Coffeefrom is an innovative project from Italy, the second circular economy project run by Il Giardinone Cooperativa Sociale. It has built a supply chain based on the recovery and processing of industrial coffee grounds. Coffee grounds from the food industry are blended with biopolymers to become a new bio-based material that is a durable and resistant alternative to single-use plastic.
Ekofungi is a Serbian company that takes a 100% circular approach to mushroom cultivation. It has pioneered a technology for sustainable cultivation of edible mushrooms using recycled cellulose waste. Each year, Ekofungi grows 130 tons of mushrooms which are either sold fresh or dehydrated and mixed with other vegetables.
The Serbian company Feplo manufactures waterproof eco-boards from recycled beverage cartons.
Fjällräven is giving wool waste a second life by using it for innovative purposes, like padding in jackets or backplate in backpacks.
The Norwegian company NCP delivers sustainable furniture from recycled plastic materials through innovation and design. The S-1500 chair, designed by Snøhetta, is produced by NCP showing how plastic waste from Norway’s fish farming can be transformed into a sustainable design object with an expected lifetime of at least 50 years.
FISSAC is a project seeking to stimulate the coordination and facilitation of work in the construction and demolition value chain. Accordingly, the initiative aims to gather various stakeholders and to encourage the development and adoption of a common methodology and software platform for the exchange of information and best practices.
The overall aim of the project is to help companies with sustainability practices, by creating models that can be used by anyone. The models can be:
Madaster is a platform to register and document a range of materials or products. It offers its services to individuals, companies or public sector institutions that wish to collect and store data about their materials. Madaster stores the data in a secure and efficient way.
Most importantly, the platform offers updated information about the circular values and potentials of the owned materials, thus expanding opportunities for more efficient green management of resources. With the data, Madaster provides the clients with a “material passport” that enables them to use it for moving towards a circular economy.
Madaster has a global focus and operates in several countries (e.g. The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and China).
The Digital Platform for Circular Economy (CE HUB) recently created by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia showcases circular economy-related information for the business community on:
The interactive part of the platform aims to:
The aim is for CE businesses to join the Alliance for Green Transition of Serbia.
Espigoladors is a social enterprise focused on preventing food waste and empowering people prone to social exclusion.
I:CO is an international circular solutions provider for the collection, certified sorting, reuse and recycling of clothing and shoes. They aim to support innovative new recycling technologies which help close the loop of production cycles.
The “Millor que nou” (Better than new) campaign is an initiative from the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) that started in 2009. It provides people with free support services and access to repair shops, so that they can learn how to repair appliances and objects.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has identified five universal circular economy policy goals that provide a framework for national governments, cities and businesses to create a transition that fosters innovation and decouples growth from finite resource consumption and environmental degradation.
As governments and industries around the globe move towards a circular economy, it is key to align ambitions and collaborate effectively. The five goals provide a blueprint for cooperation and the private and public sectors need to pull together to achieve them. The goals acknowledge that the relevant policies are interconnected, which will help avoid creating a patchwork of solutions.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation develops and promotes the idea of a circular economy. It works with, and inspires, business, academia, policymakers, and institutions to mobilise systems solutions at scale, globally.
Its vision is a new economic system that delivers better outcomes for people and the environment. Business models, products, and materials are designed to increase use and reuse, replicating the balance of the natural world, where nothing becomes waste and everything has value.
A circular economy, increasingly built on renewable energy and materials, is distributed, diverse, and inclusive. The Foundation’s work focuses on six interlinking areas:
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.
Ragn-Sells collects, treats and recycles waste and residual products from businesses, organisations and households.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia has developed a Roadmap for the circular economy in Serbia, a document that aims to bring together, connect and promote all those actors whose knowledge, innovativeness and creativity can contribute to a faster transition to the circular economy.
The roadmap seeks to encourage the private sector to use circular business models and to motivate industry to create new jobs, as well as to inspire a shift in business operations through the introduction of innovative and sustainable solutions. The roadmap has been developed by the Circular Economy Platform for Sustainable Development in Serbia project, which was initiated and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
TOMRA's Circular Economy Division was established in January 2019 to speed up the transformation to a circular economy and shape future waste and resource systems.
TOMRA’s cutting-edge sorting technologies retain valuable resources by extracting high-purity fractions from mixed waste and metal streams in the most remote parts of the world. Its technology and equipment has been used in the world’s most advanced recycling plants.
TOMRA is the world leader in reverse vending solutions. It provides an automated method for collecting, sorting and handling used beverage containers for recycling or reuse. TOMRA has approximately 80 000 reverse vending machines in more than 60 markets.
Turuta is a project of mutual exchange and enrichment. Starting in 2010 as an experimental project of a new microeconomy, it gave birth to the "turuta market", based on a social currency called turuta (a traditional military march played during Carnival parades). This is used to pay for local goods and services, promoting local production and interchange. Each partner in the turuta market has an online account.
It is a living project being developed by the members of the association ECOL3VNG (local ecological economic ecosystem at Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona). The collective history of this ecosystem is being written through minute-taking (agreements of Board, commissions and assemblies, i.e. the "legislation") and account-taking of the exchanges between partners.
CIS Nordhavn is a new school building for the Copenhagen International School (CIS). It is a low-energy building and the largest building-integrated photovoltaic installation in Europe.
ReThink is a platform aiming at promoting sustainable and circular economy in Ukraine, through education and advocacy campaigns, multi-stakeholder dialogue and innovation facilitation.
A prominent activity for the platform in 2019 focused on single-use plastic bags, with a call to the Ukrainian government to tackle the issue, and partnering with law firms for the drafting of a law proposal to restrict the use of plastic shopping bags and plastic packaging in Ukrainian retail stores.
