This report is part of the overarching project Circular.ie and was presented during the inaugural conference 'Circularity Communicated' in Dublin, on 30 September 2026.

It brings together insights from national public opinion research, behavioural research, campaign performance data and community-level activity to provide a comprehensive picture of public awareness, understanding and engagement with the circular economy in Ireland. 

The report seeks to identify not only what the public knows about the circular economy, but also how awareness translates into understanding, trust, participation and behavioural change.

See also other focus areas: 

• Public procurement
• Extended producer responsibility
• Waste electrical and electronic equipment
• Transnational and regional initiatives

This report analyses 27 high-impact Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 projects to inform the regulatory design of the forthcoming Circular Economy Act. 

While the portfolio covers key intervention areas - as circular public procurement, critical raw material recovery, and industrial symbiosis, its primary focus is the reform of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). 

The findings show that achieving the Act's ambitions will require a fundamental shift in EPR, from a waste-management financing mechanism to a strategic, data-driven instrument supporting industrial competitiveness, resource security, and circular value creation across Europe.

See also other focus areas

• Public procurement
• Recycled and bio-based content
• Waste electrical and electronic equipment
• Transnational and regional initiatives

Europe has built ambitious rules for circular batteries, but regulation alone does not create functioning markets. As growing volumes of EV batteries leave vehicles with useful life remaining, fragmented diagnostics, valuation, regulation, logistics and cross-border processes risk leaving valuable capacity stranded or prematurely recycled. 

Rebattex estimates that up to 180 GWh could become accessible by 2035. This paper argues that Europe must develop the “missing middle”: trusted market infrastructure connecting manufacturing and recycling through repair, reuse, remanufacturing and repurposing, supported by common standards, traceability, regulatory clarity and digital transaction infrastructure.

This report shows that the EU has the capacity to recycle its end-of-life ships safely and responsibly. It argues that rather than a lack of capacity, the main reason for ships being sent to South Asian beaches for dismantling under poor environmental and labour conditions is loopholes that allow shipowners to avoid EU rules.

With thousands of European-owned ships expected to reach the end of their lives in the coming years, the EU has an opportunity to strengthen its recycling industry, create jobs, recover valuable steel and reduce pollution. The report calls for a ban on beaching, stronger rules to hold shipowners accountable, and investment in safe recycling facilities in Europe.

New data confirm a rapid slowdown in Europe’s transition to a circular plastics economy, triggered by the competitiveness crisis facing the European plastics system.

With global circular plastics production accelerating, Europe’s annual growth in circular production has declined sharply from 13.6% in 2022 to only 1.2% in 2024.

New data on trade also highlight the significant dependence of Europe’s plastics transition on external value chains, with 19% of converter demand for circular plastics met through imports and 12.4% of Europe’s collected waste recycled in other regions.

These trends undermine Europe’s climate ambitions and strategic autonomy.

Urgent action is needed at EU and national levels to restore industry’s competitiveness and unlock investment in circular plastics at scale.

This position paper synthesises youth perspectives on the EU Circular Economy Act through a consultation survey of 57 responses across Europe, a youth check at the ECESP Annual Conference 2026 and additional qualitative stakeholder input. 

There are two main parts: Youth Priorities: What the Act Still Needs identifies what young people consider is missing or insufficiently addressed in the current framing of the CEA. From Policy to Practice: What Effective Implementation Needs explains how these priorities could be addressed through the Act and its implementation.

The paper concludes that lower material demand, durable product design, reuse, effective collection systems and strong public governance play a key role: recycling is not enough.