The Sheltersuit Foundation has three goals: helping people in need, closing the gap in the labour market and reducing waste. It produces wind- and waterproof coats that can be transformed into a sleeping bag, and are distributed free of charge to homeless people and people in refugee camps.
In the Latvian town of Pļaviņas, Pļaviņu Gymnasium's circular canteen will provide students with nutritious, healthy food with a focus on waste minimisation and environmentally-friendly transportation.
Curaden Slovakia, the Slovak branch of the Swiss company Curaden AG, collects used toothbrushes for recycling in Slovakia. The company has been encouraging consumers to recycle their end-of-life products since 2017 through public awareness campaigns.
The French company, Envie Autonomie, collects and renovates technical equipment, such as wheelchairs, used beds, walkers and other aids. In this way, they ensure a second life to important equipment.
PharmaSwap is a unique sharing marketplace for pharmacists, hospital-based or otherwise. It creates transparency in the supply and demand for expensive medicines.
The Ó Boneco ("rag doll" in Portuguese) project was born out of a desire to design a tailor-made training combining handicrafts and the traditions of the municipality of Valongo in Portugal.
The project reCIRCULARte started in 2017: three unemployed people decided to reuse, recover and restore second-hand material or objects, giving them new life.
PermaFungi is a Brussels-based social cooperative that recycles waste coffee grounds into different upcycled products.
Social Cooperative Humana Nova Čakovec encourages the employment of disabled and other socially excluded persons for the production and sale of quality and innovative textile products made from ecological and recycled fabrics for the local and regional markets.
Food Waste Combat Cluj is one of the first multi-stakeholder initiatives combating food loss and food waste in Romania. Working in partnership, local environmental associations and municipal authorities have been able to set up an infrastructure that collects excess food from the food and drinks industry and transports this to social NGOs helping out people in need.
EU-funded SwitchMed Programme supports and connects stakeholders to scale-up social and eco-innovations in the Mediterranean. It promotes inclusive growth, job creation and sustainable development by supporting policy makers, eco-innovative small and medium sized enterprises, industries, start-ups and entrepreneurs in the Southern Mediterranean countries.
8 billion plastic bags end up in the environment in Europe every year. They have dramatic impacts on the environment, and especially on marine ecosystems, killing every year thousands of marine animals, and affecting no less than 260 different species.
As an adviser for environmental and climate policy, Leon de Graaf particularly follows policies related to the circular economy, trade and climate, low-emission mobility, implementation of the Paris climate agreement (COP21) and the European emission trading system (EU ETS). He is also deputy manager of BusinessEurope's corporate Advisory and Support Group (ASGroup). Prior to joining BusinessEurope, Leon worked at the research consultancy Ecorys, focusing on renewable energy and international development issues, at DG COMP on energy and environmental subsidies in Europe, and at the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) on indirect ETS costs for energy-intensive industries. Leon has a MSc in environmental economics and climate change from the London School of Economics, and a BSc in business economics from the University of Groningen.
Cement and Environment Labour Foundation (CEMA Foundation) was created by Oficemen (Spanish Cement Association) and the two largest trade unions operating in the Spanish cement industry, CCOO de Construcción y Servicios and UGT-FICA, Federación de Industria, Construcción y Agro.
The city of Almere, working together with local stakeholders and the company Millvision, has developed an innovative circular economy partnership. The aquatic plant is a local and renewable input to the production of the paper but it also "circular" as something that would be discarded as waste is re-valued as a raw material used in production.
The Farmacie Comunali of the city of Genoa, in partnership with the Associazione Gigi Ghirotti, organises the collection of unused pharmaceuticals to provide for the needs of those who would otherwise struggle to afford them. Through this project, Genoa's eight Farmacie Comunali distribute these "reused" pharmaceutical products.