EFIC is organizing an hybrid event on 19 May, to create a cross value chain discussion about the furniture industry and its future competitiveness and positive societal impact. Policymakers, furniture industry and supply chain representatives will debate about the impact of the pandemic and the twin transition: sustainability and digitalisation.
The Circular Appliances website, an initiative powered by APPLiA - Home Appliance Europe representing home appliance manufacturers from across Europe, is an online platform which takes readers through each phase of the home appliances’ lifecycle, from design to end-of-use, aimed at displaying the achievements of the sector and fostering a more sustainable culture among European citizens.
Thanks to an immersive and interactive format, the Circular Appliances website offers the public a comprehensive experience to discover each phase of the product’s lifecycle and how the home appliance industry drives the circular transition. This is all based on what APPLiA calls a “circular culture”, which means bringing all societal actors together to achieve more ambitious circularity objectives.
The Italian Cartiera is an ethical fashion workshop founded in Lama di Reno, Marzabotto in 2017 which makes leather and fabric items.
Believing strongly that work is an extraordinary tool for social inclusion, Cartiera offers paths for employment and integration of disadvantaged people, mainly refugees and asylum seekers.
The availability of a quality infrastructure system – networks of roads, railways, bridges and waterways – is a prerequisite for all economic activity to flourish and is also paramount for people’s health, wellbeing and safety. Infrastructure is very important for human society - but its adverse environmental impact on our planet is undeniable.
To mitigate the long-term catastrophic effects of climate change and depleting material resources, a circular economy for infrastructure is crucial. The publication Circular Infrastructure: the road towards a sustainable future aims to bring this aspect into the limelight to inspire action by public actors and practitioners.
The built environment has a significant impact on a multitude of sectors, on local jobs and on quality of life. The construction sector accounts approximately for 50% of materials extracted in Europe, and is responsible for more than 35% of Europe's waste.
The EU’s second Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP 2.0) is now moving ahead, with further elements expected in March and July 2022. Will this package deliver what is required in terms of industrial decarbonisation? A renewed focus on carbon budgets, combined with climate neutrality by mid-century, means the EU’s green industrial transition must increasingly harness the enormous greenhouse gas abatement potential offered by enhanced circularity and materials efficiency for the most CO2-intensive materials and products.
Join the discussion at an Agora Online Event on 17 March at 9:00-11:00 CET!
This paper by ENEA focuses on circular economy in the construction sector, by illustrating the main market dynamics related to materials for buildings and infrastructures, and active and/or potential value chain collaborations in a circular and industrial symbiosis perspective.
The paper offers an overview of:
Contributors:
This report, which contains best practices and policy recommendations, provides updated information relevant to all organisations and stakeholders, both in the public and private sector, who wish to learn more about material recycling.
The objective is to help stakeholders - throughout the whole value chain - work collaboratively to achieve APEAL’s vision of zero steel packaging to landfill by 2025.
Steel for packaging is already the most recycled primary packaging material in Europe (2019 recycling rate: 84%), bringing great savings in emissions, resource and energy use.
Steel’s unique inherent qualities give it a natural advantage. Its magnetic properties make it easy and economical to recycle. As a permanent material, it can also be recycled forever.
The International MonGOS conference - Water and Sewage in the Circular Economy Model, which will be held from 30 June to 1 July 2022 in Cracow (Poland), will provide a summary of the MonGOS project "Monitoring of water and sewage management in the context of the implementation of the circular economy assumptions" financed by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) under the International Academic Partnerships Programme (2020-2022).
You are invited to participate in a webinar led by the European Commission, DG ENV, on 8 March 2022, to launch a "Support study for the development of the Roadmap for the reduction of whole life carbon of buildings", .
Each year, humanity consumes resources equivalent to 1.7 planets. Sustainable resource use is therefore essential if we are to achieve our national environmental and climate objectives and the sustainable global development goals in the 2030 Agenda.
RE:Source is a strategic innovation programme co-funded by the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova), the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas) and the Swedish Energy Agency. The programme focuses on research and innovation in sustainable material use.
Within RE:Source, the RE:Agenda describes the innovation area of sustainable use of resources, which aims to support solutions that contribute to the efficient use of the earth’s resources within the planetary boundaries.
The European Commission is preparing a legislative proposal on the Right to Repair, headed “Sustainable consumption of goods – promoting repair and reuse”. The overall goal of the initiative is to extend the time during which consumers use the product before discarding it.
The public consultation and call for evidence are currently ongoing and will run until 5 April 2022.
Recovo is a B2B platform located in Spain which specialises in selling on deadstock fabric which would otherwise be classified as textile waste.
The platform helps EU-based brands and suppliers to give a second life to unused fabric: this reduces the amount of resources needed to meet buyers' needs and cuts down on the amount of waste to be processed. The platform uploads photos and information on fabric remnants put up for sale by producers which can then earn money from products rather than paying for waste disposal. Buyers can order samples, then buy as much of the fabric as they want which is delivered straight to them.
A user-friendly platform promoting circularity and combating waste!
This workshop brought together experts from various organisations to discuss topics like the undervalued importance of infrastructure in tackling climate change, discuss the markets for secondary resources, the relevance of deconstruction design to enable the renovation wave, and stress value-chains collaboration.
It has been established that the circular economy has a high leverage effect and some progress in this field has been made, but the circular economy has yet to top the political agenda. A strategic approach to circularity is urgently needed and should be developed, managed and implemented in a cross-ministerial capacity in line with efforts at EU level and together with partner nations.
Against this backdrop, the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) recommends organising the transition to circularity via a new, cross-ministerial governance mechanism coordinated by the German Federal Chancellery. RNE’s statement covers a further 13 recommendations, ranging from the need for social safeguarding instruments to expanding education and research.
The PUCO2 project, led by AIDIMME, AIMPLAS and INESCOP, uses research and development to combat global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Seventeen companies have taken part in the project, which will also be relevant to producers of adhesives for related sectors, as well as the textile, automotive and toy industries.
To solve some challenges in the port environment, Blue Room Innovation is developing a solution based on blockchain technology: PortNet. It is a blockchain-powered waste management solution for greener, more efficient ports. A WastePassport has also been developed that connects waste disposed in port reception facilities to treatment plants.
Although previous researchers have explored the circular economy practices of different businesses in various contexts, only a few papers have focused on the sustainable preparation and consumption of food in the tourism and hospitality industry. This paper sheds light on case studies from hotels, restaurants and cafés that are located in urban tourism destinations.
This research suggests that catering businesses can implement a number of responsible initiatives by introducing preventive measures and recycling practices to curb food loss and the generation of waste. In conclusion, it finds that there is scope for regulatory authorities and policy makers to encourage hospitality practitioners to minimise food waste.
The online symposium "Smart Process Systems Engineering 2022: Towards sustainable and circular production processes" on 2-4 March 2022 will cover both engineering and social sciences. You can register and submit an abstract for a flash presentation until 20 February.
AIMPLAS organises its 1st International Seminar on Biotechnology Applied to the Plastics Sector on 1-2 March 2022, to discuss the main RDI developments and global solutions for the entire value chain. It tackles the use of organic waste to obtain new plastics, enzymatic recycling processes for plastics, the role of biotechnology in recovering complex waste, converting plastic industry scrap, etc.
