This transversal White Paper by the Interreg MED's Green Growth community displays the horizontal approach towards cooperation on Circular Economy and Green Growth in the Mediterranean as well as challenges, success factors and lessons learned.
Upcycling Scandinavia designs practical objects entirely made out of upcycled plastic. Its products are reusable and can be included into the remanufacturing of new products.
Het Hof van Cartesius is a non-governmental, bottom-up cooperative that provides circular and green workspaces for sustainable and creative entrepreneurs. The buildings are constructed completely with respect for circular design, using only secondary or biobased materials.
RecyCâbles is a joint venture between Suez and Nexans started in 2008 that collects, recovers and processes used cables. The recycling and re-use of cable materials keeps them in the economic loop.
A solvent-free adhesive that is suitable for recycling and also for bonding of recycled plastic films has been developed by Henkel to be used for multilayer packaging.
Saperatec is able to reclaim all individual raw materials from composite materials, thus making them available for recycling.
Lowlander is a beer brewery from the Netherlands that is passionate about brewing botanical beer. For the Tree to Table initiative, Lowlander has created a tasty, white IPA beer out of hand-picked needles from Christmas trees.
PC4Change is a project of the Reware Cooperative - Social Enterprise, specialized since 2013 in the refurbishing of computers dismissed by large companies.
The WaysTUP! project wishes to demonstrate the establishment of new value chains for urban bio-waste used in the production of high value purpose products, through a multi-stakeholder approach according to circular economy principles.
The Donar company was established in 1989 in Slovenia, as demand for office interior development was growing. Starting as a small business, Donar has developed into one of the key players in design furniture with the highest environmental standards.
In the framework of the CIRCWASTE project, Southwest Finland developed a circular economy roadmap to implement the national waste plan and define regional objectives with concrete measures to achieve these.
The Finnish Environment Institute formed an expert network on circular economy, and began identifying regional strengths and special characteristics to start with. A regional cooperation group of more than 20 members was founded to work the strategy. It was composed of representatives from various towns, education establishments, the Regional Council of Soutwest Finland, private companies etc.
For Southwest Finland, stakeholders set a focus on sustainable food systems, high-tech industry, transport and logistics. Public services and knowledge exchange with industry, academia and civil society are the overarching themes.
The objectives and measures are classified along the priority sectors:
Targeted training and versatile learning materials will advance circular economy in construction, where the strategy aims to generate less waste and increase the use of construction and demolition waste to 70%.
As Southwest Finland is a national frontrunner in making use of agricultural by-products and nutrient reuse, the region wants to build on its strengths and halve food waste by 2030. Another goal in this area is to increase the amount of recycled organic waste to 60%.
Additionally the strategy hopes to decouple municipal waste growth from regional GDP growth, and increase recycling to 55%.
The Brussels Regional Programme for a Circular Economy is Belgium's capital region strategic effort towards a circular economy. Within this programme, the Brussels construction industry with its 12,000 businesses is a priority sector. As construction and facilities management accounts for 98% of water use, 75% energy demand and 33% of waste in Brussels, there is great potential for a substantial contribution to a circular transition.
This roadmap, developed in partnership with the Environmental Agency through 3 stakeholder workshops, includes three gradual steps towards circular building in Brussels:
While the latter goal remains to be clearly defined and prepared, the voluntary measures by companies and regulatory update for public buildings have already been transformed into actionable steps, e.g. revising training curricula in vocational and professional schools with a circular mindset or setting up monitoring systems to track the flow of resource and waste from Brussels' largest construction sites.
In this policy note, the City of the Hague outlines why a circular transition is necessary and what benefits it can provide to the city for its sustainable development. Continuing with a state-of-play, the note sketches out the policy framework at European, national and regional level to provide strategic context and introduce analysis of a non-exhaustive list of 143 ongoing circular projects in The Hague area. Links to further research show that making use of the opportunities a circular economy provides in the Construction, Procurement and Retail Trade sectors alone could substantially reduce carbon emissions and deliver 3,500 jobs in The Hague area.
Building on this research, the policy note indicates the city's priorities best lie in biomass, construction material and critical raw materials. To showcase possible next steps, the note provides a list of easily implementable projects and policies in these priority areas, while concluding with a stakeholder engagement strategy that should enable the city's administration to realise its goals for the priority sectors.
After the 2014 elections, the new Roubaix municipality team wanted to change the image of its city and encourage a positive attitude towards both its inhabitants and France as a whole.
The roadmap aims at turning difficulties into advantages, generating a new dynamic. Based on the Sustainable development strategy (since 2003), a zero waste policy is progressively implemented with a focus on cooperation and awareness raising among the stakeholders.
The approach is global, even if some activities are implemented on a micro-scale (budget issue), mostly at the level of a city sub-district (Fresnoy-Mackellerie).
To enable the entire City of Roubaix to experience the transition to a zero waste economy, projects are open and accessible to all categories of population and businesses. This is reflected in the way the projects are designed and co-developed, and how the City communicates about them.
Some concrete solutions are tested on an everyday basis and feedback is already shared with others (zero waste family program, zero waste business label, zero waste festival…).
Generally speaking, the City of Roubaix wants :
Greece's Governmental Economic Policy Council ensorsed a National Action Plan on Circular Economy in early 2018 to set the country on a path towards the long-term adoption of circular economy principles. This further supports Greece's economic strategy in its key quest to “Green” the economy in a way that creates jobs, especially for women and youth, and supports long-term equitable and inclusive growth based on resource efficiency, promotion of SMEs, innovation and investment in new technologies, and strengthening of the “social economy” potential. The long-term (2030) goals of the National Action Plan on Circular Economy can be summarised as follows:
Priority actions for 2018 include:
Prior to this, Greece has already adopted a new Law on Recycling in November 2017 to fully align existing waste legislation with circular economy principles and taken effective measures to reduce the consumtion of single-use plastic bags with a ministerial decision in August 2017 that introduced merchant responsibility and set fees for consumers. With these measures and the actions set out in the National Circular Economy Action Plan, Greece aims to achieve the following by 2020:
A circular economy is a strategic priorirty for Finland's Päijät-Häme region, which is reflected in its RIS3 orientation and in Lahti's (the region's main city) development strategy. Whereas Finland's national framework for a circular economy provides an outlines for this transition, the Päijät-Häme regional roadmap, a joint strategy for nine municipalities, implemeents the national aims with actions at the regional level.
The roadmap was launched in October 2017 as part of Päijät-Häme's regional economic strategy for 2018–2021. The drafting process was coordinated by the Lahti University of Applied Sciences, in close cooperation with the regional council and local stakeholders such as regional and municipal authorities, academia, a regional development corporation, as well as public and private companies.
Päijät-Häme's roadmap has five main themes, with regional goals and actions set for each. The overarching themes are:
Because input was sought from across the region through workshops and discussions, a stakeholder consultation and further informal contacts, the regional council created substantial enthusiasm and buy-in throughout the area, thus creating a foundation for successful implementation. The roadmap is a living document, with annual updates scheduled to identify new opportunities and involve new actors.
The underlying idea of the Strategy for the Transition to the Circular Economy in the Municipality of Maribor, as well as the Wcycle project, is its to have an own innovative model as a system for managing all the resources available in the Municipality of Maribor and the wider urban area.
The model is based on the operation of enterprises that are predominantly publicly-owned and already provide public services for residents. They are thus the city’s bottlenecks that until now have not functioned as a connecting link, which is a fundamental principle in the transition from linear to circular economy.
Only close cooperation between public companies, citizens, industry and local self-government can lead to a successful interconnected system that optimises resources and results - economic, environmental and social. This is a long-term project that provides development-oriented efficient management of resource flows in local and regional environments.
The purpose of the Strategy and Wcycle project discussed is cross-sectoral cooperation in handling, processing, re-use and development of resources, which deals with the circular economy in Maribor in seven selected sectors (i.e pillars or circles).
The positive consequences of these practices are the emergence of new business opportunities for the Municipality of Maribor, the people and the economy, the creation of high-quality, mainly green jobs, new added value and a fresh economic boost.
Luxembourg's new National Waste and Resource Management Plan includes measures and guidelines for the implementation of the amended Waste Management Act of March 21, 2012. It analyzes the situation regarding waste management and lists measures that will be taken to ensure the re-use, recycling, recovery and disposal of waste in the most environmentally friendly conditions while remaining in line with the national and European legislative context. The prevention program is integrated in the text of the national plan and introduces a whole-system approach for waste prevention.
The overall objective of the NWRMP is to protect the environment, cultural property and human health by preventing and reducing the harmful effects of waste. In addition, waste management has long-term goals, including conservation of resources, climate protection and impacts for future generations.
This plan represents a considerable step in the transition towards a circular economy, and builds on the principles of a sober and responsible consumption of natural resources, the optimisation of product life cycles, opportunities for re-use or failing that, waste recycling.
The NWRMP, among others, includes the following ambitious targets for 2022:
The plan was also drafted in consultation with stakeholders and citizens over a 3-year period. This included thematic workshops on municipal waste, food waste, construction & demolition waste and treatment plant waste. The plan also received input through the May 2017 'National Waste Day' and further public consultations in Spring 2018. Its implementation willl be overseen by the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure's environmental agency for the period 2018 - 2022.
The Brussels Regional Programme for Circular Economy (BRPCE) is an integrated strategy involving 111 measures aimed at delivering circular patterns at the city level. The main objectives of the BPRCE are:
The transition towards a circular economy is a key project of the ecological and social transition. The linear model — producing, consuming, discarding — is inevitably leading us towards the depletion of the planet's resources.
We must move towards a different type of economy, where we consume in moderation, where products have a longer lifetime, where we limit waste, and where we are able to transform waste into new resources.
This transition is a genuine societal project whose aim is to move away from the throw-away society. It invites us to change the way we lead our lives and to invent new and more sustainable production and consumption methods. The French roadmap includes four key priority areas: better production, better consumption, better waste management, and engaging all stakeholders.
Many European countries still lack a national strategic roadmap for transposing the European directives at national level.
Some outstanding issues include the need to have clearer operational guidelines for the adoption of circular models and metrics for monitoring the transition towards circular models.
This study has been prepared in collaboration with Enel and with the scientific contribution of Enel Foundation. It unfolds in three main parts:
This research reviews the long history and diversity of circularity thinking to develop a comprehensive timeline, which identifies and conceptually classifies 72 different CE-related concepts from the Global North and South alike (such as industrial ecology, Gandhian and steady-state economics, buen vivir, doughnut economics, degrowth).
This leads to the development of the first typology of circularity discourses, which classifies circularity visions according to their position on fundamental socio-ecological issues. This research thus seeks to provide a basis for a more inclusive and comprehensive discussion on the topic, opens the imagination about the many circular futures that can exist, and allows for a cross-pollination of ideas, policies, strategies, practices and solutions.
The European Committee of Manufacturers of Electrical Machines and Power Electronics (CEMEP) supports the development towards a circular economy (CE), thus actively contributing to more sustainable manufacturing and responsible consumption. This industrial sector follows a business-to-business market model, delivering products for a wide number of economic sectors and applications.
Its three main product groups – electric motors, variable speed drives and uninterruptable power systems – show differences and similarities when it comes to material efficiency, hence the need for sector- or product-specific approaches when pursuing CE.
This position paper describes the CE status of the CEMEP industries and the way forward towards more circularity.
This document is the result of the active involvement of the Interreg MED Green Growth community, together with its projects.
To make circular economy (CE) simpler, more efficient and more competitive, it is suggested to take a holistic, integrated and cooperative approach, by considering all phases in which CE is structured, all levels (from local to European) and all stakeholders involved in the implementation of CE models.
The policy recommendations proposed in the document are structured into six main areas:
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:
Circular Economy IL (CE-IL) is a non-profit organization serving as the Israeli Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform. CE-IL acts on national, regional and international levels to integrate new resource strategies and circular based business models with Israeli innovation capabilities.
CE-IL aims to connect between Israeli initiatives, start-ups, companies, municipalities, academic, researchers and policy makers and European circular economy stakeholders, in order to collaborate and find common ground, making reference to European policies, to accelerate the circular transition, inter alia, to exchange know-how, knowledge and information.
These goals are already set into action in several cooperation projects with many European experts.
ReThink is a platform aiming at promoting sustainable and circular economy in Ukraine, through education and advocacy campaigns, multi-stakeholder dialogue and innovation facilitation.
A prominent activity for the platform in 2019 focused on single-use plastic bags, with a call to the Ukrainian government to tackle the issue, and partnering with law firms for the drafting of a law proposal to restrict the use of plastic shopping bags and plastic packaging in Ukrainian retail stores.
The project „Prosperkolleg“ in Bottrop started on the 1st of June 2019 with the objective to explore how to transfer the idea of circular economy to the industry. The "Hochschule Ruhr West", the "WiN Emscher-Lippe GmbH", the city of Bottrop, the "Effizienzagentur NRW" and the "Prosperkolleg association" joined forces to research and demonstrate innovative circular product and business model developments. The project is funded by the ministry of economics, innovation, digitalization and energy of the land NRW.
The Slovak Environmental Strategy prioritises the transition to circular economy. Building on the Transition to Green Economy process, the Slovak Ministry of Environment, alongside the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Institute for Circular Economy, PwC Slovakia, Slovak Business Agency and Slovak Environment Agency joined forces to by establishing Circular Slovakia in October 2019.
This platform aims to increase discussion between the public and the private sector, as well as between businesses about opportunities and barriers in the circular transition to result in new projects and partnerships. Simultaneously, Circular Slovakia will share good practice examples nationally and internationally while raising awareness of circular economy.
Making the transition to a circular economy requires a pressing need for new skills, competences and approaches. Education, and training have a critical role to play in delivering and updating these skills.
The Erasmus+ CYCLE project created a set of tools and resources to support adult trainers in developing and expanding their professional and educational skills in the circular economy.
The Cycle Competence Centre (CYCLE CC) is a platform where educators can find training and guidance tools in 6 languages to help them introduce circular economy in different learning environments.
The Italian Phosphorus Platform was set up to mirror the European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform, following an agreement between ENEA, the platform manager, and the Italian Ministry of Environment. This platform aims to reach national self-sufficiency in the Italian phosphorus supply with a circular approach.
Phosphorus a European critical raw material, with Europe being almost completely dependent on third countries for its supply (phosphate rock: 81%, phosphorus: 100%), and its end-of-life recycling rate is very low (phosphate rock: 17%, phosphorus: 0%) (source: 2017 list of Critical Raw Materials).
The platform features 4 working groups: market, technologies, legislation and good practices. More information on good practices in phosphorus recycling is available here (in Italian).
The Inštitút cirkulárnej ekonomiky (Institute for Circular Economy) is Slovakia’s circular economy network, connecting public actors and private to accelerate the transition to a circular economy in Slovakia.
The Institute regularly publishes overviews of the circular economy in Slovakia, and supports municipalities with improving waste management locally, while also developing circular business models with companies. One such innovative programme specifically targets festival organisers, helping them reduce waste at large scale events.
The Institut Cirkulární Ekonomiky (Institute for Circular Economy) is the Czech Republic’s foremost circular economy non-profit focusing on innovative environmental management. Together with its partners, the Institute works on projects that further the transition from a linear towards a circular system.
These include analytical and educational programmes as well as project management tools for various organisations and individuals, such as:
Additionally, the Institute also engages private companies and public sector institutions with research, events, workshops and policy development in the Czech Republic.
The Prague Circular Hub is a joint initiative by the Institut Cirkularni Ekonomiky, Alliance for Renewable Energy and the Brno Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Its vision is to build a cultural and innovation centre which seeks to acquaint the general and professional public with circular economy. With discussions, seminars, conferences, as well as pilot projects aimed at testing new research methods in the field of circular economy, the Prague Circular Hub contributes to the active transformation into a circular system.
While the Hub has already completed a Prague Circular Scan with the support of Circle Economy, it continues to organise regular ‘buzz talks’ and conduct further research to promote the adoption of circular business models in the Czech capital.
Žiedine Ekonomika (Circular Economy) is a Lithuanian association promoting a circular economy. This non-profit organisation networks local, national and European public authorities with companies to help develop circular business models in Lithuania.
In her role as Director of Programmes, Hatty leads Circle Economy’s thematic and sector-focused portfolio (textiles, finance and built environment). Having worked for over 14 years in democratic strengthening and sustainable development, Hatty has extensive international experience of working with governments and parliamentary systems to enhance their capacity for effective oversight, scrutiny and representation in the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Hatty is an experienced portfolio manager, delivering a wide range of multi-year, multi-stakeholder international development programmes in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. She has taken the lead on projects as wide ranging as enhancing the representation of women in public life in Pakistan to institutional strengthening in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis.
Hatty has a background in project management and strategic organisational planning, with strong links across government and multilateral organisations.
Key objectives at Circle Economy
- Build a comprehensive portfolio of sector + cross-sector programmes; working with government + industry
- Develop multi-stakeholder projects, across government + industry, to support the circular transition at national level
- Expand profile and viability of Circle Economy in the Global South.
Romina Giovannetti joined Ecoembes in 2019 as Head of EU Public Affairs. She has 20 years of public policy and communications experience in Brussels, together with a track record in journalism in South America.
Romina previously served as Public Affairs Associate Director at consultancy Weber Shandwick. With an expertise in European funding and industrial and environmental policy she acted as an advisor to a number of associations, corporations and NGOs.
Prior to that, Romina worked with a number of Brussels-based associations, spearheading their employment, sustainability and transport dossiers. She spent the early part of her career as a news reporter and editor at Argentina’s leading media group Clarín.
Ecoembes is a non-profit organization that cares for the environment through recycling and the eco-design of packaging in Spain. While implementing the Extender Producer Responsibility, it engages with citizens, public authorities and companies, in a collaborative spirit, to improve the environmental impact of household packaging.
Brendan Edgerton is the Director of Circular Economy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Geneva, Switzerland. Since arriving at WBCSD in 2015, he has managed the delivery of the Practitioner Guide (www.CEguide.org) and the 8 Business Cases to the Circular Economy and contributed to the Environmental Priorities for Business in the Circular Economy and the CEO Guide to the Circular Economy.
Brendan also contributed to the development and launch of Factor10, WBCSD’s circular economy program. This program launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2018 with over 30 members, spanning across 16 industries and claiming over USD $1.3 trillion in annual turnover. He now manages multiple workstreams under Factor10 on circular metrics and sector deep dives.
Prior to WBCSD, Brendan’s work experience includes life cycle assessment and costing at Walt Disney Imagineering, renewable and energy efficiency project identification at Office Depot and green building consulting with Green Dinosaur. Brendan has an MBA from the Yale School of Management, a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and a bachelor’s with honors from the University of California Santa Cruz.
FEAD is the European Federation representing the European waste management industry. FEAD’s members are national waste management associations covering 19 Member States, Norway and Serbia. They have an approximate 60% share in the household waste market and handle more than 75% of industrial and commercial waste in Europe. Their combined annual turnover is approximately €75 billion. FEAD represents about 3000 companies with activities in all forms of waste management. These companies employ over 320 000 people who operate around 2400 recycling and sorting centres, 1100 composting sites, 260 waste-to-energy plants and 900 controlled landfills. They play an important role in determining the best environmental option for waste management problems.
Dorthe Nielsen, policy director at EUROCITIES, is responsible for the overall coordination and delivery of outcomes of the policy work in EUROCITIES. She focuses on sustainable urban mobility, green and smarter cities. She is also in charge of governance related matters, including the urban agenda for the EU and creative citizenship. She previously worked for the Greater London Authority (EU office) and at the Secretariat General of the European Commission. She holds a master degree from the College of Europe (BE) in European politics and a master degree in public administration from the University of Roskilde (DK). A Danish national, she is fluent in English and French.
EUROCITIES is the leading network of more than 140 major European cities, working together to improve the quality of urban life. It strives for a Europe where cities are genuine partners with the EU to create a better future. It puts citizens at the heart of developments towards inclusive, prosperous and healthy cities with future-fit local governments. It works to connect EU and local policy developments in areas such as climate, environment, mobility, economic development, social affairs, culture, digital transformation and urban development. Circular economy cuts across all those areas of work.
Walter Stahel has been the founder and director of the Product-Life Institute (Switzerland) since 1983, the oldest consultancy in Europe devoted to developing sustainable strategies and policies. From 1986 to 2014, he was also director of risk management research at the Geneva Association.
Currently, Walter Stahel works as an author, keynote speaker and storyteller. He promotes understanding of the structure of an economy in loops and its drivers and obstacles (circular industrial economy), spreads knowledge about the competitiveness of a performance economy selling goods and molecules as a service, and identifies the levers to speed up the shift from a linear industrial economy managing flows to a circular economy managing stocks. He does this through workshops, lectures and policy groups.
The CSCP is a think and do tank that not only contributes to advancing the sustainable consumption and production (SCP) agenda through its think tank activities, but also implements innovative SCP projects and activities in the field as a do tank.
Michael Kuhndt is the Founder and Executive Director of the CSCP with more than 20 years' experience of international cooperation, development and sustainability.
Michael Kuhndt has managed programmes for many multinational companies, ministries, European and UN organisations in the fields of: strategy development for sustainable supply chains & circular economy, development/set up of a sustainable consumption approach, upscaling of sustainable business models, triple bottom line innovation, sustainable finance and policy strategies based on multiple stakeholders.
Founded in 2015, the Circular Economy Coalition for Europe is a platform of scientists and universities in the fields of resource management, waste management and anthropogenic metabolism. In their endeavour to support the transformation of the EU to an effective and efficient circular economy, the experts provide European Institutions, national decision makers, businesses, and the interested public by providing facts and data, based on scientific methods and evidence.
At the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Jean-Pierre is the policy officer responsible for Product Policy and Circular Economy.
The EEB is Europe’s largest network of environmental citizens’ organisations with around 140 organisations in more than 30 countries. Jean-Pierre has a Master's degree in Environmental Policy from Humboldt University Berlin and in Geography from the University of Oxford.
Prior to joining the EEB, Jean-Pierre worked for four years at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) in Brussels, as part of their Green Economy programme where he specialised in plastics, market-based instruments and economic indicators. At IEEP, he published a number of reports on a range of environmental issues for the European Commission, the European Parliament, UN Environment and the OECD.
Laura Cutaia, researcher at ENEA is an Environmental Engineer (1996) with a PhD in raw materials engineering (2002). Her main research topics are:
Laura Cutaia is the Responsible of Laboratory for Valorization of Resources at ENEA , where she is working on circular economy and resource efficiency, industrial ecology and symbiosis, LCA, environmental certification schemes, REACH regulation and sustainable industrial areas (more information).
Laura Cutaia is also the President of SUN - Symbiosis Users Network (Italian network for industrial symbiosis) and the President of UNI CT 057 on Circular Economy that is working with ISO TC 323 on circular economy. UNI is the Italian competent body for standardization.
The Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community (G-STIC) plays a crucial role in strengthening interactions between the digital and circular community, and the online G-STIC Conference on 26-28 October is the place to join the discussion on how to spur all players and make digitalisation the decisive instrument for accelerating circular economy.
The 2020 edition of EU Green Week 2020, focussing on nature and biodiversity, is taking place from 19 to 22 October 2020 in an entirely virtual format. Join exciting virtual discussions on how protecting and restoring nature can stimulate recovery and create jobs, helping us to build more resilient and healthier societies.
Consumer buy-in is key to unlocking the potential of circular approaches. How can we encourage consumers to engage in the circular economy? Drawing on the results of CIRC4Life, the webinar on "How to encourage consumer engagement in the circular economy?" on 20 October 2020 will present examples of circular business models and discuss how to engage consumers in circular practices.
Drawing on the results of CIRC4Life, which implements circular economy business models in value chains, the webinar on "Incentivising new circular economy business models" on 14 October will present examples of circular business models and discuss barriers, enablers and the new Circular Economy Action Plan's role in accelerating towards a circular transition.
The EU Circular Talks is a new exchange concept of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform. It aims to encourage stakeholders to interact and discuss the circular economy topics in the platform.
The workshop aims to provide a platform to share good practice, experience and lessons learnt in the use of packaging in the circular economy.
Are you a programme owner or a policy maker keen to advance the transition to a circular economy? Join CICERONE in building a circular economy joint programming platform to enable more cooperation!
The project LOOP-Ports – Circular Economy Network of Ports will hold its final conference on 16 December 2020 to disseminate its results, with a special emphasis on the analysis of the barriers faced by the actors of the maritime-port sector when implementing circular economy.
Sign in to the online #EURegionsWeek event, on 13 October 2020, to discover the evaluation method developed to assess circular economy projects.
This European Environmental Agency event on 11 November from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (CET) is aimed at identifying opportunities for harnessing the circularity potential of buildings and synergies with other policy areas such as climate change. It is addressed to policy-makers, NGOs, academia and also the wider public.
The annual Circular Nonwovens Forum creates a platform for an in-depth engagement with stakeholders on challenges and opportunities in the pursuit of a circular economy for nonwovens, and ollectively finding opportunities to accelerate this transition. Converted into a webinar for 2020, it will cover 5 presentations and break-out sessions to stimulate the discussions among the participants.
The European Commission has launched the public consultation on the green claims initiative. It will be open until 3 December 2020.
The European project DigiCirc aims to boost the circular economy using digital tools by supporting very innovative SMEs. In order to define the current challenges of a Circular City, DigiCirc is collecting the testimonies of different key actors of the market (local authorities, companies, citizens, etc.) through a questionnaire.
AIMPLAS employee is the only qualified auditor in Spain for new certification launched by Recyclass to guarantee traceability of recycled content.
On 23 July 2020, Chile, The Netherlands, and Slovenia are again joining forces to create a circular future, discussing how to achieve sustainable recovery in Chile and what is the role of the circular economy.
Last 20 July, the European Commission opened a roadmap for feedback for the "Legislative proposal on substantial green claims". The roadmap is open until 31 August. The outcome will serve for further development and fine-tuning of the initiative.
The Environmental Protection Agency has launched a challenge called 'Innovating a Circular Economy for soft plastic in Ireland' under Enterprise Ireland’s Small Business Innovation Research programme. The challenge focuses on reducing/eliminating soft plastic waste generated through the provision of school meals in Ireland.
WCEFonline - the first fully virtual event as part of the World Circular Economy Forum - will dive into why and how a circular economy can help reboot and build resilience in the economy.
The European Commission is launching an impact assessment for its new initiative: Empowering the consumer for the green transition, and would be keen on some stakeholders' and citizens' feedback until 1 September 2020.
The European Commission Joint Research Centre's (JRC) EU Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria for Road transport is now open for revision. Be part of the process, register as interested stakeholder and comment on the draft Technical report and draft criteria proposal.
Following the adoption of the Taxonomy Regulation, the European Commission has launched a call for applications to select members of the Platform on Sustainable Finance. The deadline is 16 July.
In March 2019, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched Circular Economy in Cities, a suite of easily accessible resources which provide a global reference on the topic.
The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra is collecting a selection of circular economy solutions that are among the most viable, promising, scalable and impactful in the world.
Within the ECESP, Circular Change has promoted the role of creative industries with a focus on circular design.
This research by Lukas Stumpf, part of the CEC4Europe factbook on the circular economy published in September 2018, evaluates 131 projects from the Circular Economy Industry Platform (CEIP) regarding their contribution to circular economy from both a scientific and a political perspective.
History of IRCEM - the Romanian Institute for Research in Circular Economy and Environment “Ernest Lupan” - and development of ROCES - Romania's Strategy for the Transition to a Circular Economy (ROCES) 2020-2030
Copa-Cogeca is sharing the initiatives of its members that demonstrate the many actions taken by EU farmers and cooperatives to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.
This publication by WBCSD and Circle Economy highlights how the built environment, consuming almost half of the world's resources extracted every year and responsible for a massive environmental footprint, is a fundamental sector in the circular transition.
ProCirc – Circular Procurement: Accelerate circular economy through procurement power, alliance and capacity building – is a 3.5 year Interreg North Sea Region project that started in 2018, co-funded by the Regional Development Fund of the European Union. It is led by a consortium of 11 partners, including ACR+, representing both public authorities and research institutes.
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 organised on 29 January 2020 to introduce the Platform to MEPs working on the circular economy: achieving a circular economy through active stakeholder involvement.
In June 2019, Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA) and Circle Economy released the Circularity Gap Report Austria, the first measure of circularity for a nation state.
