https://www.instagram.com/impact.furnitureIMPACT Furniture is part of Oxfam Belgium. Through its Upcycle Your Office project, it is in the process of developing a catalogue of upcycled office furniture.
The plywood panels are recovered from old office furniture thrown away by local businesses and organisations and subsequently used as a raw material for making new furniture items.
The profits are ploughed back into Oxfam Belgium and help finance projects to fight poverty.
The roadmap for Ostrobothnia (Finland) provides practical examples on how to get started or develop sustainable thinking, based on the latest research and current trends. The focus is on developing concrete guides, tools and checklists to make the change easier for entrepreneurs.
Get started - Focus on sustainability
Facilities & energy - Less is more?
Raw materials - Everything starts from the choice of materials
Design & product development - Right from the start
Purchases - Have courage to set strict requirements
Production & manufacturing - Produce for the future
Transports & distribution - The closer the better
Communication & marketing - Tell!
Sales - New requirements
Waste & recycling - Go through your waste recycling
Energy Saxony e.V. and Circular MTC e.V. have received funding from the Free State of Saxony to set up the innovation cluster Circular Saxony which will lay the groundwork for a ready-for-circularity economy in Saxony.
The cluster aims to re-design products and processes in line with circularity and sustainability, while lowering the costs of society's transformation towards climate neutrality. Circular Saxony brings together industry, research and policy representatives in thematic working groups which will work on practical solutions within the region of Saxony.
The European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP), an online hub for cluster stakeholders, aims to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of Europe’s industrial ecosystems, particularly SMEs, improving their performance in terms of productivity, innovation, internationalisation and resource efficiency through a variety of modern tools:
Events to foster capacity building and peer discussions
Matchmaking events supporting cooperation between clusters in Europe
A knowledge database mapping regional, national, international and sectoral cluster networks, toolkits and publications
Partner search and exchange facilities to share offer/demand directly
Within the framework of the "Clusters meet regions" site visits, a matchmaking event "Boosting talent as a key driver for a future sustainable competitiveness" and workshops will be organised on 14 - 16 December 2022. Their focus is on three key EU industrial ecosystems (Agrifood, Energy and mobility) where clusters play an active role in regional economies driving transition pathways towards sustainability through collaborations between clusters and regional stakeholders.
Attend the Horizon Europe-Cluster 6 Info Days on 13-14 December 2022 to get informed!
The Info Days will present the Research and Innovation topics of the Horizon Europe Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment) Work Programme 2023.
After a year 2022 full of challenges for world economies and the Balkan region, an international Conference - "Balkans Go Circular" - will close this year in Belgrade (in hybrid mode) on 15-16 December.
Senior experts in this field and relevant stakeholders from the academic sector, business world and public institutions will present systemic solutions for the systemic challenges that the Balkan region and the entire world are currently facing.
There can be no doubt that circular demand creates opportunities for circular supply. But how can closed loop criteria be integrated into public procurement, which represents nearly 14% of Europe's GDP? To figure it out, Renewable Matter interviewed Helena O'Rourke-Potocki and Simon Clement, respectively circular economy and procurement officer and senior coordinator on the circular economy at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.
ICLEI is a global network working with more than 2 500 local and regional governments committed to driving local action towards a social and ecological transition. In future, whether purchasing services or products such as buildings, furniture and food, local authorities will need to look for increasingly sustainable supplies.
The Lithuanian Commune DIY, a team of skateboarding professionals and enthusiasts, collects old, broken Canadian maple hardwood skateboards that have lost their original purpose and recycles them 100 %. The new products made of skateboards are sustainable, strong and have a new life span which is longer than the one of an average skateboard deck.
