Accumulating environmental and climate pressures and impacts are bringing unprecedented sustainability challenges. These problems are largely caused by unsustainable consumption, and require a fundamental shift in production and consumption systems in Europe and beyond.
Pressures and impacts from consumption can be reduced by:
consuming differently by shifting to less material-intensive options and using renewable or recycled materials,
consuming less through, for example, longer product lifespans or sharing models that can reduce the demand for new products, and
scaling up circular product design that enables circular consumption and reduces environmental impact.
Europe and the world face unprecedented sustainability challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion and pollution. These challenges are largely caused by unsustainable consumption as countries strive for economic growth and people pursue well-being.
Environmental and climate pressures and impacts from consumption accumulate over the years, and many ecosystems are now under pressure beyond their regeneration capacity. Scientific evidence suggests that the pressures associated with Europe's consumption are so high that the planet's ability to recover from them is seriously compromised.
Academics are studying the challenge of including the informal recycling sector (IRS) in the circular economy.
This review explores the direct and indirect contributions of the IRS to various circular economy fields, drawing on relevant literature.
The modi operandi of different recycling value chains are captured in a typology.
Information on reported forms of collaboration, tensions and challenges in urban waste management is summarised in a conceptual framework to facilitate the transition to circular and inclusive wise-waste systems.
Important aspects related to circular business models and approaches to the IRS are discussed and avenues for further research proposed.
The first episode of the Biocircularcities Trilogy unveils the story behind the success of the BBI-JU Biocircularcities project or how partners supported a transition of the pilot territories toward circular bioeconomy through a collaborative approach.
GO CHAMPLAST is a circular economy project that will produce advanced char from the waste substrate of mushroom cultivation and compostable films to replace current fossil products.
ASOCHAMP, AIMPLAS and the companies Ingelia and SAV are developing this project to increase farm profitability by using advanced materials and reducing costs associated with treating agricultural waste.
The ELLIPSE project will address the valorization of two heterogeneous waste streams - slaughterhouse waste and paper and pulp sludge - generated in significant amounts in Europe, to produce cost-efficient polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs).
The technology will impact the European bioeconomy by valorising 20,000 tons of rumen content waste and 50,000 tons of paper sludge per year.
Siptex is the world’s first large-scale facility for sorting textiles by colour and fibre composition through near-infrared light to handle large flows and produce textile fractions suited to different recycling processes. As textile waste is a growing concern around the world, innovative solutions are required to tackle this environmental problem.
