The textile industry’s figures are clear: of the 648 000 tons of textiles placed on the market each year in France, only 38% are collected for recycling.

The 10 proposals set out in this white paper (in French) seek to meet three objectives. The first consists of building the Extended Producer Responsibility approach around environmental benefits. The second is to support the development of a sustainable textile and footwear recycling industry. The last is to meet the legitimate expectations of transparency and traceability. The proposals aim to achieve these objectives in the context of the three key steps in a product’s lifecycle: (1) fabrication, (2) consumption, and (3) regeneration.

There can be no doubt that circular demand creates opportunities for circular supply. But how can closed loop criteria be integrated into public procurement, which represents nearly 14% of Europe's GDP? To figure it out, Renewable Matter interviewed Helena O'Rourke-Potocki and Simon Clement, respectively circular economy and procurement officer and senior coordinator on the circular economy at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

ICLEI is a global network working with more than 2 500 local and regional governments committed to driving local action towards a social and ecological transition. In future, whether purchasing services or products such as buildings, furniture and food, local authorities will need to look for increasingly sustainable supplies.

The widespread use of polyurethane foams in processing technology leads to high volumes of excess waste. Proper handling of this waste is of paramount importance for environmental, social, and economic reasons.

In order to reduce waste, our project aims to solve the mechanical recycling of closed-cell, rigid, cross-linked polyurethane foams. The rigid foam waste generated in our plant is subjected to a special grinding process. Grinds are mixed with a custom-formulated binder in a ratio of 70-30%, to produce upcycled polyurethane foam sheets.

During the research, we first identified the upcycling opportunities of closed-cell polyurethane foam materials and purchased the necessary machinery. Later, we started the production of polyurethane foam and finally developed the prototypes.

The framework for inclusive circular trade is designed to help guide trade and trade-related circular economy and development policies, practices and agreements to ensure these all work towards a shared goal of an inclusive circular economy.

This paper sets out a framework for inclusive circular trade, intended to enable a pathway in which circular trade helps to promote fair, inclusive and circular societies. The framework was developed through the work of an alliance of organizations spanning Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe.

Chatham House does not express opinions of its own. The opinions expressed in this publication are the responsibility of the authors. A Spanish translation of the paper is also available as a PDF.

Are there limits to robustness in our socio-economic metabolism? And is 100% circularity rate in the EU27 theoretically possible? Can we use principles and indicators from regenerative economics to develop (rather than just grow) regenerative circular economies?

These aspects are being discussed together with Dr. Dominika Alexa Teigiserova, assistant prof. Dr. Daan Schraven, prof. Martin de Jong, prof. Xin Tong, and prof. Bob Ulanowicz in the paper entitled: Are there limits to robustness? Exploring tools from regenerative economics for a balanced transition towards a circular EU27.

This peer reviewed paper is open access and published in the special issue "Sustainable Cities in the Context of Economic Transformation and Climate Change" of the Cleaner Production Letters journal.

In March, the European Commission released its Circular Economy Package which includes a proposal for an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The ESPR identifies a Digital Product Passport (DPP) as key, enhancing the traceability of products and their components.

The Taskforce for climate neutral and circular materials and products and the Wuppertal Institute have released their new report. This report builds on business insights into how a well-designed DPP could enable climate action and enhanced circularity in the EU.

Circular Buildings: constructing a sustainable future is the latest addition to a series of publications from Holland Circular Hotspot about circular challenges and opportunities in different sectors including infrastructure, plastics, manufacturing and textiles and apparel industries.

It explores how circular economy concepts can help tackle challenges in the building sector, supporting the transition towards a more sustainable and futureproof industry. It provides 25 good practices from the construction value chain and offers a framework for an international shift towards circular construction comprising policies, measurement standards, collaboration initiatives and knowledge exchange.

The conference Towards a Circular Economy: Competences for Youth aimed to enable participants from different backgrounds to learn more about the outputs from the Circular Economy - Sustainable Competences for Youth (CESCY) project, to share their views and to hear from experts from different sectors.

The worsening climate crisis and the growing scarcity of natural resources have increasingly demonstrated the limits of our predominantly linear economy. There is no question that our business models and practices must become more sustainable and circular. It is therefore essential that young people be prepared to contribute and lead the way towards a more circular economy in Europe and beyond.

The fashion sector is awash with certification schemes, sustainability labels and multi-stakeholder initiatives all seeking to steer the industry onto a greener course. Such schemes serve a dual purpose for the brands. As the fashion industry is one of the least regulated sectors in the world, they partially exist as a genuine attempt to move towards sustainability but they also enable ‘greenwashing’.

This report has sought to assess whether certification schemes, labels and multi-stakeholder initiatives are fit for purpose and what role they play in addressing the damage done by the fashion industry. The findings show that the majority of schemes offer a false promise of certification for textiles and a highly sophisticated form of greenwashing.

This report:

• sets out the background to the Circular Electronics project of the Consumer Insights Action Panel (CIAP),
• shares information on the multi-stakeholder circular Electronics Club at the heart of the work, and
• provides an overview of the methodology followed in gathering insights, designing and running interventions, and evaluating results and sustainability of the pilots.

It is designed not only to provide an overview of the project’s activities, but also to share learnings, findings and models that could support potential future initiatives in the field of circular electronics and beyond.