A team of researchers from the research centre CIEPQPF and the CFE of the University of Coimbra has developed an innovative application for recovered waste from walnut fruit: compounds with a “nematocidal” effect have been extracted that can control plant-parasitic nematodes affecting a wide range of species.
Ambiente_Sregional is a circular economy project for the civil construction sector in the Azores, developed jointly by Fibrenamics, the international platform of the University of Minho, and the Regional Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LREC-Azores).
SEAclic is a project developed by the German company Storopack, which has created a packaging technology suitable for temperature-sensitive food products, such as fish. The bio-based version of the Storopack SEAclic Box is made from a new, compostable plastic.
On the Asphalt (O.T.A) is a French brand that has developed sustainable and eco-friendly unisex sneakers made of recycled tyres and leather scraps from a glove factory.
Yoyo is a French start-up that has developed an innovative behavioural change approach to enhance recycling in communities.
French company Seine Alliance repurposes EV batteries from cars to power boats for cruises on the river.
The company re:newcell, together with a group of scientist from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP), have developed a technique that transforms recycled cotton into viscose rayon fibre, which is a suitable material for mass manufacturing.
Salomon is a French company that has developed a running shoe that is 365º sustainable. This shoe has been designed to be 100% recycled easily.
Econooc is a no-effort conservation beehive made from mycelium and other repurposed/sustainable materials.
The City of Helsinki has coordinated a project on the reuse of excavated soil in construction projects across the city. This project consists of improving coordination of how and where excavated soil is used.
The Capital Region of Denmark is committed to becoming a fossil-free and circular region by 2050. Inter alia, this entails achieving an 80% recycling rate for the region’s waste by 2035, and growing green business activities by 8% by 2025. New forms of cooperation and dialogues between stakeholders are necessary to reach these goals.
Through a three-year public-private partnership, the Region and its partners aim to pave the way for greater collaboration between the waste sector and the business community. Metabolic collaborated with the Region to undertake a material flow analysis and an environmental assessment of the Region’s waste system, and to identify impact hotspots and circular opportunities.
Read the executive summary of the waste analysis, or the full Danish report.
The fourth Thematic Working Group (TWG) set up by Interreg MED's Green Growth community implemented and assessed solutions to promote competitiveness and innovation of Mediterranean SMEs in a circular economy.
The TWG's White Paper addresses the following issues:
The third of the four Thematic Working Groups created by the Interreg MED's Green Growth community addressed waste reduction, prevention and management.
This White Paper promotes solutions to reduce organic (livestock) and inorganic waste, and maps technologies, systems, and strategies for proper waste management. It illustrates issues - e.g. over-production/application of high-nitrogen slurry and manure and need to treat it, as well as lack of treatment of agrifood waste - and highlights the projects’ contributions to achieve full use of resources through their life cycle to create a circular economy.
Among the results: policy guidelines based on four Struvite Precipitation (SP) plants to stimulate innovation and set up a common legal framework for struvite as fertilizer.
The second of four Thematic Working Groups created by the Interreg MED's Green Growth community was tasked with promoting green public procurement (GPP) by which public authorities seek to procure goods and services with reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycles.
This White Paper provides solutions for GPP and addresses issues linked to the lacking integration of sustainability and circular economy criteria in GPP and the provision of public services. It also highlights the need to develop the capacity of private actors to adopt eco-innovation and green energy in order to participate in green e-tenders.
The main objective is to examine public procurement in the context of long-term impacts, with specific attention paid to the role of public authorities.
The first of 4 Thematic Working Groups created by the Interreg MED's Green Growth community focused on Sustainable Consumption and Production by enhancing Resource Efficiency in the Mediterranean agrofood sector, as well as in urban areas through the implementation of the Smart City Concept.
The White Paper zooms in on the difficulties that companies face in:
It then presents the projects' solutions and the benefits of resource efficiency for the environment and the economy. The projects were monitored according to the EU CEAP's indicator framework.
The Circularity Gap Report Norway is an in-depth analysis of how Norway consumes raw materials to fuel its societal needs. Currently, 97.6% of materials consumed each year never make it back into the economy.
Norway also has one of the highest per capita consumption rates in the world (44.3 tonnes per person). At 2.4%, its circularity rate is below the global average (8.6%). Each year Norway consumes 235 million tonnes of materials - metals, fossil fuels, biomass and minerals - to meet its internal needs.
However, the report reveals how Norway could see a 20-fold increase in its circularity by restructuring its businesses and industry through 6 key actions in the following fields:
This case study on the EU's Circular Economy Plan (CEAP) by the Ellen McArthur Foundation reflects back on the steps which the European Commission took to take a lead in circular economy policies globally. From initially aiming at improving resource efficiency, to redefining growth with positive social, environmental, and economic benefits, this case study analyses this policy-making process.
The CEAP was a comprehensive body of legislative and non-legislative actions adopted in 2015, which aimed to transition the European economy from a linear to a circular model. It mapped out 54 actions, as well as four legislative proposals on waste.
By rethinking resource efficiency and material flows, the European Commission has developed a framework to promote systemic change.
The relationship between innovating business model and the circular economy is complex and rapidly evolving. So, how can we turn the focus on the circular economy into a driver for global sustainability?
The report titled "Incremental Circular Economy as a Serious Sustainability Problem" aims to understand the relationship between business model innovation and the circular economy.
It also seeks to guide companies, intrapreneurs in companies, and organisations working towards a circular economy. And, finally, it aims to provide a structure to understand very different approaches and their outcomes.
On average, a European citizen produces half a ton of waste a year. This amounts to 2.5 billion tons yearly for the entire European Union.
The Joint Initiative on Circular Economy (JICE) is a partnership between the EU’s largest national promotional banks and institutions and the European Investment Bank to invest at least €10 billion in the circular economy by 2023.
It provides loans, equity investment, guarantees, innovative financing structures and technical assistance.
The initiative will support projects that prevent and eliminate waste, increase resource efficiency and promote circular business models. Eligible projects can be submitted to the respective JICE partners.
This report analyses the scope of the plastic industry for the economy, the planet and society, as well as the policies at European and Spanish context to move towards a new plastic economy. Besides, the trade offs for companies are identified as key challenges.
Finally, the report shows the best practices of eleven companies from different sectors.
Recycling plastic is a good thing, but stopping the cycle and the plastic waste before it starts, is better. To cut down the use of single-use items, the current standards need to be disrupted when it comes to our throwaway culture. Join a Loop seminar on Reusable solutions to single-use culture on 25 May 2021, from 16:30 to 17:30 CEST.
The building and construction sector consumes around 10 million tonnes of plastics in Europe each year, which accounts for 20% of all plastics consumption. LOOP's idea was to find out what concrete ways there are both to reduce the use of plastics and to increase circularity of plastics in residential construction.
If you want to learn more about Green Economy investment in the Mediterranean, join this experience-sharing webinar organised as part of the Interreg MED Green Growth Community project. The session will take place online on 20 May 2021. Don't miss it!
The Interreg MED Green Growth Community (GGC) will take part in EU Green Week, organising a partner event to present best practices on moving towards zero pollution in the agri-food sector, with a focus on the Mediterranean region. Join the webinar on 1 June! It aims to showcase how to make the agri-food value chain more sustainable by applying circular economy approaches.
The new Circular Economy Action Plan identifies textiles as a key product value chain with potential to boost the EU market for sustainable and circular textiles. The European Commission is organising a series of targeted stakeholder workshops to gather input on challenges and gaps as well as opportunities for the sector towards sustainability. Join the second workshop on 2 June 2021!
Join this event to explore how the circular economy will change our consumption patterns. This change has already started but is expected to drastically increase. This webinar on 2 June will look into how this transformation will affect both businesses and purchasers.
Young people have an important role to play in the transition to a circular economy, both acting as a representative of consumers with different and higher expectations than the generations before them regarding sustainability, and as the face of innovative entrepreneurs aware of the limit of the current economic model and ready to rethink production and consumption habits as they enter the professional world.
As the Horizon 2020 research programme becomes Horizon Europe, what better time to witness how great ideas turned into real projects? LOOPS is the opportunity to show what cutting-edge research has been produced, and which changes it can bring to our communities. The topic of this episode on 13 May will orbit around the concepts of circularity and digital technologies in the agriculture sector.
Lack of visibility regarding flows of materials and their sustainability impact can limit opportunities for a circular economy. The objective of this event on 10 June 2021 is to discuss available traceability solutions that can be used by companies and customers to have a better picture of products and materials.
This webinar series will explore the current state of the art in Europe along the value chain and discuss business and policy issues relevant for the development of urban bioeconomies across Europe.
The major circular economy event, the World Circular Economy Forum, will be postponed until 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A virtual WCEFonline event in September 2020 will address how the circular economy can help reboot the economy. (Image: Topias Dean, Sitra)
PackAlliance aims to modernise Higher Education curricula to better serve the plastic packaging sector's labour market needs. It has therefor prepared a questionnaire to gather information on the skills needed in the circular economy applied to this sector. Which skills are vital in the plastic packaging transition to circular economy?
ACI’s Future of Polyolefins Summit, on 20 and 21 January 2021 in Antwerp, will provide the perfect opportunity to meet with leading executives and experts from across the entire value chain.
Le Fonds ING pour une Economie plus Circulaire apporte son soutien à celles et ceux qui exercent leurs compétences et leur métier en vue d’une utilisation optimale des ressources naturelles.
During the financial year 2019, the Plastics Technology Centre AIMPLAS presented more than 80 circular economy projects, taught 25 courses on the topic and sponsored 26 talks by its experts.
Between 2018 and 2019, knowledge brokerage between Slovenia and Portugal took place on waste collection and treatment, reuse and repair facilities as well as communication strategies.
Have a look at this two-hour webinar recording of 15 April 2020 on Brazilian circular capacity building. International speakers share their views on rethinking our business models and making them more sustainable in the wake of COVID-19 crisis.
The Commission is working with the Member States to keep the green lanes for European waste companies open so that it can be shipped without delay, become the resource for another industry or get its appropriate treatment in the EU. This is an essential task to protect Europe's health and environment and keep the circular economy moving ahead.
The City of Amsterdam aims to halve its use of raw material and resources by 2030, and achieve a fully circular economy by 2050. To this effect, its new circular economy strategy will use an adapted version of British economist Kate Raworth's "doughnut model".
How can we best equip people to transform the fashion industry from the inside out? (Re)education is one promising avenue – and there is a lot to learn!
