The RepescaPlas closed its third year with the collection of 4.2 tonnes of marine litter and excellent results in terms of recovery of this litter through chemical recycling. The project has now entered its fourth phase, in which it is expected to strengthen the industrial-scale management and treatment of marine litter.

In a call for projects the PREVENT Waste Alliance was searching for innovative and sustainable solutions contributing to a circular economy in low- and middle-income countries. The eight selected pilot projects will now be implemented in 15 countries worldwide.

The RECITURF project is developing new methods for recycling artificial turf so that it does not end up in landfills. New artificial turf can be manufactured using the different plastics recovered from waste turf.

On 10 December 2020 the Commission proposed a new Batteries Regulation to ensure that batteries placed in the EU market are sustainable and safe throughout their entire life cycle.

The LOOP-Ports circular economy project, coordinated by Fundación Valenciaport and co-financed by EIT Climate-KIC, will organise its final conference in an online format open to the public, on 16 December as an official side event of the World Circular Economy Forum Online hosted by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and its partners.

The webinar What will the German Presidency deliver on Circular Economy? organised by FEAD will focus on the on-going discussions under the German Presidency of the Council with regard to the new Circular Economy Action Plan and the key measures that are needed to ensure the full achievement of EU ambitions. Save-the-date: 5 November!

The International E-waste Day initiative on 14 October aims to reduce the environmental burden of e-waste and to save natural resources. TCO Development has launched an e-waste quiz to support educational and awareness-raising activities linked to this initiative.

The European Commission's DG GROW is calling for applicants to select new members for the High-Level Steering Group (and its Sherpa sub-group) and the Operational Group of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials.

The European Commission has decided to launch a €1 billion call for research and innovation projects that respond to the climate crisis and help protect Europe’s unique ecosystems and biodiversity. The Horizon 2020-funded European Green Deal Call is open for registration. It will spur Europe’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis by turning green challenges into innovation opportunities.

On 16 September 2020, the President of the European Commission, Ms Ursula von der Leyen, gave her first State of the European Union address. President von der Leyen presented the priorities of the Commission for the coming year where the green transition of the economy and the circular economy hold prominent places.

The 5th Circular Change Conference, one of key European meeting points of circular economy changemakers, was transformed this year into a “virtual roadshow” consisting of 5 events based on 5 partnerships

A new project addressing the systemic complexities of the Circular Economy is being submitted as a Marie Curie (MSCA) post doc proposal. As these aspects build upon multi-stakeholder knowledge and insights, you are kindly invited to join the project community and collaborate.

AIMPLAS employee is the only qualified auditor in Spain for new certification launched by Recyclass to guarantee traceability of recycled content.

AIMPLAS  - a consortium member of the OCEANETS project - has developed a material that ensures the traceability of fabric made from end-of-life fishing nets. When exposed to infrared radiation, the material changes colour and so helps identify where it came from.

GRAMOFON, a European project coordinated by the Spanish Plastics Technology Centre AIMPLAS, has ended after 42 months, with very promising results on CO₂ capture. New materials for capturing CO₂ could be used to reduce industrial emissions and as catalysts.

In April 2020, European Aluminium launched its Circular Aluminium Action Plan, a strategy for achieving aluminium’s full potential for a circular economy by 2030.

The Coordination Group of the ECESP notes with interest the Call for mobilisation for a Green Recovery to reboot and reboost our economies for a sustainable future. With most of us already having signed on, there is no question that the recovery needs to be combined with the European Green Deal. The question is how to do so.

Launched in memory of social innovation pioneer Diogo Vasconcelos, the European Social Innovation Competition is run by the European Commission across all EU Member States and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries. The theme this year is Reimagine Fashion.

During the financial year 2019, the Plastics Technology Centre AIMPLAS presented more than 80 circular economy projects, taught 25 courses on the topic and sponsored 26 talks by its experts.

Between 2018 and 2019, knowledge brokerage between Slovenia and Portugal took place on waste collection and treatment, reuse and repair facilities as well as communication strategies.

The City of Amsterdam aims to halve its use of raw material and resources by 2030, and achieve a fully circular economy by 2050. To this effect, its new circular economy strategy will use an adapted version of British economist Kate Raworth's "doughnut model".

A conference entitled A Peek into the Future – Going Circular through Digital, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was held in Belgrade, Serbia, on 9 December 2019. from the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform was among the speakers.

CityLoops is a new EU-funded project focusing on organic, and construction and demolition waste.

Recently adopted EU legislation helps tackle marine litter from plastics, improves chemicals management and increases the recycling of materials. In its conclusions of 4 October 2019, the Council of the EU stresses that further ambitious efforts are needed to stimulate a systemic transition to a sustainable society, inviting the European Commission to come up with an ambitious long-term strategic framework, including a common vision for a circular economy and to adopt a new circular economy action plan with targeted actions.

About 50 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions are related to materials and the manufacturing of products. Strong Circular Economy policies are therefore needed to meet the climate goals. Ecopreneur.eu has worked out far-reaching proposals as input for the EU Green Deal.

From shoemaker to wind energy park engineer: 7.5% of all jobs in Belgium are circular, shows new analysis by the King Baudouin Foundation and Circle Economy. The baseline measurement of employment in the Belgian circular economy provides insights into the nature and number of jobs in the country’s circular economy.

On 20 September 2019, more than 100 public and private partners covering the whole plastics value chain signed the declaration of the Circular Plastics Alliance, which promotes voluntary actions for a well-functioning EU market in recycled plastics.

As global leaders gather in New York for Climate Week NYC in September 2019, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has issued a new paper, in cooperation with Material Economics, revealing the need for a fundamental shift in the global approach to tackling climate change. As set out in Completing the Picture: How the Circular Economy tackles Climate Change, moving to renewables can only address 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve UN climate goals, the paper highlights the urgent need to tackle the remaining 45%.

Circular economy, the new concept for attaining sustainable consumption and production, will not be implemented without multisectoral and international cooperation. INNOWO, Circular Change, INCIEN Czechia, and INCIEN Slovakia are launching the International Circular Week this year to promote circular economy across countries. This International Circular Week will take place from 7 to 13 October 2019, and aims to engage all circular stakeholders in central Europe and beyond.