Our industries and our current way of life make us produce more and more in an "ephemeral" way. We throw away big amounts of raw materials that we could easily reuse and launch back in the circular economy.

Parapluiestandupcycling decided to retrieve the fabric of broken umbrellas and to create a utility garment out of it.

Vélosophy is part bicycle, part philosophy. It brings to life the potential of recycling by partnering with Nespresso to craft a bike from recycled aluminium coffee capsules.

Also the standard Vélosophy bikes are made with recycled aluminium. The fork & frame have always been made with as much recycled aluminum allowed  and possible according to the industry standard and legal requirements.

Koovee, one of the first edible cutlery companies in Europe, offers a locally sourced, flour-based and tasty alternative to disposable plastic cutlery.

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.

The Finnish city of Lahti has been pioneering industrial symbiosis at the Kujala Waste Treatment Centre where all sorts of waste are reused. Several companies have established interconnected material flows, thus making one’s residues another one’s raw materials. 

CuanTec is a Scottish blue biotech company that replaces plastic with natural alternatives. Sourced from waters of the Atlantic, CuanTec takes waste from fisheries and obtains the natural biopolymer chitin. Their process uses biology rather than chemistry to create chitin and chitosan of high quality and purity, which are in demand for over 3,000 industrial uses around the world. 

Wolkat is an international group of seven innovative textile recycling companies. It was founded as a family business in 1948.

Today Wolkat is offering a complete circular solution for textiles. Collected textile is transformed in-house to new products for fashion, car or furniture industry. Sorting, recycling, spinning and weaving is all done in-house. All collected textile is transformed into a final product with hardly any water or any dye, leaving only 4-5 % waste from all textiles. The rest is new raw material. 

Sika has developed a high-performance elastomer for the clean repair of the rubber substrate of conveyor belts and industrial rubber elements. This "liquid rubber" enables on-site repair and lengthens the product life of used belts.

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

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.

NAFIGATE’s Hydal Biotechnology uses waste cooking oil to produce a fully biodegradable and biocompatible PHA biopolymer named Hydal (Polyhydroxyalcanoates). This is the first biopolymer of its kind being produced on an industrial scale at an affordable price.

Circul'R is an international network of circular economy startups. Its mission is to unlock the circular economy's potential by connecting innovative startups with companies so that they can co-create solutions to accelerate their transition towards the circular economy.

The Fairphone 3, launched in 2019, is one of the first modular smartphones, with components designed for longer use first and refurbishment when they finally break down. 

Re:newcell's technology dissolves used cotton and other natural fibers into a new, biodegradable raw material, re:newcell pulp. It can be turned into textile fiber, be fed into the textile production cycle and meet industry specifications. This is the link that has been missing from the cycle, as the way fashion is produced and consumed can finally 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.

The ECOALF foundation has embarked upon its most ambitious project to date: Upcycling the Oceans, an unprecedented worldwide adventure that is helping to remove up to 200 tonnes of waste from the bottom of the oceans thanks to the support of over 3000 fishermen.

Bracenet collects discarded fishing nets, sends these to Norway to have them turned into fabric and then produces unique wristbands in workshops that provide employment opportunities to disabled persons.

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.

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.

Stimergy by using a liquid cooling and heat recovery system in server rooms or by decentralising its servers in "digital boilers" located in residential and public buildings recycles heat from data servers to water heating systems.

Thanks to its liquid heat recovery system, Stimergy both reduces energy waste of servers and energy needs of water heating systems while cutting the operational costs linked to the cooling of server rooms.

Take Back Chemicals is innovating by proposing a 'functional economy' business model in the use of chemicals. Traditional business models are based on sales per volume, whereas TBC uses "chemical leasing" and regeneration process for greater efficiency and sustainability.  

The report is based on the study of 3 cases in Belgium and 5 cases in the Netherlands with leading chemical industries.