European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform

ACR+ is an international network of cities and regions sharing the aim of promoting a sustainable resource management and accelerating the transition towards a circular economy on their territories and beyond. The network currently counts around 100 members, mainly local and regional authorities as well as national networks of local authorities.

As circular economy calls for cooperation between all actors, ACR+ is open to other players in the field of material resource management (NGOs, academic institutions, consultancy or private organisations). For 25 years now, ACR+ has been facilitating the exchange of experiences between members, while also sharing technical and policy information and participating in EU-funded and international projects.

EuroCommerce is the principal European organisation representing the retail and wholesale sector. It embraces national associations in 31 countries and 5.4 million companies, both leading global players such as Carrefour, Ikea, Metro and Tesco, and many small businesses.

The circular economy is an opportunity for retail and wholesale as it allows the sector to rethink business models, offer alternative products and support a more sustainable lifestyle. It is a two-way approach both responding and leading to societal change. Indeed, beyond the increasing demand by consumers and regulators to offer more sustainable alternatives, the circular economy is an opportunity to rethink the way we produce, manufacture, sell, use and discard our products

The Remanufacturing platform is designed to help with the development of remanufacturing activities. It provides resources and reflection on remanufacturing and the circular economy.

Set up in 2014, Remanufacturing aims to promote remanufacturing and associated RE-activities for product life extension. Within circular economy value recovery cycles, products can be REused, REpaired, REnovated, REmanufactured or REcycled. The aim is to reuse end-of-life products and components in new or upgraded products.

Remanufacturing has created a website describing the advantages of and barriers to starting up and developing remanufacturing activities, with examples and methodologies.

Circular Economy Coalition (CERC) promotes the key objectives of the EC Circular Economy Action Plan in Romania, stimulating the development of new markets, business models, and contributing to economic growth and jobs creation. It facilitates activities for its members, becoming a key player for the domestic business community interested in transitioning towards a circular economic ecosystem.

CERC monitors national and EU policies, and is actively communicating with Romanian authorities to improve the legislative framework on circular economy. It is open to establishing strategic partnerships with similar local and international organisations and academia. The scope is to develop studies and reports on circularity and to support the implementation of circular economy programmes.

The One Planet Network is a platform that assembles information about the state of play in sectors that are particularly relevant to the circular economy and need assistance developing tools and policies to reduce waste and improve sustainability.

It aims to implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, focusing on SDG12. The network consists of stakeholders generating collective impact in public procurement, building and construction, tourism, food systems, consumer information and lifestyles and education.

Countries, stakeholders and organisations are invited to join and participate. The One Planet Network's strategy runs from 2018 to 2022 and was initiated by the UN's Environment Programme.

ReSociety is a global collective initiative which aims to promote and accelerate the transformation to the circular economy. It is a gathering point for circular mindsets to align, share lessons, co-create solutions and spark new innovations. ReSociety is open to consumers, educators, NGOs, journalists, enterprises, policymakers and industries from all over the world. It is founded on the belief that by working together, it is possible to scale solutions for a more sustainable future.

ReSociety was initiated by TOMRA's Circular Economy Division in early 2020 to exchange research and knowledge, establish new partnerships and share ideas on holistic waste and resource systems, which are essential for developing circular value chains.

The Austrian network RepaNet represents social businesses working in the re-use sector. By preventing waste, it contributes to linking the circular use of goods/products with the creation of fair job opportunities. It promotes and anchors re-use and repair in Austrian and European policy, administration, economy and waste management and provides consulting to initiatives, enterprises, stakeholders and decision-makers.

With its almost 40 members, RepaNet connects initiatives in the DIY-repair sector, like BauKarussell for the building sector and Tchibo for social textile. It has also created RepaThek, the biggest online literature platform on re-use, repair and CE in German.

Concrete results can be found in the regular reports: 2020-2021.

CIRCULÉIRE is Ireland’s first cross-sectoral circular economy innovation network, first designated EU circular economy hotspot, and is supported by several government departments. Its goal is to accelerate the transition towards a net-zero carbon circular economy in Ireland.
CIRCULÉIRE is co-creating innovative solutions with Irish industry from the agri-food, pharmaceutical, recycling, medical devices, ICT and built environment sectors. It has a dedicated innovation fund to invest in innovation demonstration projects.
CIRCULÉIRE also engages with a wide range of stakeholders from the Irish innovation ecosystem through our open-access circular economy knowledge library and capacity building activities including annual thematic working groups and workshops.

Initiated under the patronage of the German Development Minister Gerd Müller, the PREVENT Waste Alliance was launched in May 2019. It serves as a platform for exchange and international cooperation. Organisations from the private sector, academia, civil society and public institutions jointly engage for a circular economy.

The PREVENT Waste Alliance wants to contribute to minimising waste, eliminating pollutants and maximising the reuse of resources in the economy worldwide. Members of the platform work together for waste prevention, collection, and recycling as well as the increased uptake of secondary resources in low- and middle-income countries.

The platform focuses on waste from plastic packaging and single use products as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment.

CircLean is a network of businesses and SMEs that participate in the reuse of raw materials through industrial symbiosis. The network aims at mobilising industries and relevant stakeholders to overcome the challenges of industrial symbiosis today for its increased uptake in Europe.

The network will create:

• a common methodology to measure and report on resource exchange and benefits from symbiotic exchanges;
• an online tool for matchmaking and assessment of transactions;
• and a CircLean Label to accredit members that comply with it.

CircLean is an initiative of the European Commission. It is implemented by a consortium led by Technopolis Group, involving Trinomics, International Synergies, and Arctik as partners, and supported by A’SPIRE, EIT Raw Materials and ACR+.