The AZMUD Project proposes innovations which will help reduce the consumption of water, energy, nutrients and pesticides, and promote the use of waste water in greenhouse cultivations.
PCDT buys used spare parts for home appliances from individuals whose appliances cannot be repaired and will then sell thems - with no margin of profit - to customers who can use them to repair their own appliances.
AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, is coordinating a project called C-SERVEES to develop more circular products like washing machines, laser printers and toner cartridges, TV sets and telecom equipment.
In line with a circular economy strategy, the company Favini and chocolatiers Domori have developped an industrial symbiosis system to produce the ecological paper Crush Cocoa from cocoa processing waste.
Refit Cotton is an innovative sustainable material, inspired by the world of fashion, which includes fibres from industrial yarn and textile processing for use in paper production.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) endorses the Circular Computing and proposes remanufactured models as alternatives for new models. This action underlines a highly significant endorsement of Circular Computing’s approach to sustainability at the high end of the IT market.
The Circular Prague report is a visual roadmap that identifies the strategies that are best positioned to kick-start the Czech capital’s transition towards a circular economy.
The report marks the culmination of Prague’s Circle City Scan; a 12-month collaborative innovation process involving local government, research organisations and businesses. The collaborative Circle City Scan process has highlighted the potential to promote circular lifestyles in ReUse Hubs using public procurement, to boost the construction through circular procurement, and to use the city’s food waste as biomethane to power the city’s waste collection fleet.
The concept of circular economy is becoming increasingly important in the textile industry. This study examines options for establishing closed fibre cycles in the clothing and fashion industry. It provides a detailed background analysis on fibre cycles in Europe and Germany, describes the biggest drivers and obstacles and evaluates selected technologies for textile fibre recycling.
The analysis is based on an in-depth literature review, paired with findings from a focus group session conducted as part of the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) International Congress 2018. In addition, more than 20 experts working in the textile sector shared their candid views for the analysis.
The study was commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The policy brief discusses Circular Economy Business Models (CBM), gives several examples and considers the challenges and solutions facing policymakers. It makes a number of recommendations to regions to speed up the development of CBMs ‒ something this brief argues regions are in a good position to do ‒ and shares several good practices from Interreg Europe projects. It should be read in conjunction with the Interreg webinar on CBMs webinar on Circular Economy Business Models. It also briefly sketches EU policies in this area and offers some practical funding and networking tips.
In a circular economy, assets are no longer sold. Rather, the assets are collectively maintained by a network of stakeholders involved in the ongoing functioning of the assets - the circular service (CISE) network.
A CISE network however requires unprecedented levels of cooperation and coordination between participants, leading to high administrative costs and the need for trust and transparency in the network. CISE networks are a totally different way of doing business, requiring different financial, legal and governance structures. Would it be possible for assets to be owned and procured by a network that creates value from them? Could this, simultaneously, reduce administrative costs?
Explore how city governments around the world are taking action to enable circular economy opportunities that deliver on a range of mayoral priorities, Sustainable Development Goals, and climate objectives. The EMF has launched Circular Economy in Cities with a global reference on the topic.
Vision: What will the implementation of circular economy principles in cities look like?
Factsheets: What benefits can a circular economy transition in key urban systems bring to cities?
Policy levers: What can urban policymakers do to accelerate this transition?
Case studies: What examples are there of urban policymakers already putting this into action?
Other networks & resources: What are other organisations doing on the topic of circular economy and cities?
The garden, outdoor power and power tools industries have developed a joint position paper on the different principles of the circular economy the industries are already applying.
Given the proximity to nature and to the natural environment, these industries are committed towards protecting the environment and are already taking measures to minimise the life-cycle impact of products in the environment addressing the following issues:
Design of durable and reliable products
Application of material efficiency and hazardous substances substitution
Limiting noise and exhaust emissions
Reparability and extending product lifetime
Integrating recyclability and safe waste management aspects at the design stage
Circular economy strategies have been under development in European cities, regions, and countries in the last few years. 33 strategies have been adopted since 2014, and at least 29 more are under development. Existing strategies were reviewed for this study, to identify similarities and differences, and to assess the involvement of civil society organisations, and potential for collaboration.
The study argues that documents developed in the future should put more focus on including broader sections of value chains, and on ensuring inclusive partnership approaches in all phases of the strategy’s cycle. To date, circular economy strategies show different degrees of inclusiveness in terms of value chains and partner involvement.
The opportunities in the reuse and service-life extension of manufactured objects are fairly well documented. But a huge innovation potential lies dormant in the Circular Industrial Economy: the reuse and service-life extension of manufactured molecules. The latter is under-researched and under-exploited: reusing atoms and molecules in loops of highest purity, instead of recycling mixed wastes, is a challenge which involves chemistry on several levels, including the design of new molecules and mini-mill technologies to de-link existing materials. Innovative non-destructive and non-mixing collection and sorting processes will also need to be developed. Policy Innovation could close the invisible liability loop, by legislating an Extended Producer Liability.
Every second German manufacturing firm saves material by designing its products resource-efficiently. Although increasing digital networking in complex industrial production processes opens up new opportunities for saving resources, almost half of these firms are not digitalised yet.
This study delivers the first empirical findings on the relevance of digitisation to improving material efficiency based on the German company survey ‘IW-Zukunftspanel’.
German manufacturing firms have up to now only rarely digitised material efficiency measures to a great extent. If they are - particularly in large companies - they tend to be used for process optimisation. Around two fifths of the companies are at least moderately digitised in relation to the most important industrial efficiency measures, namely process optimisation and the use of new techniques, but there is still more than a third that is not at all. Companies have most frequently digitised cross-company materials cycles, but this instrument is only applied by two fifths of industrial companies.
The second annual Circular Nonwovens Forum "Shaping together the circular economy for nonwovens" creates a platform for in-depth engagement with stakeholders on the challenges and opportunities arising on the path towards the circular economy for nonwovens, with a view to collectively finding ways and means to accelerate this transition. The event has been converted into a hybrid webinar for 2021.
Since 2019, the Foundation for Future Generations has been supporting student entrepreneurs with the prototyping phase of a product, service or technique with a positive impact on society. Discover the winners in the fields of the circular economy and zero waste during a webinar on 23 September 2021 from 3.30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
This webinar is the final event of the CIRC4Life project. We will look into the lessons learnt from research and demonstrations, and discuss the challenges and policies needed to further boost circular solutions for the electrical and electronic equipment sector and the agri-food value chain.
As part of the Circular Economy Action Plan, the European Commission is developing two key policies on transparency: the Substantiating Green Claims Initiative and the Empowering Consumers Initiative, which will require companies to substantiate claims they make about the environmental footprint of their products/services and will help consumers to play their role in a green transition.
In light of this, the Policy Hub is willing to organise on 14 September a webinar co-hosted with Delara Burkhardt, a Member of the European Parliament to discuss what is needed for an effective policy framework on transparency. At the same time, the event will mark the launch of the Policy Hub’s position paper on transparency reflecting on the key recommendations from the apparel and footwear industry.
Welcome to the circular economy event of the year, World Circular Economy Forum 2021, on 13-15 September 2021!
Hosted for the first time in North America, WCEF 2021 will focus on the system level changes, or “game changers,” needed to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
How does the circular economy work, and what are the root issues connected to IT products? How should we address them from a circular economy perspective? Join the Circular Electronics Initiative on 1 September as we discuss the circular economy and electronics - going from theory to practice.
TO-SYN-FUEL is a project funded by Horizon 2020 EU’s new research and innovation programme, with the aim to build-up, operate and demonstrate the production of Synthetic Fuels and Green Hydrogen from organic waste biomass, mainly sewage sludge.
The project meets the European Commission proposal for the Renewable Energy Directive for the post 2020 period, which introduces a gradual phase-out of conventional biofuels and sets a minimum target for advanced biofuels for transports. Therefore, there is an urgent need to bring innovative biofuels from sustainable raw materials to the market.
The Re-think Circular Economy Forum will be held on 28 and 29 September 2021 in Taranto, Italy. The event aims to examine macro-trends, possible evolutionary paths and the main circular economy projects, involving stakeholders operating at different levels, such as companies, start-ups, research centres and other institutions. This two-day event will be an incredible opportunity to analyse the theme of the circular economy, looking at issues key to the city of Taranto. The forum will cover: Energy transition and renewable energies; Circular ports; Environmental management and waste.
Resource extraction and processing are responsible for 90% of land-use related biodiversity loss. Nature conservation and restoration on their own will not be enough to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. The transition to a circular economy provides a pivotal opportunity to explore this issue. Join the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, L'Institut National de l'Economie Circulaire (INEC), the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the ECESP on 8 September at 3 p.m. CEST for the first hybrid #EUCircularTalks from the EU Pavilion at IUCN’s World Conservation Congress.
The transition towards a circular economy needs to be supported by supranational, national and regional governments. This info session organised by REPLACE focuses on the role that the regions can play in this transition, flagging up the importance of interregional cooperation.
The European Commission proposed new EU-wide rules to target the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on Europe's beaches and seas, as well as lost and abandoned fishing gear.
Today EU Member States approved a set of ambitious measures to make EU waste legislation fit for the future, as part of the EU's wider circular economy policy.