Advancing Chile's Circular Economy 2040 Roadmap
About
Chile’s circular economy roadmap aims to build a regenerative, fair and participatory circular economy in Chile by 2040.
Chile’s vision for a regenerative, fair, and participatory circular economy focuses on creating jobs, reducing waste, increasing recycling and material efficiency, and cleaning up illegal dump sites. The action plan outlines concrete steps to build a strong circular innovation system, normalize circular practices, align regulations with circular goals, and tailor actions to the needs of all 16 regions.
As part of advancing this national vision, Plastic Oceans played an important role via its Film Dialogues to engage diverse stakeholder groups across Santiago. By integrating emotionally resonant storytelling with facilitated discussions, the dialogues bridged knowledge gaps, surfaced shared frustrations, and ignited interest in collaborative action.
Stakeholders
We strategically selected five case groups to represent key stakeholder sectors based in Santiago, Chile that are central to advancing the Circular Culture pillar of Chile’s National Circular Economy Roadmap.
Youth: Two university student groups (Environmental Engineering, Chemistry and Pharmacy)
Business: Two small-mid-size enterprise groups (Tech and Management Consulting)
Government: Santiago Municipality
The Film
Cutting the Line follows husband and wife team, Naude and Katja Dreyer, and their three children as they embark on a mission to rescue seals entangled in plastic pollution along the Namibian coastline.
As the seals grow bigger, the debris cuts deeper into their bodies, causing painful wounds that often lead to an agonizing death. What begins as a few spur-of-the-moment rescues quickly evolves into a unique environmental organization that finds itself pitted against a mounting global crisis.
The film serves as an inspirational clarion call to advocate for global policies to support communities actively fighting to mitigate and remediate ocean pollution.
Film Dialogues
Across all stakeholder groups, a clear pattern emerged: while baseline knowledge of the circular economy (CE) varies, the use of storytelling through film catalyzes deeper emotional engagement and a shift in perception.
University students showed the greatest learning gains and emotional resonance, expressing a newfound sense of responsibility and interest in action. Local SMEs, while skeptical of current sustainability narratives, acknowledged the importance of market- and policy-aligned incentives for CE adoption. Municipal actors, though familiar with CE concepts, expressed disillusionment with implementation efforts and emphasized the need for public engagement and better data.
All groups, despite differences in context, expressed a shared desire for tangible, community-driven solutions that demystify CE and make it actionable.
Impact
To foster a shared circular culture, a cohesive strategy should connect these insights through film-driven initiatives tailored to each group.
Universities should create Campus CE Action Labs and student-led film clubs to embed CE learning in practice. For SMEs, roundtable discussions and a public CE pledge campaign can bridge the gap between skepticism and action by making CE relatable and incentive-aligned. Meanwhile, government actors can facilitate top-down and bottom-up engagement through public policy forums, awareness campaigns, and community film dialogues.
Together, these efforts create a feedback loop—amplifying shared responsibility, building trust, and embedding CE values across educational, business, and civic ecosystems.