Latin America’s largest open circular economy initiative
Movimento Circular is an open initiative for circular economy literacy, innovation and mobilization. Largest in mobilization, adoption and literacy in Latin America: since 2020 it has connected people, organizations and solutions to turn knowledge into action.
To do that, it creates content, experiences and places to meet that widen access to knowledge, give visibility to solutions and bring decision makers closer, gathering today around 100 organizations across Latin America.
The Circular Economy Forum is the Movement’s standing initiative and the space where that network comes together. Held every August in São Paulo, it is the Official Circular Economy Hub of São Paulo Climate Week and an official side event of the World Circular Economy Forum. In 2026, it hosted the Office of the COP31 Climate High-Level Champion.
An ecosystem with a shared purpose: an economy that keeps resources in circulation, reduces waste and changes the way we produce and consume.
Six years, five turning points
From one founding partner to more than a hundred organizations in the ecosystem, across different industries and segments.
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2020
Born in the pandemic, already in four countries
The Movement starts out digital, and for that reason reaches families in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico from its first year. Dow joins as founding partner, alongside educational institutions, innovation agencies and cooperatives.
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2021
The first open circular economy school
In September, Circular Academy is created: free courses, with certification, in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Training becomes open to anyone, in any of the three languages.
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2023
The return to in-person work becomes a method
With gatherings back in person, Circular Experience takes hold as a hands-on methodology: participants take products apart and visit sorting cooperatives at work. Today it runs inside organizations and at the largest events on the agenda.
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2025
The Movement enters the global agenda
Circular Day takes place within the World Circular Economy Forum, the global conference in the field. That same year, the Circular Economy Forum holds its first edition within São Paulo Climate Week.
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2026
The agenda becomes recurring
The 2nd Forum is held as the Official Circular Economy Hub of São Paulo Climate Week and an official side event of the World Circular Economy Forum, with 73 cases submitted from more than 20 states, 42 panelists from 37 organizations and a full house. Out of it comes the Permanent Circular Economy Forum, which carries on to New York Climate Week in September and is being built toward COP31 in November.
2nd Circular Economy Forum · São Paulo Climate Week, August 2026.
Four fronts, each with concrete results
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Mobilization
Bringing circular economy to those who decide, those who operate and those who study.
Around 7 million people reached and nearly 180 learning experiences since 2020, among talks, workshops, courses and field work. Circular Academy courses are free and available in Portuguese, Spanish and English. With Magalu, the electronics collection drive reached 200 schools and 150 thousand students in two years.
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Connection
Bringing together organizations that rarely work with one another.
The Movement curates the circular economy agenda of São Paulo Climate Week, holds Circular Day within the World Circular Economy Forum and runs its own Forum, which in 2026 brought together 42 panelists from 37 organizations. More than a hundred organizations make up the ecosystem, from multinationals to waste picker cooperatives.
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Innovation
Connecting capabilities until they become product and process.
The O1NE package, the first coffee package in Brazil designed for recycling, came out of a partnership brokered by the Movement, which connected Dow and Valgroup technology to the coffee roaster Catarina Café e Amor. Circular Experience, the Movement’s hands-on methodology, has been run at Petrobras’s Henrique Lage Refinery and in 11 Sebrae workshops across three states.
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Influence
Keeping the agenda standing between one event and the next.
The Permanent Circular Economy Forum connects São Paulo Climate Week, the World Circular Economy Forum, New York Climate Week and the COP into a recurring agenda. In 2026, it hosted the Office of the COP31 Climate High-Level Champion and signed a memorandum with Sıfır Atık Vakfı, opening a direct channel with Türkiye, host of COP31 itself.
The Movement’s Reach
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~7MM
people reached
Through initiatives, projects and activities, in person and online
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~180
learning experiences
Events, talks, courses, training and field work
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~100
organizations in the ecosystem
Governments, industry bodies, companies, startups, cooperatives and education networks
Instituto Atina
Atina has worked in cross-sector literacy since 2008, leading education initiatives for companies, governments and school networks. Movimento Circular is one of them: it was created in 2020, with the support of strategic partners such as Dow, to bring that experience to the circular economy agenda.
In September 2025, this work gained a vehicle of its own: Instituto Atina, a non-profit civil association, is responsible for managing the Movement.
Movimento Circular’s official headquarters is at Civi-co, in Pinheiros, São Paulo. The team works from Buenos Aires to Mexico City, by way of Santa Catarina and Pernambuco.
Where does your organization fit in?
It depends on where your organization already stands on the circular journey, and the first conversation is there to find that out. Tell us the context, and the coordination team replies within three business days.