This report is the outcome of a collaborative endeavour by IFC, the Romanian Government, PIVOT-C and FEPRA GROUP.
A year of in-depth consultations and workshops (2023-2024) involving Romanian experts from the public and private sectors resulted in a guide setting out operational actions and recommendations for Romania's circular economy transition. The recommendations are intended for the Romanian government and central authorities and aim to facilitate the implementation of the National Circular Economy Strategy and the Circular Economy Action Plan launched in 2023.
The proposals cover regulatory frameworks, financial incentives, educational initiatives and infrastructure development.
Recycling Albania was set up in 2022, based on the zero waste hierarchy. It aims to transform Albania’s waste sector into a model for sustainable resource management and lead the way in circular economy solutions in the Western Balkans.
It's setting up a Circular Economy Park, with a Multifunctional Education Centre, Recycling Yard and Second-Hand Store. The environmental, economic and social dimensions of the circular economy are covered!
Re:inventex is carrying out a project for the recycling of post-industrial and pre-consumer textile waste. It is essentially the first pilot project in Ukraine to create a modern infrastructure for the collection, sorting and recycling of textile waste.
This publication featuring Holland Circular Hotspot shows the state of play and potential of circularity within the textile value chain in the Netherlands and beyond.
It aims to engage international dialogue on accelerating the transition to a fully circular textile economy, with policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, consumers and investors.
The challenges of achieving sustainability and circularity in textiles are complex and interconnected, from reducing environmental impact to improving labour conditions. This underscores the importance of international and multi-stakeholder collaboration to drive innovation, scale up sustainable practices and create a thriving circular textile industry.
Italy's National Strategy for Circular Economy identifies the administrative and fiscal tools designed to strengthen the secondary raw materials market in terms of availability, performance and costs; contribute to the achievement of climate neutrality objectives; and implement a roadmap of actions and measurable targets up to 2035. It sets out the legislative framework governing the objectives and the ways and means of achieving them.
Macro-objectives include: enhance competitiveness of secondary raw materials; consolidate EPR schemes; develop fiscal reforms promoting the circular economy; improve traceability of waste streams; mandatory minimum environmental criteria for GPP; focus on strategic industrial supply chains; support industrial symbiosis; and foster circular skills.
Recycling flexible PET packaging is tricky because it is made up of layers but in Spain, recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) is the only type authorised for post-consumer recycled content for food packaging.
The BOTTLE4FLEX project has taken up this challenge and aims to develop 100% recyclable flexible skinpack packaging using rPET.
How many plastic bottles actually enter the recycling process?
Theory is one thing and reality tends to be another. The Czech Ministry of the Environment wanted to find out what really happens to plastic bottles after they are thrown into sorted bins for plastic waste. It commissioned Adastra to carry out a project using IoT technology to track the movement of sorted bottles.
This report is part of a larger, collaborative four-year research project. It analyses the fashion value chain from a global and local perspective with an emphasis on India, Spain and the Netherlands, using a novel framework to assess social impact for circular economy called the SIAF-CE.
The report concludes that the Dutch circular ambition in policy is high and a solid ecosystem is in place. The most established circular strategies are resale and recycling, while promising ones are resale-platform-based, rental and repair. However, the social impact of most circular strategies seems to emulate linear value chain working conditions, where women workers hold the most vulnerable jobs, with low pay, short-term contracts and lower collective bargaining.
Businesses in Spain and around the world are adopting the circular economy as a new production paradigm. However, while the economic and environmental dimensions of the circular economy have been explored, its social impact (decent pay, gender equality, labour conditions) has been overlooked.
By surveying more than 210 workers in three countries and interviewing 90 stakeholders in Spain, the authors developed an inventory of circular jobs. They found that circular jobs in Spain follow the same pattern as the linear value chain, where women in resale, repair and recycling are the most vulnerable. Startups in resale and rental based on internet platform models have the highest earning quality but also high job insecurity, especially for women workers.
A tradition since 2019, the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH) organises the Circular Economy Summit every November with the Dutch Embassy in Hungary. This year's conference will focus on the shift to a circular economy and international and domestic best practices.
