Developing enhanced landfill mining as a transition experiment: context, framing, methodology, questions

In 2006, the Flemish government (Belgium) and the Flemish waste agency OVAM decided to start a transition process in sustainable materials management, called Plan C. Plan C developed together with a diverse stakeholders group a vision or ‘leitbild’ for a transition towards sustainable material management in Flanders. In the last year, Plan C designed also a methodology to support transition experiments from idea, to proof-of-concept and eventually to transition. This paper aims to give a general view on the discussion on transition innovation in Flanders and how Plan C is positioning itself within the innovation environment of Flanders. Moreover, the paper will discuss the case of enhanced landfill mining as a potential experiment of Plan C. Whether a pilot-project of enhanced landfill mining will contribute to transition in materials management in Flanders will depend on how the experiment is embedded in the social-economic innovation networks and how the project is able to integrate close-the-loop solutions in its integral value model