European Union
Sfridoo.com is an Italian B2B publishing platform for purchasing and selling scrap materials. Using sharing economy princples to turn the circular economy into a reality, Sfridoo has already enabled more than 100 businesses to recycle and reuse industrial scraps.
Oslo has been developing a waste management system based on circular principles to ensure separate waste collection is maximised and transform waste into secondary raw materials. To do so it has actively engaged with citizens, farmers as well as with its city’s public transportation company.
Facing dramatic deindustrialisation and an uncertain future, the city of Turin implemented processes that paired physical redevelopment with strategic planning to promote citywide revitalisation and economic restructuring in the 1990s. While the transformation has been profound, current challenges call for more circular strategies and an inclusive approach.
As a densely populated and economically powerful urban area, the city of Dusseldorf recognised the challenge of climate change early on and initiated a process of low carbon and zero waste strategy development.
In 2015 Amsterdam commissioned an in-depth study on the potential of a circular economy. The project was the first large-scale research study in the world that uses the ‘city circle scan’ methodology. The scan identifies the areas in which the most significant, tangible progress in realising a circular economy can be achieved. This potential impact is significant and can result in more jobs, bring added value to the city’s economy, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions and material use.
Birmingham is Britain’s youngest and fastest growing city, boasting the highest quality of life of any English city outside London. The city also has the strongest economy outside the capital and is one of the first cities to adopt a proactive industrial symbiosis approach to develop a medium and long-term strategy for sustainable economic development. Often described as ‘the circular economy in action’, the projects born from the industrial symbiosis approach are part of Birmingham’s circular economy strategy.
In September 2017, HNST (pronounce as “honest”) had a collection campaign where people could drop off their old and unworn denims at more than 80 collecting points in Flanders (Belgium).
In operation since 2007, PET to PET Recycling Österreich GmbH focuses on the production of food-grade recycled PET, which is used for “bottle-to-bottle recycling”, a globally unique and resource-efficient recycling loop in which old PET bottles are turned into new ones.
The company Van de Sant Innovations BV designs and manufactures comfortable sustainable furniture, made from recovered (ocean) plastics.
After several years of research, a pilot plant has been constructed and gone into operation within Covesto’s project Cycles (funded by German Federal Ministry of Environment (BMUB)), to demonstrate the reuse of low-concentrated salt-containing wastewater streams.
Offcuts and wood waste generated during production at the Herman Miller production facility in Wiltshire is collected and delivered to Timberpak, utilising empty vehicle space and back loading to minimise their environmental footprint.
Production of organic, natural, luxury mattresses, toppers and bedding, using 100% biodegradable material wherever possible.
SCP/RAC promotes an action in Morocco to support the country in transitioning from single-use plastic bags to other green means.
The EU-funded SwitchMed Programme supports and connects stakeholders to scale-up social and eco-innovations in the Mediterranean. It promotes inclusive growth, job creation and sustainable development by supporting policy makers, eco-innovative small and medium sized enterprises, industries, start-ups and entrepreneurs in the Southern Mediterranean countries.
DGNB: The German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) is a central knowledge platform for sustainable building and provides the world’s most advanced sustainable building certification system which makes Circular Economy aspects measurable and assessable.
An incubator for circular entrepreneurs in and around Rotterdam, BlueCity creates a much needed tangible and inspiring example for the circular economy, closing the loops and building the city and the economy of the future. Set in a deserted swimming pool, this dynamic community of entrepreneurs, researchers, neighbours, government and education representatives serves as a breeding ground for 25+ innovative, circular companies linking their waste-streams.
The integration of the steel sector into the electricity generation cycle is an example of collaboration between companies from different sectors that significantly minimizes the environmental impact of their facilities. This integration allows the steel production gases produced by the industrial processes of steel plants to be transferred to an electric company for use as additional fuel in the boilers of its plants together with the main fuel, in a hybrid generation and / or cogeneration process.
Attero introduces a new high quality product that is used as ingredient for substrates and potting soils: biobased substrate compost. The process for achieving this quality is unique in the world of compost production.
Skaff Dairy Farm is a small-sized enterprise, which produces around 840 t of dairy products annually for the local market. Skaff Dairy Farm joined the MED TEST II project in order to improve quality and reduce defects, to drive out waste and continuously improve cost efficiency. The main problems the company faced was energy and finished products losses. The company was already ISO 22000:2005 certified at the project start.
Arcadia Design envisions a design that changes as its owners does.
Every year in Rostock, Veolia converts 1 billion PET drinks bottles into so-called recyclate from which preforms/bottles can again be manufactured.
Caixa identified the development of a recycling circuit for expired or damaged cards as an opportunity for improvement: bank cards (expired or at the end of their service lives) and non-bank cards (for example, loyalty cards made of plastic) are valued through plastic recycling..
24 Kton annualy will be converted into LDPE re-granulate in the new recycling factory Attero is building in Wijster. Contaminated film is cleaned and turned into a high quality and odorless re-granulate.
With the help of a network of 21 Food Banks across the country, FBAO recovers surplus food and redistributes it to charitable organizations which assist people in need.
Following the successful completion of the European Remanufacturing Network project funded through Horizon 2020, the Conseil Européen de Remanufacture was launched in January 2017. It has members such as IBM, Lexmark, SKF, Panalpina, syncreon, Autocraft and others who pay annual membership subscriptions to develop, promote and exchange good practise between the many sectors in which remanufacturing occurs.
Cement and Environment Labour Foundation (CEMA Foundation) was created by Oficemen (Spanish Cement Association) and the two largest trade unions operating in the Spanish cement industry, CCOO de Construcción y Servicios and UGT-FICA, Federación de Industria, Construcción y Agro.