European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform

Through the Brussels Regional Programme for a Circular Economy, the government of the Brussels-Capital Region has defined a framework to encourage the transformation of a linear economy (extract – produce – consume – dispose) into a circular economy (recover – produce – consume – reuse) within Brussels.

The be circular portal is the entry point to the BRPCE, and networks the regional government with businesses and civil society delivering change on the ground, while also providing information to entrepreneurs about the various direct and indirect support programmes available.

Its projects include the Annual General Meeting linking more than 300 Brussels and European participants, and yearly Prizes for Circular Entrepreneurship. In 2017, be circular supported 222 entrepreneurs and financed 139 projects. A year later, the programme had reached nearly 1,300 businesses.

be circular also collects good practices from the Brussels region, with a particular focus on its four priority sectors: construction, logistics, retail and waste management.

• l’ADEME Grand Est,
• la Région Grand Est,
• la CCI Grand Est,
• la Chambre Régionale des Métiers et de l'Artisanat Grand Est,
• la Direction Régionale de l'Environnement, de l'Aménagement et du Logement Grand Est,
• l’Agence de l’eau Rhin-Meuse,
• le Centre International de Ressources et d'Innovation pour le Developpement Durable,
• l’Institut National de l'Economie Circulaire

ont créé collectif-grandest.org, la plateforme collaborative de l’économie circulaire des acteurs de la région. Ce portail territorial rassemble les initiatives, les acteurs, les connaissances, les outils, les actualités et les événements de l’économie circulaire.

Espace de valorisation, de partage et de rencontre, il est au service des collectivités locales, des entreprises et des associations du territoire.

L’économie de la fonctionnalité et de la coopération consiste à fournir aux entreprises, individus ou territoires, des solutions integrées de services et de biens reposant sur la vente d’une performance d’usage ou d’un usage et non sur la simple vente de biens. Ces solutions doivent permettre une moindre consommation des ressources naturelles dans une perspective d’economie circulaire, un accroissement du bien-être des personnes et un developpement économique.

L’Institut est un organisme d’intermédiation dont l’objectif est de favoriser la coopération entre tous les acteurs (publics, parapublics et privé)s engagés dans la démarche relevant de l’économie fonctionnelle et de coopération.

Notre mission est de faire mieux connaître le modèle de l’EFC car il ne peut pas y avoir de transition sans transition économique et sans changement du travail.

Pour y arriver, l’Institut s’appuie sur

• un réseau de Clubs Territoriaux
• l'animation de 8 ateliers sur différents thèmes de recherche opérationnelle

Enfin l’Institut assure la promotion, la communication et la diffusion du modèle de développement de l’EFC en France, en Europe et à l’international.

The Circular Economy Task Force is a business group convened by the Green Alliance. It is a forum for policy, innovation and business thinking on resource use in the UK and is currently chaired by Colin Church, chief executive of IOM3. This task force has already produced a number of reports on resource policy, recycling opportunities and manufacturing productivity.

​The task force’s most recent report, Completing the Circle, has placed a spotlight on the amount of material often lost to the economy, once collected, and proposes new measures to complement recycling targets which would help to 'pull' these materials back into use in manufacturing.

Some of the task force's recommendations were picked up by the UK’s Environmental Audit Committee’s Growing a circular economy report, and by the Scottish Government’s Resource Use and the Circular Economy inquiry.
The task force has also established the North Sea Resource Roundabout project, working with the Embassy of the Netherlands in the UK to identify the regulatory barriers to the trade and use of recycled materials across European countries, and working with regulators to develop solutions.

The current members of the task force are Kingfisher, Viridor, Walgreens Boots Alliance, SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, and Veolia.

Versnellingshuis Nederland Circulair! (Netherlands Circular Accelerator) is a business support network created by VNO-NCW / MKB Nederland, their regional affiliates and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water. Despite much interest in the circular transition, creating a successful enterprise that effectively keeps resources and products in use longer is not that straightforward due to a lack of knowledge and too little collaboration with stakeholders.

The Versnellinshuis helps overcome these challenges by:

• improving the preconditions for circular entrepreneurship through dissemination of financing opportunities, promotion of market incentives and discussion on regulatory barriers at regional, national and European levels
• matchmaking entrepreneurs across regions and value chains to stimulate sustainable solutions.

In addition to hosting a website for circular innovators to connect directly, the Versnellingshuis launches 5 groundbreaking projects and fosters 3 regional collaborations yearly and contributes to a circular transition with the following programmes as well:

• Holland Circular Hotspot: network for international promotion of Dutch CE activities
• VANG: knowledge and best practice exchange for local authority waste managers
• Plastic Pact NL: bringing 75 value chain players together to stimulate less plastic and more recycling.

For a brief overview, view the video below:

Circwaste is a 7-year LIFE IP project that promotes efficient use of material flows, waste prevention and new waste and resource management concepts. It is coordinated by the Circular Economy Service Centre established by the Finnish Environment Institute.

The Service Centre provides regional operators with expert support and disseminates information on good practices in the context of the circular economy. It distributes information on material-efficient public procurement, harmful substances, establishing industrial symbioses and the possibilities of funding new initiatives. In particular, it supports regional working groups and a select number of pioneering municipalities in preparing their own circular economy roadmaps, which should be adopted by late 2019.

A regional cooperation network provides support and expert assistance for developing the circular economy and implementing the national waste plan in Southwest Finland, Central Finland, South Karelia and North Karelia.

The circwaste.fi portal (in English), which distributes information on national good practices in circular economy, similar to 'Good news from Finland', is an abridged version of the Finnish-language service materiaalitkiertoon.fi.

To learn more about circwaste activities watch the video below:

The Swedish Life Cycle Center is an initiative by the Swedish Energy Agency, hosted by Chalmers University of Technology, which strengthens collaboration and engages more organizations to apply a life cyle perspective in Sweden.

The platform, designed for academia, industry, research institutes and government agencies, has been active for 20+ years, counts 14 partners and is supported by 7 government agencies. In 2018, it organized 80 meetings for 370 lifecycle professionals.

The lifecycle center accomplishes its objectives with partnerships for several activities such as: network conferences, seminars, webinars, education, initiating research projects, collaboration and communication activities.

The Circular Economy Academy is a free mentoring and support programme, set up by the Rediscovery Centre, which is the National Centre for the Circular Economy in Ireland. The programme assists social enterprises and community organisations in any part of Ireland to move their activities towards sustainability and embrace the circular economy.

The Academy provides business support services built on the Rediscovery Centre’s vast knowledge of social enterprise development and design thinking concepts. The service includes advice for start-up, circular business planning, development, funding, diversification, and training. The Academy also supports organisations to replicate the Rediscovery Centre’s successful paint, furniture, fashion and furniture reuse initiatives.

Each service is tailored to suit the needs of the participating organisation. The Academy also offers incubation and regional clinics.

State of Green is a not-for-profit, public-private partnership from Denmark. It facilitates relations with international stakeholders and is a one-point entry to more than 500 leading Danish players working to drive the global transition to a sustainable, low-carbon, resource-efficient society.

As "Moving towards a circular economy" is one of the network's four global challenges, State of Green is highly active in communicating Denmark's policy and business leadership in this field. Since inception, the platform has:

• created a database of Danish circular economy stakeholders
• developed a collection of 150 good practices from Denmark
• published regular updates on circular economy nationally
• organized visits for interested companies or governments seeking inspiration.

The UK Circular Plastics Network (UKCPN) brings together diverse users of plastic products to reduce plastic waste entering the environment through a programme of networking and knowledge-sharing events, and related support activities.

UKCPN facilitates:

• Eliminating the volume of plastic waste arising from within the UK.
• Raising awareness and sharing best practice to improve the rate of UK plastic recycling.
• Sharing best practices to reduce confusion among citizens and highlighting user-centred design.
• Showcasing innovation focused on reducing the amount of plastic ending up in the environment.

With support from UK Research and Innovation, UKCPN forms part of the Plastics Research Innovation Fund (PRIF), which is engaging Britain’s best scientists and innovators to help move the country towards more circular economic and sustainable approaches to plastics.

The two-year programme brings together those with solutions to the problem and facilitates circular supply chain engagement with those solutions. The UKPCN will host more than 12 events during this period and launch a website for the community to interact directly, while also publishing a directory of companies active in this sector as a landscape map accessible to all members.

UKCPN also has signed up as an engagement partner of the UK Plastics Pact.