The BioBoosters community aims to help build innovation partnerships that can enhance circularity by optimising biomass use, material flow management and value created.

This publication looks at how nine leading bioeconomy companies around the Baltic Sea have approached the circular transition in this region's bioeconomy sectors. The stories highlight barriers, enablers and success factors and showcase the impact of open innovation and inter-regional cooperation. With the support of the BioBoosters innovation community, these companies have applied open innovation to find cooperation partners and solutions to make their businesses more circular, sustainable and profitable.

The stories look at digitalisation for sustainability and biomass optimisation and sourcing.

The EU legislature has been working on legislation to transform the European economy into a circular one. One of the focal points of that legislation is the extension of the useful lifespan of products on the EU market.

This report analyses the legislative initiatives containing such measures. First, it describes their potential impact for the Belgian and Flemish policy level. Second, it explains their potential impact on businesses active in the Flemish region. Third, it describes how Belgian policymakers could help ensure that EU legislation reaches the fullest circular potential within its framework.

It also highlights potential shortcomings of EU legislation, where Belgian policymakers could consider advocating changes to that framework at EU level.

This research aims to map the magnitude and value associated with repair as a circular strategy in Flanders.

Repair is a key element in any circular economy strategy, preventing resource depletion, keeping goods in circulation longer, and reducing environmental impacts related to the energy needed for new products. However, the development of metrics to measure progress in scaling up repair efforts is incomplete. Knowledge gaps exist in sectors such as textiles and furniture, while more is known about electronic and digital devices.

The study concludes with recommendations to promote a repair culture, focus on textiles, recognise the value of informal repair activities, encourage repair skill acquisition, address gendered patterns and combat the throwaway culture that hinders repair.

The inclusion of green clauses in public procurement contracts is gradually becoming an obligation in certain sectors in the EU.

This report highlights the role of green public procurement (GPP) in the transition to a circular economy through an analysis of the European regulatory framework. It looks at both hard (e.g. Batteries Regulation) and soft law (European Commission working documents). Relevant European legislation that is still in the adoption phase (e.g. Construction Products Regulation) is also considered. 

An overview of useful model clauses for implementing GPP shows how these clauses can contribute to promoting the circular economy in public procurement. The study lists measures that could make GPP a more effective tool in the circular economy transition.

In a rapidly urbanising world, efficient waste management has become a critical challenge for cities striving for sustainability and cleanliness. 

This study explores the experiences of six, highly urbanised European cities: Antwerp, Porto, Rotterdam, Florence, Hamburg and Barcelona. Each has implemented various types of underground waste containers but they all aim to optimise efficiency, improve urban aesthetics and enhance waste sorting. 

For each city, the study examines the system's impact in terms of organisation, performance, cleanliness and savings and sets out city-specific conclusions.

The study finds that while this type of waste system has advantages, implementation poses challenges. It's a very useful resource for city officials looking at changing waste collection methods.