Valorisation of urban biowastes into key strategic resources (proteins and fertilisers) in a cascading process.

Karün is a Swedish-Chilean company producing sunglass frames entirely from discarded fishing nets and jeans, collected in Patagonia.

Cycle Terre project aims to set up an industrial process to reuse soil extracted from the excavation sites of the new subway and other construction sites in Sevran, France.

REDEL is an energy provider in Italy. Its activities comprises decommissioning outdated energy installations (de-risking), generating a vast amount of discarded power cables. The PVC Upcycling project aims to initiate a circular model for reclaiming resources by:

• de-manufacturing: recovering the PVC of electric cables coming from decommissioned energy plants;
• re-manufacturing: recycling of the same PVC in products with low environmental impact.

Along with PVC, copper and aluminium are also reclaimed and turned into metal granules for new production purposes.
 

The Fair Plastic Alliance believes that plastic waste management based on a not-for-private-profit business model is a powerful solution to generate a positive impact on the environment and on the society as a whole, in both developed and developing countries. It is a multi-stakeholder network spreading social responsibility in plastic waste management, especially in low-income areas and adverse contexts, to achieve social as well as environmental sustainability.

The Super Circular Estate (SCE) project addresses the challenge of changing housing needs due to demographic evolution. The Parkstad Limburg region’s population, is estimated to shrink by 27% in the next 30 years, calling for a radical reorientation in housing facilities. The project aims at demolishing vacant outdated high-rise apartment buildigs (built in 1968), and reuse all of their components to establish new social housing units - co-designed with the residents.

Fra’ Sole is a sustainability project involving the monumental complex of Saint Francis of Assisi and its nearby areas, which has resulted in the elimination of disposable products, infrastructure for rainwater reuse and a 20% reduction in waste overall.

Greenrail sleepers consist of an outer cover made of a blend of ELTs and recycled plastic, and an inner core of pre-stressed, reinforced concrete.

Ultra Thin White Topping is a road hardening innovation, applied to pilot projects in Frysland and Overijssel by Schagen Infra BV. To replace damaged asphalt sustainably, the company renovated the degenerated road surface using a thin layer of cement with polyseter fibers mixed in, thus reducing resource consumption and enabling full material recovery at end-of-life stage.

SK-Tex takes old clothing and turns it into products that can be used in cars, furniture and buildings. The company has been in operation since 1998, beginning as a textile raw materials trading company before developing into a recycling company.

DyeCoo, based in Weesp, the Netherlands, has more than 15 years of experience in CO₂-based textile processing technology. By replacing water with CO₂ for the dyeing process, no wastewater is generated. Furthermore, DyCoo uses reclaimed CO₂ from existing idustrial processes, making it a closed loop operation.

C-SERVEES is a European project that aims to boost a resource-efficient circular economy in the electrical and electronic (E&E) sector through the development, testing, validation and transfer of new circular economic business models based on systemic eco-innovative services that include:

• eco-leasing of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE),
• product customization,
• improved management of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE),
• and ICT services to support the other eco-services.

The LIFE EPS SURE project aims to offer a technically, environmentally and economically viable solution that allows EPS fish boxes to be collected, washed and converted into new PS food contact packaging, thus closing the loop.

Atelier Extramuros is a social enterprise specialised in upcycling in the furniture sector, using reclaimed material from discarded professional furniture.

'Chants Libres' is a new pilot project aiming at improving recycled material sourcing - with the support of Valdelia - and designing protoypes for the professional furnishing sector. Two prototypes have been selected so far to launch a wider scale production process and are to be integrated in the Kinnarps catalogue for commercialisation.

Food Waste Combat Cluj is one of the first multi-stakeholder initiatives combating food loss and food waste in Romania. Working in partnership, local environmental associations and municipal authorities have been able to set up an infrastructure that collects excess food from the food and drinks industry and transports this to social NGOs helping out people in need. 

In designing the varioPrint 135, Océ partnered with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and Philips to experiment with the use of recycled plastic in the production of industrial printers. Building on Océ's adoption of longevity and reuse principles in design, the company has made a further step towards circular economy and succeeded in developing an internal component that contains at least 30% post-consumer recycled polycarbonate from used 5 gallon water bottles.

Orange Fiber has closed the loop for oranges by patenting a technique to squeeze orange peel and citrus waste into cellulose fibre. With growing demand for sustainable fashion, the company is well placed to commence production in 2019, having already prototyped a collection with Salvatore Ferragamo and won the Global Change Awars

The Pura Production Group is clearly commited to sustainable production and follows up on this commitment by achieving the maximum attainable sustainability factor with its cleaning products. Pura's flagship Blue Right line for hotels and offices is a circular economy front runner: the floor, interior, sanitary and kitchen cleaners are produced without hazardous chemicals, sold in portion-controlled compostable packaging and lead to zero waste after use. 

Elak is a family-run electronics store in Brussels which has adopted a circular approach to its e-commerce activities from the onset.