The European Commission has launched the LIFE Programme’s 2023 Calls for project proposals, making €611 million available for nature conservation, environmental protection, climate action, and clean energy transition projects. €81 million are set aside for projects in the field of circular economy and quality of life.
Gravity Wave is a social start-up based in Spain. It focuses on working with small-scale fishermen to collect as much as possible of the plastic waste fouling the Mediterranean, from water bottles to a whole load of discarded fishing nets.
ICLEI Europe and the City of Lisbon (Portugal) are proud to announce that the 11th Procura+ Conference will be held in the Portuguese capital on 13 and 14 March 2024.
The conference will showcase how cities and public authorities can use public procurement to implement step changes that make a big impact.
Re-think Circular Economy Forum is an event designed to present a vision on macro-trends, possible evolutionary paths, and main projects concerning the Circular Economy on a local, national and international level. It wants to encourage the development of Circular Economy in Taranto and in the rest of Apulia territory.
The Circular Economy Lab was set up in 2018 by Cariplo Factoryand Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center. It is a hub of circular economy competences that aims to help spread the principles and methods of the circular economy and support companies as they go circular.
The Lab is involved in various projects, such as the Iren Startup Award Call4Circular | Circular products and materials. It promotes the circular economy by holding workshops on key topics and by creating networking opportunities for innovative ecosystem players, such as startups, innovative SMEs, universities, research centres and technology transfer centres.
The European Recycling Conference 2023 will take place on 28 September in Brussels.
This year, EURIC is teaming up with DENUO, the Belgian waste management and recycling federation, to shine a spotlight on car recycling. Why? The automotive industry is going through a major revolution. By 2035 - practically tomorrow in terms of industrial value chains - combustion engine vehicles will be phased out and replaced by electric vehicles (EVs). This transition will have a significant impact on all the players involved, considering that the industry provides 12.6 million direct and indirect jobs in the EU. Recycling is no exception.
The boating industry in Europe, represented by EBI (European Boating Industry), has developed a roadmap for solving the roadblocks to end-of-life boat recycling. It sets ambitious targets and policy recommendations to reach by 2030. The boating industry also commits to phasing out unsustainable recycling practices.
The roadmap and recommendations were developed by EBI following the work of the Stakeholders’ Group on end-of-life recreational boats. The Group is co-chaired by the European Commission's DG MARE and EBI and includes national authorities of the Member States and key stakeholders (industry, users, academia and related industries).
On 3 July, the Court of Auditors issued a special report on the roll-out of the circular economy in the EU, entitled "Circular economy: slow transition by member states despite EU action".
The report provides recommendations on monitoring and investments. These are currently being addressed by the Commission which will take them into account when developing future circular economy policies.
In recent years, plastic waste generation has become a prime concern in the global political arena.
A dedicated strategy on plastics was adopted at EU level, leading to the Single-Use Plastics Directive. Nonetheless, plastic waste management data show that achieving a circular economy for plastics in the EU is still a long way off. Available studies suggest that plastic waste generation may stay high in the future or even increase without ambitious circularity policies.
This report looks at the challenges associated with plastic waste generation and discusses the potential for using chemical recycling technologies as part of an ecosystem of solutions for increasing the circularity of plastics. It is based on evidence collected through desk-research.
CircEUlar is a four-year European Research and Innovation Action that will develop new modelling approaches for analysing circularity from a systems perspective.