LOOPLAB by Cirque Du Soil
Place-based circular economy in action
LoopLab Programs embeds education, mentoring, and real-world activation into local communities — building the knowledge, systems, and networks needed to keep resources circulating and value flowing locally.
What is LoopLab
Circularity in action, on your terms
LoopLab is Cirque du Soil’s place-based circular economy program series – embedding education, mentoring, and real-world activation into local communities to build the knowledge, systems, and networks needed to keep resources circulating and value flowing locally.
Most circular economy programs front-load theory and lose participants before anything changes. Others jump straight to implementation without building the understanding needed for lasting adoption. LoopLab holds both — embedding education inside action so that learning and doing happen together, and neither is wasted.
Each LoopLab is designed around a specific place and its people. The content, sequencing, and participants adapt to local context. The methodology, values, and outcomes framework stay consistent — whether delivered in regional Victoria or Arctic Norway.
LoopLab is convened by a council or community organisation with deep local roots. It must benefit a broader system — not a single business’s bottom line — and must function as a collective from day one. This is a non-negotiable design principle.
Who it’s for
Three doors in. One destination.
LoopLab can be entered from multiple directions. Which stream is live in each place depends on the community’s context and the convening partner. All streams contribute to the same place-based circular ecosystem.
SMEs & local business
For hospitality, retail, creative, and professional businesses ready to audit their resource flows, reduce costs, and implement circular changes with structured mentoring support. Includes whole-of-waste site assessment and a costed Circularity Action Plan.
Young people & educators
For primary and secondary students (Years 5–12) engaging with circular economy principles through practical, place-relevant incursions. Designed to build CE literacy and agency in the next generation of circular thinkers and practitioners.
Residents & leaders
For residents, career transitioners, entrepreneurs, and community leaders building circular literacy and local leadership capacity. Open to all ages 18+. No prior CE knowledge required — only a stake in what your community becomes.
How it works
The journey, regardless of where you start
The sequencing varies by sub-program and audience.
The underlying logic is always the same.
Assess
Site waste assessments, opportunity audits, community mapping. Understand where you’re starting from before anything else.
Learn
Circular economy knowledge through workshops and peer learning, embedded in real business contexts – not abstract theory delivered to a passive room.
Plan
Co-design a Circularity Action Plan with prioritised initiatives, costed options from verified suppliers, and clear next steps.
Act
Implement with structured 1:1 mentoring support across a defined program period. Education stays embedded in doing.
Connect
Join a wider LoopLab network alumni of practitioners, places, and projects continuing to share knowledge, resources, and opportunities.
Where LoopLab is active
Find a LoopLab Program
Each LoopLab exists because each community and place is different – from local supply chains to where you operate your business. Find yours below and register your interest.
Victoria, AU
LoopLab Murrindindi
Economic transition from forestry
Murrindindi is undergoing a new transformation. As the region transitions away from timber, this LoopLab builds the circular literacy and practical skills that new local livelihoods need to take root — for residents, businesses, and community leaders alike.
FORMAT
RUNNING
ONLINE WORKSHOP
NEXT SESSION
Victoria, AU
LoopLab Yarra
Business resilience + resource efficiency
18 SMEs across hospitality, retail, creative, and professional sectors joining a 4 month program to reduce costs, cut waste, and build circular systems – supported by on-site assessments, circularity action plans, and peer learning sessions.
FORMAT
RUNNING
ONLINE WORKSHOP
REGISTRATION DEADLINE
NSW, AU
LoopLab Parramatta
NSW food waste to landfill ban — 1 Jul 2026
NSW’s food waste ban is coming. LoopLab Parramatta helps hospitality businesses across one of Sydney’s most diverse municipalities get ahead of it – turning regulatory pressure into circular leadership through EPA NSW’s Bin Trim program site waste assessment and 1:1 mentoring support, alongside access to Government equipment rebates.
FORMAT
RUNNING
ONLINE WORKSHOP
REGISTRATION DEADLINE
Where we’ve been
LoopLab archive
Tromsø, Norway
LoopLab Norway
Completed Oct 2025
A 3-hour evening workshop was held for Tromsø’s creative community: artists, architects, filmmakers, and makers. We explored how circular economy principles apply in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Delivered in partnership with Tvibit, fully subsidised, with a shared community dinner. LoopLab’s place-based methodology translates internationally — and that hyperlocal circular solutions can build resilience in remote communities navigating rapid environmental and social change.
Open invitation
Bring LoopLab to your neighbourhood
LoopLab is place-agnostic. The methodology has been applied across metropolitan, regional, and international contexts. What changes is the community. What stays consistent is the commitment to leaving each place more circular, more connected, and more capable than when we arrived.
Entry conditions
- Convened by a local council or community organisation with deep roots in the place
- Designed to benefit a broader system – not a single business’s private gain
Structured to function as a collective from the outset, not a series of individual engagements
Aligned with local council or municipal sustainability, waste, or economic development strategy
