PharmaSwap, the sharing marketplace to reduce medication waste
PharmaSwap is a unique sharing marketplace for pharmacists, hospital-based or otherwise. It creates transparency in the supply and demand for expensive medicines.
PharmaSwap is a unique sharing marketplace for pharmacists, hospital-based or otherwise. It creates transparency in the supply and demand for expensive medicines.
Stabilplastik is Europe's only manufacturer of zero waste 100 % recycled mix plastic pallets.
Cingomma takes used bicycle tyres and inner tubes to create unique fashion accessories such as belts, wallets, bags and key rings.
In cooperation with Renewi and Coolrec, Circular Clockworks has launched the 'Circular Watch'. It is made from raw materials provided by Renewi, such as secondary plastic granules produced from recycled electronic and electrical appliances. Black watches are based on materials from recycled televisions, while the white ones are made from recycled fridges.
Complementerre38 obtains waste collection equipment, including end-of-life equipment, that are sold or donated, and gives them new life. In this way, the company provides a technical solution adapted to customer specifications that ensures the re-use of the equipment instead of it going to waste.
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.
Infinitdenim is specialised in the recycling of second-hand denim, rescued from its own city, Barcelona.
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.
In Joure (NL) the Jacobs Douwe Egberts plant uses spent coffee grounds as a bio-fuel to produce the steam needed for its production process.
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.
Professor Rebecca Earley introduces a series of short films about the design tools produced at the Chelsea College of Arts research centre, and how to use them to become a more sustainable and circular designer. The series aims to help designers access and use the research resources to stay inspired and motivated to design better futures.
This paper by GS1 in Europe highlights the need to structure product data to make it available for circular economy needs. If data isn't structured and can't circulate according to a circular model, it will be very challenging to reach the scale needed for the circular economy plan.
Open standards are a way of uniquely identifying products, locations, machines, packaging, etc. If "global open identifiers" (openly available references for products, etc.) are used, rather than closed-in systems based on data for one limited purpose, it will be possible to share data.
GS1 in Europe is a neutral, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to global standards to improve the efficiency, visibility and sustainability of products around the world.
How can sustainable consumption and longer lifetime of products be promoted through consumer protection legislation?
This in-depth analysis investigates the contribution, or lack of contribution, of the current EU consumer protection legislation to sustainable consumption and longer lifetime of products. In addition, it gives an overview of the most relevant best practices at national and international level and provides recommendations on the future development and possible reforms of European consumer protection legislation with a view to more sustainable consumption and longer lifetime of products.
This study was commissioned by the European Parliament Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).
The Data Centre Industry (DCI) is one of the most important pillars of current technological and economic developments.
In DCIs, more than fifty different materials can be found per product, including ferrous, non-ferrous metals, precious metals (PM), platinum group metals (PGM), rare earth elements (REE), plastics and/or ceramics, some being considered as Critical Raw Materials (CRMs).
This assessment aims to study DCI design and material composition (specifically servers and switches), as well as to analyse their performance in a circular economy and provide recommendations for ecodesign guidelines.
How can the EU product safety and compliance framework help promote product durability and tackle planned obsolescence, foster the production of more sustainable products, and achieve more transparent supply chains for consumers?
Product longevity can play a useful role in achieving the Paris Agreement goals – material efficiency is an important contributor to energy efficiency and is also important in its own right. The product safety and compliance instruments available at European level can contribute to these efforts, if wisely applied.
This study was commissioned by the European Parliament Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).
The fashion industry has a big influence on the global economy and is known for its social and environmental impact. This online course by Wageningen University & Research is an introduction to circular fashion, brought by 30 experts from academia and practice.
After this course, you will be able to:
Read more and enrol.
The FURN360 training course is a set of online modules offering 80 hours of training to understand the shift needed in the furniture industry to move to a circular economy.
The course allows to acquire the knowledge needed to transform an organisation into a circular furniture company, with a comprehensive approach across 8 learning modules:
1. Circular economy: an introduction
2. Circular economy in the furniture industry
3. Circular business model innovation in the furniture industry
4. Business management in the circular furniture industry
5. Sustainability in the circular furniture industry
6. Marketing the circular furniture
7. Supporting through advanced Key Enabling Technologies
8. Mini-case challenge
This review paper of Mark Anthony Camilleri examines relevant regulatory guidelines, policies, and recommendations on sustainable development, where it traces the origins of circular economy (CE). It goes on to shed light on key theoretical underpinnings of CE's closed loop and product service systems.
The findings suggest that the CE's regenerative systems minimise the environmental impact as practitioners reduce their externalities, including waste, emissions, and energy leakages through the use and reuse of resources. Therefore, this contribution offers a critique on CE's inherent limitations and discusses about the implications of having regulatory interventions that are intended to encourage responsible consumption and production behaviours.
Le secteur de l’événementiel est plus que jamais concerné par les enjeux de durabilité et de préservation des ressources. Conscients de la nécessité de concilier l’organisation d’événements et l’économie circulaire, les acteurs du secteur doivent se mobiliser davantage afin de mettre en œuvre les leviers d’action existants.
Dans le cadre de la nouvelle loi française, de nombreuses mesures sont pertinentes:
Today, only 8.6% of the resources and materials in the global economy are reused or recycled.
A crucial transition to a circular economy is required to reach the environmental goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to achieve countries’ climate targets as set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
In this context, it is essential to ensure that the transition to a resource-efficient and circular economic model also delivers on social objectives.
This paper introduces the relevance of the circular economy in the international development SDG context. It also explores how a just transition approach can be successfully applied in the circular economy context.
The Italian Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ICESP) is the mirror initiative launched at national level by the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) - the only Italian member of the ECESP's Coordination Group.
The ICESP is bringing together Italian circular economy initiatives, experiences, critical issues and perspectives to be represented at European level. Its objective is to promote the Italian way for circular economy at national and international level.
The ICESP acts through six working groups: 1) Research and eco-innovation, 2) Policy and governance, 3) Measuring the circular economy, 4) Sustainable and circular design, production, distribution and consumption, 5) Cities and territory, 6) Good practices.
Valdelia is a non-profit simplified joint stock company (SAS) founded in 2011 by 13 companies specializing in the manufacture of non-household furniture in order to set up a joint service for the management of non-household furniture waste.
Valdelia was approved by the French authorities in December 2012 for the management of non-household furniture waste. Valdelia supplies professional furniture marketers with a shared, turnkey solution enabling them to meet new regulatory obligations for furniture waste management. It favours upcycling whenever possible and in the process is actively contributing to social entrepreneurship in the sector.
LOOP-Ports aims to facilitate the transition to a more circular economy in the port sector, providing an innovation ecosystem around port activity fostering circular economy initiatives, and facilitating the exchange of experiences and good practices. This network will focus on high-emitting materials, mainly metals, plastics, cements and biomaterials and has begun the following activities:
All port stakeholders are welcome to join the Circular Economy Network of Ports, which is funded by the EIT under its Climate-KIC Programme.
The Polish Circular Hotspot is a public-private platform bringing together national and local government bodies with businesses, entrepreneurs, the scientific community and civil society to jointly develop and apply the concept of a circular economy in Poland.
The hotspot has begun the following activities to develop and implement circular innovations:
organising events (sectoral, regional, national) to analyse specific problems and legislative issues such as workshops on circular procurement for public agencies
assisting with drafting strategies and roadmaps while supporting the establishment of sectoral partnerships for practical circular solutions
networking businesses to exchange knowledge, showcase innovations and connecting Polish entrepreneurs with partners abroad, e.g. through study visits and B2B monitoring sessions with the support of the Dutch, Swedish, German, French and Danish Embassies.
educating those interested in the circular economy concept, for example by organising the national educational campaign ‘Polish Circular Week’
Becoming a member of the Polish Circular Hotspot enables you to work with Polish and foreign partners in building innovative solutions and exchanging best practice across sectors. The hotspot also provides its members with opportunities to shape the debate on emerging circular economy legislation and collaborate in funding projects through partnerships.
What is the Circular Economy Industry Platform about?
Circulary is a web tool managed by BusinessEurope and its national members that contributes to the EU’s agenda on circular economy.
It continuously brings new examples of innovative ways in which industry, SMEs and other business add to the circular economy in Europe, and features over 150 prime examples of industrial best practice in circular economy as of November 2018. At the same time, it highlights the regulatory and non-regulatory challenges these businesses still face to upscale their current initiatives or to start new ones. As such the platform is a unique bottom-up business-led hub of knowledge and expertise.
Why should your company engage?
The NoAW project is dealing with innovative approaches to turn agricultural waste into ecological and economic assets. The NoAW Knowledge Exchange Stakeholder Platform aims to:
The NoAW project is coordinated by INRA (France) and the consortium involves 32 partners from universities, public research organizations and other institutions from a dozen countries.
The Communication on Circular Economy, adopted in 2015, calls on the Commission to establish a Platform dedicated to food waste prevention. Thus the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste (FLW) was established in 2016, as an informal European Commission expert group bringing together EU institutions, international organisations, experts from Member States and actors in the food value chain including consumer and other non-governmental organisations.
The Platform aids the Commission in identifying and prioritising actions to be taken at EU level in order to prevent food losses and food waste and supports all actors in identifying and implementing appropriate actions to take at national, regional and local levels. Its work is of a horizontal nature, aiming to identify opportunities for food waste prevention across the food production and consumption chain and facilitate inter-sector cooperation.
The most recent estimates of European food waste levels (FUSIONS, 2016) reveal that 70% of EU food waste arises in the household, food service and retail sectors, with production and processing sectors contributing the remaining 30%. The EU and Member States are committed to meeting Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, adopted in September 2015, which targets to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030 and reduce food losses along the food production and supply chains.
All relevant documents related to the work of the Platform (such as agendas, minutes and participants' submissions) can be found on the Commission's dedicated food waste website
The Luxembourg EcoInnovation Cluster, managed by Luxinnovation, the National Agency for Innovation and Research, is an active network that brings together and supports various players of the clean technologies sector with the ultimate goal of turning the concept of circular economy into a reality in Luxembourg. The cluster's objectives are the following:
The cluster provides the following services:
The Luxembourg Wood Cluster was set up in 2016 as a platform for exchange between all players in the wood sector, spanning from wood production to the end consumers of wood products. Its structure is managed by Luxinnovation, the National Agency for Innovation and Research.
As a meeting point for innovative, public and private organisations in the region – companies as well as research centres – the Wood Cluster brings together know-how and facilitates the sharing of experience in Luxembourg and beyond. Optimising the market release and the use of wood resources in order to lengthen their life cycles, and creating and enhancing regional wood product chains are among its objectives.
Its underlying logic is that of improving the recovery of this sustainable material par excellence at local and regional level. To this end, the Cluster:
"Circular Futures - Plattform Kreislaufwirtschaft Österreich" is a solution-oriented multistakeholder platform that brings together professionals across relevant industries, the administration, politics, science and civil society in Austria. Circular Futures acts as a think-tank, incubator, and catalyst for projects and initiatives necessary for a successful transition to a circular economy in Austria.
Circular Futures offers:
Circular Futures AT is a collaboration between the Umweltdachverband and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the Reuse and Repair Network Austria (RepaNet), and the Verband Abfallberatung Österreich (VABÖ).
The Life Cycle Innovation Conference (LCIC 2020) takes a systems perspective when discussing sustainable innovation. It will look at both, innovative approaches and methods to address sustainability challenges as well as innovative products and services that will help the transition towards a more sustainable world.
Chile, The Netherlands, and Slovenia are joining forces in this webinar on 23 July to discuss sustainable recovery in Chile and what is the role of the circular economy. Join the international webinar at 15:30 CEST.
Circular Week is an international campaign which will consist series of events and initiatives devoted to the subject of circular economy and sustainable development that will take place throughout Europe. The Circular Week’s goal is to promote the idea of a circular economy, support sustainable business models and establish cooperation between interested stakeholders.
Nordic Innovation launches a series of workshops, free of charge, to develop collaborative pilots across industry ecosystems, that can be scaled to successful transition towards a circular economy, critical for innovation and economic growth around the Nordics.
The Valumics webinar "Putting solutions on the table", to be held on 16 July, at 15.00-16.30 (CEST), aims at discussing challenges and opportunities to support Europeans to transition towards more sustainable food consumption behaviours.
The webinar is organised in the context of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development. It will look into practical ways to accelerate a just transition to a circular and carbon-neutral economy in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while engaging all sectors of the economy and society.
The EU Ecolabel "pop-up shop": the Showroom will take place in Berlin from 28 September to 4 October, and and will showcase a selection of the best EU Ecolabel products and services.
The webinar session titled "Artificial Intelligence and Circular Economy" is part of a series of online events by Tondo. It will held on 9 July 2020 at 6 p.m. (in English with the support of slides).
CINDERELA invites you to this webinar on 14 July 2020 (9:30-11:30 CEST). The EU-funded project will present "CINDERELA One-Stop-Shop" (CinderOSS), its new digital platform for actors involved in chains for urban construction works with the use of secondary raw materials (SRM) recovered from local/regional waste streams.
How can circularity help solve sustainability problems and what does it mean for IT products? How can it be implemented on the ground, when you procure and use IT products? These and other questions will be answered in an event organised by TCO development on 22nd September to deep-dive into the topic of Circular IT Management in Practice.
A new web-portal to help cities become circular: the Circular City Funding Guide was launched 31 January 2020 at the Cities Forum in Porto, Portugal.
Due to the current Corona virus crisis, this year's annual Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference in Brussels has been postponed to a later date.
On the initiative of the ECESP coordination group Members Arthur ten Wolde (Ecopreneur.eu), Jean-Pierre Schweitzer (European Environment Bureau) and Chair Ladeja Godina Košir (Circular Change), an ECESP Breakfast meeting was organized on 29 January 2020 to introduce the Platform to MEPs working on the circular economy: achieving a circular economy through active stakeholder involvement.
Applications to the European Social Innovation Competition 2020 are now open! Under the theme Reimagine Fashion: Changing behaviours for sustainable fashion, the 2020 competition is looking for projects and ideas that will change the ways we produce, buy, use and recycle fashion, moving towards increased global sustainability and changing consumer behaviour at local, national and European levels.
Member of the ECESP Coordination Group Circular Change provides an overview of its activities in 2019. Circular Change is led by Ladeja Godina Košir - chair of the ECESP Coordination Group.
New Circular Economy Action Plan – Consultation on the Roadmap is open!
The European Commission published a dedicated Roadmap for the new Action Plan on the EU Better Regulation Portal and invites all interested stakeholders to provide feedback. The consultation on the roadmap is open until 20 January.
ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, is carrying out research into lithium-sulphur batteries to make them more competitive.
A conference entitled A Peek into the Future – Going Circular through Digital, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was held in Belgrade, Serbia, on 9 December 2019. from the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform was among the speakers.
Despite the waste hierarchy in force – Reduce, Re-use and Recycle, re-use could be much further developed. Waste management programmes include re-use but prioritise recycling, even though re-use is more environmentally and socially friendly. 2Lifes project is meant to be an instrument to help boost re-use through public policy.