Remix El Barrio - Co-designing with Biomaterials from food leftovers
Remix El Barrio engages with stakeholders and innovative designers to support a circular transition which revalues surplus food and biowaste.
You are here
Secondary raw materials
09 Dec 2020
New EU Ecolabel criteria have been adopted for Electronic Displays and Printed paper, stationery paper and paper carrier bag products. Stringent criteria ensure that EU Ecolabel products are among the best on the market in terms of environmental performance. Follow the webinars on 9 and 10 December to learn more about these new criteria.
A social cooperative fighting against the throwaway culture and exclusion
The Treottouno Social Cooperative of Forlì (Italy) is committed to the implementation of circular economy systems where everything can be recycled, both goods/waste and people.
07 Dec 2020
The first European Circular Cities Declaration webinar will present examples of good practice from the group of over 30 signatories. It will also provide an introduction to the Declaration for cities and regions which may be interested in signing.
European Circular Cities Declaration
The European Circular Cities Declaration is designed to help accelerate the transition from a linear to a circular economy in Europe, and thereby create a resource-efficient, low-carbon and socially responsible society.
It aims to:
- Allow local and regional governments across Europe to communicate their commitment to supporting the circular transition.
- Provide a shared vision of what a “circular city” is.
- Underline the critical role which local and regional governments need to play in making this transition happen.
- Establish a network of committed organisations to share their experiences, challenges and successes.
For more information on the declaration, please click here.
Upcycling and creative recovery by a sustainable enterprise of handicraftswomen
ISA - a sustainable enterprise of handicraftswomen - gives special attention to sustainability in its production chain, by employing production scraps and waste from diverse local companies, preferably choosing natural and ecofriendly products.
Trisolino
CIRCULÉIRE – Ireland’s National Platform for Circular Manufacturing
CIRCULÉIRE is Ireland’s first cross-sectoral circular economy innovation network, first designated EU circular economy hotspot, and is supported by several government departments. Its goal is to accelerate the transition towards a net-zero carbon circular economy in Ireland.
CIRCULÉIRE is co-creating innovative solutions with Irish industry from the agri-food, pharmaceutical, recycling, medical devices, ICT and built environment sectors. It has a dedicated innovation fund to invest in innovation demonstration projects.
CIRCULÉIRE also engages with a wide range of stakeholders from the Irish innovation ecosystem through our open-access circular economy knowledge library and capacity building activities including annual thematic working groups and workshops.
OLTRECAFE': short circuit Italian pellets
Oltrecafé is the first company to produce Italian pellets from coffee grounds. This kind of pellet generates more heat than wood and helps meet the strong demand in Italy for pellets meeting the criteria for sustainable heating. The company's method reduces waste production and increases recycling, while also producing clean and sustainable energy through a renewable resource.
Recovery of HDPE products by Jcoplastic for recycling and transformation in secondary raw materials
Post consumer High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) products are bought back, disassembled after cleaning and sanitation process, and then shredded by Jcoplastic. The secondary raw material obtained is analysed and characterised, then extruded for reusing in a new production cycle.
11 Dec 2020
The 3rd ICESP annual conference on 11 December 2020, organised together with ENEA, presents the priorities for a post-COVID-19 recovery, based on the circular economy as a lever for effective actions in a resilient process and a recovery perspective.
Urban Wood - making the most of urban trees
Legno Urbano is an innovative project developed in Italy to promote wood recovery from trees which are felled in urban areas because of their age, their instability or spatial planning needs.
Preserving value in EU industrial materials
Preserving value in EU industrial materials - A value perspective on the use of steel, plastics and aluminium
So far, the debate on material use and recycling has primarily been held in terms of tonnes, cubic metres, and environmental impact. This is all highly relevant, but a focus on volumes and flows also leaves important questions unanswered.
The report takes a step towards painting a more complete picture, taking an economic value perspective on material flows, and it assesses Europe’s use of steel, plastics and aluminium in terms of Euros instead of tonnes. Its objective is to answer the following questions:
- When 100 Euros worth of raw materials enter the European economy, how much economic value is retained after one cycle of use?
- What are the main reasons for loss of material value?
- How could more value be retained?
- What business opportunities arise as a result?
PREVENT Waste Alliance
Initiated under the patronage of the German Development Minister Gerd Müller, the PREVENT Waste Alliance was launched in May 2019. It serves as a platform for exchange and international cooperation. Organisations from the private sector, academia, civil society and public institutions jointly engage for a circular economy.
The PREVENT Waste Alliance wants to contribute to minimising waste, eliminating pollutants and maximising the reuse of resources in the economy worldwide. Members of the platform work together for waste prevention, collection, and recycling as well as the increased uptake of secondary resources in low- and middle-income countries.
The platform focuses on waste from plastic packaging and single use products as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment.
Analysing European Union circular economy policies: words versus actions
Analysing European Union circular economy policies: words versus actions
The academic paper "Analysing European Union circular economy policies: words versus actions" comprehensively reviews and analyses the EU’s circular economy (CE) policies. Results show a dichotomy between words and actions, with a discourse that is rather holistic, while policies focus on “end of pipe solutions”.
To address these limitations, the paper proposes a set of 32 science-based policy recommendations which can help strengthen circular economy policies both within and outside the EU. This research thus brings key insights for practitioners and academics seeking to better understand the EU’s CE policies and how to improve circular economy implementation at both national and international level.
See here for more results, insights and recommendations.
Martin Calisto Friant
From a broken umbrella to a flying kite: a social cooperative that reinterprets discarded objects
The Lister Sartoria Sociale cooperative interprets the textile product in relation to the urban habitat, retracing its socio-economic transformations, memories, reworking its codes, styles and materials. Discarded objects, fabrics and garments are collected and reworked, crossing experimentation and traditional techniques.
Lavandula reuses agro-food by-products to provide added value for cosmetics
The Lavandula project focuses on using agro-food by-products to produce active ingredients used in cosmetics.
MontECOlino's carpet recovery from trade fairs
MontECOlino has always had a keen interest in the environmental impact of its products. It has developed a carpet management system for the exhibition industry that recovers the carpet after use and transforms it into a new raw material for use in other sectors, in line with the circular economy concept.
HISER project (H2020): Holistic innovative solutions for efficient recycling and recovery of valuable raw materials
HISER's main objective is to develop and demonstrate holistic, technological and cost-effective solutions to increase recovery rates from increasingly complex construction and demolition waste (C&DW), with due regard for circular economy principles on the value chain in the construction sector (from buildings' end of life to new buildings).
Cultivation using wool
In order to create a new commercial use for raw wool, the Italian association Post Industriale Ruralità has developed a form of vertical hydroponic cultivation using wool instead of soil.
The CircLean Network: European network of businesses and SMEs for Industrial Symbiosis
CircLean is a network of businesses and SMEs that participate in the reuse of raw materials through industrial symbiosis. The network aims at mobilising industries and relevant stakeholders to overcome the challenges of industrial symbiosis today for its increased uptake in Europe.
The network will create:
- a common methodology to measure and report on resource exchange and benefits from symbiotic exchanges;
- an online tool for matchmaking and assessment of transactions;
- and a CircLean Label to accredit members that comply with it.
CircLean is an initiative of the European Commission. It is implemented by a consortium led by Technopolis Group, involving Trinomics, International Synergies, and Arctik as partners, and supported by A’SPIRE, EIT Raw Materials and ACR+.