In Ghent, Belgium, the circular economy brings together companies, institutions, governments and citizens on the way to sustainability. The Old Dockyards is a waterfront housing project where closing loops at the district level is key. Approximately 1,500 housing units will be constructed through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Taking advantage of the eternal recyclability of Gypsum, Saint-Gobain's gypsum subsidiary already launched a voluntary and ambitious policy in 2000 to encourage the recycling of pre- and post-consumer gypsum waste.
Glass wool is infinitely and completely recyclable. Regardless of the glass wool’s quality, age, density or other properties, the material is entirely recyclable and can be re-melted as many times as necessary, before entering into the composition of new insulating products, without having its final quality impacted.
Water2REturn is an Innovation Action co-funded by the European Commission under its Horizon 2020 (H2020) programme.
Kalundborg Symbiosis is a partnership between nine public and private companies in Kalundborg, Denmark.
Metsä Group built the first next-generation bioproduct mill in Äänekoski, Finland – the largest investment of the European forest industry with the value of EUR 1.2 billion. The new mill, which began operations in the third quarter of 2017, leads the industry to a new era of resource efficiency through operating completely with no fossil fuels or fossil CO2 emissions.
The municipality of Almere aspires to become a waste-free and energy-neutral city by 2022. The administration wants to bring the business community and knowledge institutes’ innovative power together to enable co-creation in the field of waste management and upcycling in the urban context.
London is among one the world’s most cosmopolitan and oldest cities, and one of the most cosmopolitan. As Britain’s largest city and country’s economic, transportation and cultural capital, over 8 million people live in London. A more flexible and sustainable approach to products, housing, office space and critical infrastructure is crucial to London’s ability to adapt and grow.
Genoa set itself an objective to close the loop on waste materials by taking advantage of treatment plants in the city's immediate vicinity. By adopting a long-term and territorially integrated approach, the city intends to achieve higher recycling rates within five years and strengthen the circular economy locally.
With half a million inhabitants, the ‘Eurométropole’ of Strasbourg is a collection of 33 municipalities and represents a centre of activity in the east of France. Deeply committed to energy transition, the Eurométropole adopted a climate plan in 2009 aimed at energy savings, the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and the development of renewable energies.
The most used resources in the building sector, such as sand and metals, are non-renewable resources. Extracted, transported and processed in ever-increasing quantities, at ever-higher energy costs and with consequences which are far from negligible for the environment, their use does not fit with a sustainable logic. Thinking in terms of circular economy prompts us to take another look at these linear and consuming models, at both the level of materials for building, energy, land, and that of waste management.
This book will help you discovering a large number of experiments and actions which can be reproduced on your level of action. Their generalisation to the whole France is currently a priority if we want to lead the ecological transition of our society. Nevertheless, circular economy is not something which can be decreed, and each territory wishing to invest in it has to reinvent its own process to adapt and implement the concept to its own specificities.
The central theme of this report is how to greatly enhance resource efficiency. The proposition is that a circular economy, where products are designed for ease of recycling, reuse, disassembly and remanufacturing should replace the traditional, linear ’take, make & dispose’ model that has dominated the economy so far. Most studies so far on the circular economy focus primarily on the business case for enhanced resource efficiency. This report rather focuses on the social benefits that a transformation from a linear to a circular economy would entail. In this report the focus is on Poland and the Czech Republic.
The central theme of this report is how to greatly enhance resource efficiency. The proposition is that a circular economy, where products are designed for ease of recycling, reuse, disassembly and remanufacturing should replace the traditional, linear ’take, make & dispose’ model that has dominated the economy so far. This, no doubt, is a major prerequisite to stay within the Planetary Boundaries.
The report identifies ten attractive circular innovation and investment priorities for Europe until 2025, totalling €320 billion. Despite the favourable financial context, investment in circular economy opportunities is still generally too low. The Foundation's previous research Growth Within outlined a long-term circular economy vision for Europe; this new report identifies the most important investment opportunities along with the policy reforms and business actions needed to unlock them. The report focuses on the mobility, food and built environment value chains, which together represent 60% of consumer expenditure and 80% of resource use.
In a circular economy, growth comes from ‘within’, by increasing the value derived from existing economic structures, products and materials. This major report quantifies the benefits for Europe – in terms of growth, household income, and environmental outcomes – of adopting a circular development path compared with our current linear one. Incorporating in-depth analysis of three of Europe’s largest basic needs, mobility, food and the built environment, the report provides a vision of how the circular economy could look, and highlights wide-ranging implications for government and business leaders.
The report describes the concept of the circular economy and outlines its key characteristics. It draws attention to both the benefits and challenges in transitioning to such an economy and highlights possible ways to measure progress.
The report explores the circular economy from a product perspective, applying a systemic approach and transition theory. Drivers of product design and usage are discussed in the context of emerging consumption trends and business models. For governance to be effective, it has to address the product life-cycle and the societal context determining it. Indicators and assessment tools are proposed that can help fill the current data and knowledge gaps.
The Circular Phone report provides practical answers to common financing pitfalls for circular businesses, using Fairphone as the real-life example. All learnings and contract templates created during the project are now available as open source and ready for other companies to apply to their products.
This report gives companies the tools to jumpstart and run circular business models where ownership of products is retained to a certain degree. This incentivises companies to create high-quality and durable products, while customers enjoy the performance of a product without the hassle. So far, businesses striving to implement “Product-as-a-Service” models have had the challenge of reconciling the need to find financing parties with the complexities of their own business model.
To achieve a financeable model for the Circular Fairphone Service, the Community of Practice created a blueprint for Fairphone’s business model. Through the creation of a legal template – a 1st Circular Service Contract- and a financial cash flow tool, the group has proven that the gap between the businesses and financiers can be bridged. One of the other concrete and practical outcomes was a 5-year cash flow projection that enables financiers to assess the benefits and risks of their investment.
On 7 March the European Commission will host a workshop to inform stakeholders about the product environmental footprint, its development and possible contribution to a Single Market for Green Products.
The Plastics Recyclers Europe Annual Meeting, a key yearly event for the plastics recycling industry will be taking place in Brussels on 21 and 22 November 2019 and focus on the issue of recyclability.
This event organised by the Aldersgate Group will debate the progress made over the last five years on the circular economy and plastics agenda, how to ensure that momentum continues, and what should be key priorities for European policy makers after the European elections and change of Commission.
Join CICERONE at the World Resources Forum in Antwerp on February 26th for their first workshop on the future of circular economy programming.
IdentiPlast 2019 is the leading European event for the recycling and recovery of plastic waste.
The workshop will provide delegates with an insight into the instruments of the European Commission and the driving forces behind the Circular Economy.
The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Expo is the largest dedicated showcase of sustainable materials for the fashion and textile industry in Europe.
RebelSpaces, the Nijmegen-based circular economy business incubator, opens its doors January 18th during the Dutch Week of the Circular Economy as an opportunity to directly meet the founders and innovators whose start-ups are today building the products and services of tomorrow.
ACR+ is hosting an event on “Circular Economy Competences - Making the Case for Lifelong Learning” in the European Parliament in Brussels on February 19th 2019 with MEPs Silvia Costa and Simona Bonafè. This seminar will bring together existing practices and key actors of circular economy in education to foster a Europe-wide debate on circular economy and education that can facilitate and promote international cooperation through knowledge sharing and exchange of good practices.
