Coffee grounds contain many nutrients which are excellent for growing mushrooms. This secondary raw material is even ready for use, having been sterilised at 80 to 90°C by the coffee machine. What's left once the mushrooms have been collected is a good fertiliser.

The Italian company Menichetti produces organic glues and adhesives intended for sustainable packaging. The raw material is obtained from leather and tanning industry by-products.

Enrich manufactures organic compost in an open windrow system using source segregated green waste such as garden clippings and landscaping materials.

The Ó Boneco ("rag doll" in Portuguese) project was born out of a desire to design a tailor-made training combining handicrafts and the traditions of the municipality of Valongo in Portugal.

Rue Rangoli is a French social enterprise that supports social organisations involved in upcycling or zero-waste and the design circular economy, based in Europe, Africa and Asia.

By identifiying good practices in turning biomass to heat or power, the uP_running project is unlocking the strong potential of woody biomass residues produced by Agrarian Pruning and Plantation Removals.

AgriChemWhey seeks to build first-of-a-kind bio-refinery with a view to transforming dairy waste into added-value bio-based products.

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.

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.

Founded in 2012 with the objective of creating high-quality eyewear from oil-free or recycled materials, producing Dick Moby sunglasses and eyeglasses follows a circular approach: lowering environmental compared to similar fashion accessories.

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.

Rifò regenerates noble textile fibers, such as cashmere, using a proven technology developed in the textile district of Prato (Tuscany) over a hundred years ago.

The educational project Ecotic Caravan co-financed by LIFE+, ran between 2014 and 2016 and aimed to raise awareness on environmental protection and sustainable development by focusing on efficient management of WEEE waste. The caravan travelled across Romania and was parked in the main squares so that the general public could easily interact. Workshops with school children were also organized. 

The caravan program reached over 20,000 persons and the school program more than 50,000 pupils, contributing to the collection of over 10 tons of WEEE.

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

Composting is the most natural method to create fertilisers, but not many people use it as it's a slow and complex process. To encourage composting, Compastor Technology has bred a genuine composting worm. When this worm is combined with a compost inoculant, green and organic waste is turned into fertiliser quickly and efficiently while using fully natural ingredients.

Crush, launched in 2012, is the second product in Favini's upcycling ecological paper range. Its production uses the equivalent of 15% of virgin pulp paper in by-products from food industry.

Van Hulley is a Dutch SME that upcycles worn-out shirts into boxershorts, employing disadvantaged women as seamstresses every year and training them to join the labour market more permanently.

Infinited Fiber has developed a process technology that can turn cotton rich textile waste into new fibers for the textile industry. Not just once, but infinitely. Infinited Fiber can be recycled again and again without decreasing the quality of the fiber.

Renewcell's technology dissolves used cotton and other natural fibres into a new, biodegradable raw material: renewcell pulp. It can be turned into textile fibre, be fed into the textile production cycle and meet industry specifications. This is the link that has been missing from the cycle, and will enable the way fashion is produced and consumed to be transformed into a never-ending loop.

Zippers and buttons make garment recycling complicated as the removal of such details calls for manual assistance, making the process both costly and time consuming. Resortecs® solves this problem by supplying a thread that simply dissolves at a high temperature.

Klättermusen is a Swedish outdoor clothing company producing waterproof jackets, pants and backpacks made at least partly from recycled polyamide. The polyamide is created from post-industrial waste including packaging materials from factories, old carpets as well as discarded industrial fishing nets.

ECOALF is a Spanish fashion company with a sustainable profile. ECOALF makes swimwear from 100 % recycled fabrics made from PET and recycled polyester.

Andrea Verdura uses different eco-friendly materials to craft stylish, comfortable footwear for women, men and kids. One of the materials used in the footwear are recycled fishing nets.

Water2REturn is an Innovation Action co-funded by the European Commission under its Horizon 2020 (H2020) programme.

Metsä Group built the first next-generation bioproduct mill in Äänekoski, Finland – the largest investment of the European forest industry with the value of EUR 1.2 billion. The new mill, which began operations in the third quarter of 2017, leads the industry to a new era of resource efficiency through operating completely with no fossil fuels or fossil CO₂ emissions.