Registrations are now open for the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) first General Conference “From vision to reality: Cities and regions drive forward Europe's circular transition”, to take place on 8 November in Brussels and online.

About 200 participants will have the chance to attend in person. Learn about opportunities for scaling up circular solutions, exchange ideas with stakeholders and pave the way for Europe's circular transition.

On 9 November, CCRI stakeholders will be invited to attend the second CCRI Coordination and Support Workshop where they will be able to take part in a matchmaking experiment. Register for the Conference today!

On 12 and 13 October, Mistra REES and its partners will chair a series of interactive workshops devoted to the industrial transition to a more circular and sustainable society. Listen to experts discussing developments in policies, standards and business models and contribute to the discussion!

AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, will hold the second edition of PLASREC, its International Seminar on Plastics Recycling, on 15 and 16 November 2023.

For two days, experts will discuss the importance of plastic waste recycling and recovery in a circular economy model that makes it possible to use different kinds of waste as new resources and sustainable raw materials. Also the challenges and opportunities facing the plastics recycling sector will be analysed with the support of around 20 sponsors, media partners and collaborating companies. 

In six sessions, 26 speakers will discuss leading topics affecting the sector, such as innovation in collection and sorting, mechanical and chemical recycling technologies, the challenges facing the sector and advanced techniques.

Nordic Circular Summit is the biggest annual conference on the circular economy in the Nordic region. NCS2023 will take place on 17–18 October, both in person in Reykjavik, Iceland and online. It will be co-hosted by Nordic Circular Hotspot and Nordic Innovation and is an official World Circular Economy Forum Side Event and a pre-event to the prestigious Arctic Circle Assembly.

The Expert Forum on Materials for Battery Innovation will take place on 11 October in Darmstadt. It will spotlight the vital role that materials play in driving innovation in the field of batteries. Recognising the increasing importance of energy storage for various applications, stakeholders from the EIT RawMaterials network will gather to discuss cutting-edge materials research, manufacturing techniques and sourcing principles that can enhance battery performance, safety and sustainability.

The forum will provide a platform for collaboration and knowledge exchange to accelerate the development of advanced battery technologies and skill sets.

The Expert Forum on Photovoltaic and Hydrogen Materials Driving the Net-Zero Transition will take place on 21 September 2023. It is the first in the Expert Forum Series happening across Europe and will delve into the pivotal role played by materials in facilitating the transition to a future with zero carbon emissions.

This forum will focus on the significance of materials in hydrogen and solar energy. It will explore the latest developments in materials, science and engineering by bringing together stakeholders from academia, industry and research. These developments have the potential to enable the efficient and sustainable production and utilisation of hydrogen, and to enhance the performance and circularity of solar energy systems.

The European Commission is spearheading initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in European buildings, with particular emphasis on the embodied carbon in construction materials. The Whole Life Carbon Roadmap is set to be unveiled in autumn 2023, focusing on CO₂ reduction throughout a building's lifespan.

Concurrently, the European cement industry aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and has already outlined its vision in the 2020 Carbon Neutrality Roadmap. The conference on 24 October will explore sustainable cement/concrete use in buildings, strategies to lower carbon footprints throughout building lifecycles, and the role of circularity in decarbonisation, while evaluating supportive policy frameworks.

Plastic multi-layer composites are often used to package food in a functional and safe way. However, current recycling technologies are unable to reprocess these multi-layer composites into high-quality materials and so they are excluded from the circular economy.

For flexible food packaging, recyclability is even more complicated due to the high hygiene and safety standards that recyclates must meet when reused in contact with food. This is why CIRCULAR FoodPack is developing innovative solutions along the entire recycling value chain to make flexible food packaging circular.

At the Circularity FoodPack conference on 23 November, project partners and experts will present the latest findings and developments.

After Pazardzhik, Barcelona and Naples, the Biocircularcities partners are coming to Brussels on 28 September. Come and be inspired to bring the Biocircularcities approach to your garden by learning more about the project and its results. Discuss the future of a circular bioeconomy in Europe and exchange notes with your peers.

Circular Week, an international series of events dedicated to sustainable development and the circular economy, will take place this year from 23 to 29 October.

Look through the full agenda of events and sign up!