This report presents the key insights that emerged from the workshop on Re-Valuing resources: cross-sectoral circular solutions for a sustainable future.

It sets out how the eight participating EU projects enable cross-circularity through material reuse, digital tools and systemic approaches that intersect across industries, governance levels and territorial levels.

It then identifies the conditions that enable replication and scaling, drawing on real-world demonstrations and stakeholder experiences.

Lastly, it highlights the social, community and governance dimensions that underpin successful circular transitions, with a focus on participatory practices, long-term trust-building and multi-actor collaboration.

Every year, our global economy consumes around 100 billion tonnes of resources — three quarters of which it cannot replenish. This reliance on a constant flow of virgin raw materials leaves our economies increasingly exposed to price shocks, supply disruptions and the universal inefficiencies of resource waste. One direct way to relieve this pressure is to keep materials circulating at their highest value.

Plastic pollution continues to pose a major challenge for communities across Europe, and the question of who should finance the management of litter has become increasingly important. This first ACR+ policy paper on litter evaluates the progress made by Member States in establishing and rolling out the EPR systems required by Article 8 of the Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD).

It finds that few Member States have started implementing these systems. It is easier to establish systems for packaging-related SUPD products (because of the EPR systems already in place) than for new products such as balloons and wet wipes.

However, the most challenging part of the implementation is the calculation of littering costs. Public authorities pay the bulk of this, but more transparency is needed.

Each year, the EEA takes stock of progress towards meeting the six objectives of the 8th Environment Action Programme (EAP), one of which is a regenerative circular economy.

The report finds that the EU's consumption exceeds the planet's 'safe operating space' for resource extraction and its consumption is unlikely to decrease significantly this decade. It is also unlikely that per capita total waste generation will significantly decrease by 2030.

Legislation already in place to prevent waste generation and improve waste management — including through recycling and the reuse of materials — has contributed to a relative decoupling of raw material consumption and waste generation from economic growth but significant additional efforts are needed to reach the 2030 targets.

The circular economy is increasingly recognised as essential to achieving both environmental and socio-economic objectives, yet little is known about how many people work in circular economy activities and under what conditions. Circular economy employment spans all countries and sectors and includes both formal and informal settings. However, definitions, classifications and methodologies for measuring such employment remain unaligned.

This report addresses these gaps by developing and applying an internationally applicable methodology for measuring circular economy employment. The approach builds on existing labour and environmental frameworks and expert consultations, providing the first global baseline covering 177 of 187 ILO Member States.

Reuse activities are an essential part of the EU’s moves to tackle the growing waste crisis.

However, the current combined targets for reuse and recycling generally prioritise recycling. This disregards the fact that quantitative reuse and preparing-for-reuse targets are an essential policy tool to implement the EU’s waste hierarchy.

This report presents an overview of existing targets and a detailed look at 24 targets set in different product categories and waste streams. The policy recommendations will help policymakers as they shape the Circular Economy Act, the revised WEEE Directive and other relevant measures at EU level. They cover issues such as setting specific targets for product streams with high environmental impact and job creation potential.

This report looks at how scrap steel from the EU's increasing numbers of end-of-life ships can help decarbonise the European steel industry, strengthen industrial resilience, create green jobs, preserve and develop maritime skills and build a truly circular economy.

The steel industry expects demand for scrap to rise due to calls for lower carbon footprints and the implementation of new steelmaking technologies. Ship recycling is a significant and largely untapped opportunity to meet this demand.

Policies should support the development of safe and environmentally sound ship recycling, and stimulate material recovery and reuse. This will enable the EU to reduce dependence on imports, conserve valuable resources and advance toward climate neutrality.

Greening metals and minerals production, including CRMs, comes with higher capital and operating costs – a 'green premium'. This reflects investment in decarbonising production processes, ensuring robust environmental and social safeguards and advancing circularity.

Manufacturers appear hesitant to absorb such premia and a credible green-premium market for CRMs is unlikely to emerge without regulatory intervention.

This analysis has laid out a phased, two-tier pathway towards a premium market. The first tier would focus on setting minimum market-access requirements, in order to level the playing field and exclude the worst performers from EU market access. A second tier of instruments is therefore needed to reward those who exceed baseline standards through targeted, conditional incentives.

The BioBoosters hackathon model has brought together innovators who have come up with workable solutions for a wide range of challenges in the bioeconomy sector. The programme is coming to an end, and this report sets out how the project connected regional innovation systems across the Baltic Sea Region to a joint open innovation platform tackling business-driven circular transition challenges.

It explores the relevance, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the hackathon model and the inter-regional cooperation dimension.

The analysis is based on data and feedback from 18 challenge provider companies, nearly 100 mentored teams and over 500 connected industry and research specialists. It looks at what makes this hackathon model impactful and the added value of an international network.

BioBoosters is a bioeconomy business accelerator. It runs a business-driven hackathon concept to boost the circular transition of the bioeconomy sector. 

The hackathon concept is simple: identify a problem and bring innovators around the table to find a solution. For instance, hemp production in Estonia is flourishing – but the company growing it had no viable use for the stalks. The innovators explored options such as hemp-based filament for 3D printing, hemp as a substrate for mushroom cultivation for biodegradable packaging and extracting enzymes from hemp via fermentation-based processes.

This report covers another eight hackathons, tackling logistics, wood, activated carbon, wine corks, soil health and apples.