European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform

Precious plastic is a community platform launched in the Netherlands in 2012, that brings together the solutions needed to tackle the problem of plastic waste: the people, the machines, the knowledge, the techniques, etc. The platform aims to reduce plastic waste by boosting recycling, promoting new biodegradable materials or by adopting zero waste lifestyles.

As an open source project, all the information, code, drawings and source material contributed is made freely available online under Creative Commons licenses. The platform brings together plastic waste collection points, recycling workspaces for people to access equipment and machinery, a community of people to share knowledge, and a global network for collective action.

France Barter is a B2B platform allowing companies to save money by replacing purchases with exchanges. This marketplace, created in 2015, facilitates multilateral exchanges via its own unit of exchange: the "Barter euro". The barter system allows companies to pool and optimise the use of unused assets, such as human time, machine time, storage space, surplus stock, etc.

Companies register the assets they offer and their purchasing needs, then the platform's support team helps identify under-exploited assets and structure offers. The platform thus helps companies avoid unnecessary purchases, saving money while cutting resource use.

ShopC, is the first-ever online marketplace for verified circular products from the fashion and lifestyle sectors. Created at the heart of the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship at the Copenhagen Business School, it came as an answer to the problem of conscious consumers wanting truly sustainable products but being bombarded with green-washing campaigns and untrustworthy sustainability claims.

ShopC as a circular marketplace for sustainable, circular products, focuses on transparency, upholding the values of sustainability and circular economy to the highest standard. It focuses on brands that make products that last and if their life comes to an end, they are re-looped back into the system in some way.

Welcome to Green Tech Valley, focussing on Climate and Circular Solutions. The Green Tech Valley is located in the south of Austria and is internationally regarded as the hotspot for innovative energy and environmental technology.

The Green Tech Cluster initiates growth through innovation. It brings together around 220 companies and research institutions shaping green solutions of the future. With 20 global technology leaders within an hour’s drive, the location forms one of the highest concentrations of companies in this industry.

Have a look at their Don't waste / Invest campaign: One-stop-shop recycling solutions for a wide range of waste fractions derived from Austrian excellence in achieving one of Europe's highest recycling rates.

ReziProK is a funding programme focusing on a resource-efficient circular economy and innovative product cycles, and is run by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). It supports research and development projects which will help reach these goals. The projects seek to close product cycles by developing appropriate business models, design concepts and digital technologies and thus contribute to the implementation of a resource-efficient circular economy.

The projects focus on:

• Promoting the use of recycled materials
• Extending or stepping up product use
• Improving the recyclability of electric vehicles
• Optimising and expanding remanufacturing
• General developments on the topic of blockchain.

SUSTAINair is an H2020-funded platform developing circular economy principles for the aviation and aerospace design, manufacturing, operations and end-of-life phases. This EU-funded research project aims to make the entire supply chain ecosystem greener, in line with the Circular Economy Action Plan, and to set new standards for aerospace manufacturing, enabling an increase in cross-sector synergies.

The SUSTAINair project provides the aviation sector with a path to a more cost-effective, low-carbon economy, while tackling the increase in resource consumption, waste and emissions. Because of this, the SUSTAINair project has been endorsed by the Future Sky research initiative of the Association of European Research Establishments in Aeronautics (EREA).

VCØB aims to guide, support and involve actors from the construction value chain in Denmark. They help identify issues and barriers to the circular economy in construction, through increased knowledge sharing and dialogue.

Ultimately, VCØB wants Denmark to have a flexible market for the circular economy. It is working on:

• gathering and providing technical expert knowledge, facts and figures on the circular economy for all actors in the construction value chain
• developing new knowledge and tools, both as part of their own activities and in collaboration with other networks and stakeholders
• conducting a number of activities, such as partnering with networks/projects, conferences, workshops and webinars.

The Circular Economy Platform was officially established in November 2018 in Hungary as an initiative of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Ministry of Innovation and Technology.

The aim of the platform is to facilitate the paradigm shift and joint thinking, along with building a community of forward-thinking change leaders and sharing business solutions that make a real impact. For the new model to develop and spread, collaboration and knowledge sharing are required, with the involvement of businesses, government and science.

DigitalLead is Denmark's national cluster for digital technologies. They organise yearly network sessions on circular economy called Green Tech - Cirkulær økonomi.

Employees and managers in related businesses can join the network and participate in meetings to discuss the development of the circular economy and how digital technologies can be applied.

The Alliance for Women in a Circular Economy was created in 2019 in the Czech Republic, and it aims to help project managers interested in the topic get together, discuss, and implement circular economy initiatives.

The alliance has been founded by women, but is also open to men.