Thanks to its textile recycling techniques, Prato is considered one of the most advanced and innovative industrial cities in Italy.

Contaminated sediment from the Port of Dunkirk has been re-used in road structures since 2002, when the Port started to cooperate with the Ecole des Mines de Douai and various industrial partners in order to design alternative materials for stabilised sub-base road layers.

Rediscover Furniture is a furniture restoration and upcycling social enterprise housed at the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun, Dublin.

Tarpaper Recycling is a recycling specialist minimising the environmental impacts of construction waste. It has developed a patented method to recycle bitumen from roofing-felt waste by converting it into a material that can be used as a binder in asphalt production.

Reverse Resources is an Estonian company that offers an online “circular” solution that tracks and traces waste flows by connecting manufacturers, waste handlers, recyclers/spinners and brands on one platform by offering 360 degree transparency, data accuracy and real-time transactions on waste flows.

adidas, one of Europe's premier sportswear manufacturers, is increasing the use of sustainable materials in its product range. From 2024 onwards, only recycled polyester will be used in every product and on every application where a solution exists.

In 2019, Stella McCartney partnered up with adidas to solve the problem of product waste with the introduction of two new apparel innovations.

The SaltGae project has established real scale demonstration sites in Slovenia, Italy and Israel that show the long-term techno-economic performance of microalgae technology for the efficient treatment of saline wastewaters from the food and beverage industries.

ISATIÓ is a Brussels SME that recovers samples from the textiles industry to create unique designer clothing, with manufacturing all done locally and the supply chain covered entirely by bicycle couriers.

Sulapac has developed a fully biodegradable and microplastic-free material innovation to replace plastic. The wood-based material is both recyclable and mass-producible.

Nutripeople, a Murcian start-up producing superfoods for the developing world, actively engages Spain's agri-food industry to sell its vegetable surplus as a resource to produce superfood pouches, which are then distributed in areas afflicted by famine.

The company O.C.O Technology Limited recycles a hazardous by-product of waste incineration in order to produce a carbon-negative material for the construction industry.

  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.

ecoHORNET, a Romanian SME, has developed a recycling station that uses pyrolysis technology to transform industrial biomass, household waste and sewage sludge into bio-gas, bio-oil and biochar in addition to creating thermal energy for hot water and air generators.

WREP (Waste REcycling Project) 2018 was a pilot project by the Italian PVC forum designed to improve the collection and recycling of polyvynil chloride in Venice. This pilot forms part of a wider, 3-year project to increase recycling of post-use PVC, and focused on the demolition and recycling sectors in particular.