreams’ underpinning the Bega Valley’s socio-economy continues to evolve, but our latest thinking on this area can be found below.