The CirQuality OWL plus project is funded by the EU (ERDF) and the Federal State North-Rhine Westfalia with the aim of fostering the circular economy in the area of Eastern Westfalen-Lippe (OWL).
Several regional partners from different fields (from energy to technologies to food to universities and associations) have teamed up to use the circular economy to get the region off the ground in an innovative, crisis-proof, resilient and sustainable way. Together, they organise events and strive to meet the following goals:
Qualification of future specialists and managers for the circular economy
Circular Supply Chain Management Solutions (SSCM)
Turnaround to circular thinking and economics in the building sector
Waste and circular economy of the future in the OWL region.
In 2016, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) set up a Symbiosis Users Network (SUN) to boost industrial symbiosis in Italy. The network promotes circular economy models through industrial symbiosis by focusing on operational issues.
SUN's 2019 conference was devoted to Good practices of industrial symbiosis in Italy and the contribution of regional policies as a strategic lever. The event, co-organised by SUN, Ecomondo and ENEA was held in Rimini (IT) on 7 November 2019 at Ecomondo - a leading event in Europe for new circular economy models.
Reports on ENEA-promoted conferences on industrial symbiosis are available here.
The project reCIRCULARte started in 2017: three unemployed people decided to reuse, recover and restore second-hand material or objects, giving them new life.
Holland Circular Hotspot is a private-public platform in which companies, knowledge institutes and local authorities collaborate to promote and support international collaboration and knowledge exchange on Dutch circular economy, and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, a government agency for sustainable, agricultural, innovative and international business development and growth, have come together to share insights, networks and resources to help kickstart circular developments that will boost the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Circular examples from various market segments closely linked to SDGs such as agri-food, manufacturing and the built environment are included in the brochure next to cross-sectoral topics such as consumer goods or plastics.
Aragón Circular is an economic strategy that aims to boost the circular economy in the entire region of Aragon. Its objective is to create a political, economic, and social framework that will allow Aragon to move towards an innovative circular economy. Furthermore, this strategy will generate high-quality employment and provide the backbone for the territory.
Copa-Cogeca is sharing the initiatives of its members that demonstrate the many actions taken by EU farmers and cooperatives to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.
ACR+ has created 3 new working groups on circular economy focusing on governance, procurement, and monitoring. They will bring together front-runners and learners to work on improving local and regional strategies on circular economy and resource efficiency.
Between 2018 and 2019, knowledge brokerage between Slovenia and Portugal took place on waste collection and treatment, reuse and repair facilities as well as communication strategies.
SCALER provides mechanisms to accelerate the journey towards efficient and quick implementation of industrial symbiosis in the European process industry. They do this by developing action plans and adapted solutions to industrial stakeholders and communities.
SCALER works closely with a wide range of stakeholders including industrial networks, consultancies, researchers and policy makers at various geographic and political levels, to deliver practical tools and guidelines for industry actors engaging in resource efficiency, reuse and sharing.
To achieve this goal, SCALER is developing a set of reports and guides. They offer insights into how businesses can start industrial resource synergies with other companies to minimise their waste and create more value from their production.
