Herning and DFD do their bit to keep useable clothes in use
The partnership between Herning and DFD has led to a new circular business model for the work clothing used by the municipality’s technical operations department.
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Circular action for climate neutrality
15 Apr 2021 to 16 Apr 2021
On 15-16 April, the Netherlands and Sitra will be organising a high-level digital conference, the World Circular Economy Forum + Climate, to meet up and discuss the crucial role of a circular economy in achieving climate neutrality.
Sonae Arauco: Sustainable wood-based panels made from wood industry by-products
Sonae Arauco is a wood-based panel producer that contributes to the circular economy through the recovery of wood waste. It has developed a close value chain that reuses and recycles the wood residues generated during the production process.
Circular Gothenburg
Circular Gothenburg focuses on resource efficiency to reduce climate change and achieve circular material flows.
It has three target groups: citizens, city departments and businesses. For all three target groups, the goal is to make it simple, straightforward and attractive to participate in transformational circular work. This includes the municipality’s in-house processes and activities which help people to live in a more circular way. One of these activities is the Fixotek: staffed facilities, close to where people live and open to everyone, where people can meet, learn, repair and redesign products, borrow tools and swap toys, clothes and books.
Circulair Friesland's three lines of action: Doing. Learning. Telling.
Friesland, a province in the north of the Netherlands, has a strong cultural identity, its own language, an economy mostly devoted to agriculture and 20 000 companies - 99% of them SMEs. The province faces economic and demographic challenges but is becoming one of the best examples of a successful transition towards a circular economy. It aims to be the most circular EU region by 2025.
According to the public/private association Circulair Friesland, this province is thus:
- Doing: policies on the circular economy, financing circular SMEs and research, ambitiously developing public procurement
- Learning: active member of the Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management and involved in European projects
- Telling: sharing their story with others.
WFZruhr: a network with an added value
WFZruhr is a network of public organisations and private companies who share circular economy competences in the Ruhr area (Germany). The network members cover the whole range of circular economy services.
WFZruhr allows member companies to take part in industrial symbiosis processes, to cooperate in the field of waste management and to receive support on circular economy issues (including IT, management, etc.).
WFZruhr also organizes top-class events on key circular topics.
Soeco: upcycling office furniture
Soeco Kontorsmöbler is a Swedish company that recycles and refurbishes office furniture. Its goal is to take furniture which would most likely be thrown away and transform it into an item that either looks like or is new.
07 Apr 2021 to 12 Apr 2021
In the run-up to the WCEF+Climate event in April 2021, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is organising a WCEF+Climate pre-event: the Circular Climate Booster, hosted by Holland Circular Hotspot and Springtide International.
ReSeaclons: collecting and recycling ocean plastic
The ReSeaclons project, led by the Marine Institute of the Seaquarium in Grau-du-Roi, France, is committed to bringing together fishermen, seafarers, public authorities, associations, companies, civil society and holiday-makers to help reduce marine pollution.
SUEZ Ecopôle's eco-hub for waste collection
In France, SUEZ has invested EUR 10 million on the construction of a hub to recover waste from local businesses and authorities. Once sorted and recycled, the waste is then sold for reuse.
The Confederation of Danish Industry: Network for Circular Economy
The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) is a private business and employers' organisation representing approximately 18 000 companies in Denmark. They aim to provide the best possible corporate conditions for their member companies.
The DI network for circular economy (text in Danish only) aims to create a platform for companies that are interested in, working with or want to be updated on the circular economy. It organises three meetings a year, and is open to members of the Confederation of Danish Industry. The network has around 150 members and growing.
ZĪLE: when upcycling is fashion
ZĪLE is a Latvian fashion brand which develops its clothing while looking at a sustainable future, through the concept of upcycling. The label’s main resource materials are denim trousers, men’s shirts and imagination.
VMfono, or how to create unique vinyl records from waste
Music business can be circular, too! MWfono makes vinyl records from the waste that remains after cutting other records. Kayax label then packs the discs in recycled paper and employs a protection film made from maize.
The Baltic TRAM project
The Baltic TRAM (Transnational Research Access in the Macroregion) project strengthened the relationship between analytical research institutions and businesses by fostering cooperation between companies and researchers, linking expertise to industrial needs.
nachaltig.digital: a platform for sustainable digitalisation
Nachhaltig.digital is a platform for stepping up dialogue on the sustainability and digitalisation of SMEs in Germany.
It provides a space for the exchange of ideas, products, solutions, inspiration and discussion - both online and offline. The platform helps companies to use digitalisation to make their business sustainable.
The platform has also focused on the circular economy. As well as providing a forum where companies can interact, Nachhaltig.digital informs them about digitalisation and the circular economy, answering questions and telling them about current trends.
RECOSI - refurbishing ICT products for re-use
RECOSI is a social franchise focusing on the reuse and refurbishment of ICT and WEEE.
Nordic circular cooperation in CIRCit Norden
CIRCit was a 3½-year research project, spanning the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Sweden. The objective was to help their industry to discover and implement the opportunities of the circular economy.
This project was part of the Nordic Green Growth Research and Innovation Programme funded by NordForsk, Nordic Energy Research and Nordic Innovation.
The project focus areas for the circular economy were:
- Sustainability screening
- Business modelling
- Circular product design and development
- Smart circular economy
- Closing the loop for a circular economy
- Collaborating and networking for a circular economy.
The project webpage contains 101 circular economy case studies in the Nordic region and several scientific publications.
Amsterdam's Sharing Economy Action Plan
Amsterdam is shaping a sharing economy that works for everyone
The City of Amsterdam’s Sharing Economy Action Plan (2015) is a strategy by the city to provide solutions for a sharing and circular economy (CE) that works for all.
It provides five key points on which action should be taken:
- supporting pilot projects
- leading by example
- extending sharing economy to all residents
- developing rules and regulations
- development of a sharing city.
The intention is to widen the available tools and materials to enable the spreading of a CE, thus encouraging collaborative initiatives taking place in the city. Therefore, the plan facilitates the creation and spreading of more circular projects, such as the "fashion libraries" or the promotion of various digital platforms like the ones existing in the transport and accommodation sectors.
Ignacio
Third Circular Economic Report
Circular Economy Report 2021 in Italy - Focus on the role of circular economy in the transition to climate neutrality
The Third Circular Economy Report (2021) by the Circular Economy Network and ENEA, besides providing the updated analysis on circular economy in Italy as compared to the main EU countries, includes a focus on the role of circular economy in the transition towards climate neutrality, as well as an update on the most important measures implemented at the national and European levels.
This report updates the analysis on the state of circular economy in Italy, assessing the results achieved in the areas of production, consumption, circular waste management, as well as investments and employment in recycling, repairing and reuse, with a comparison among the main economies in the EU: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland.
To read the report in full (in Italian), please click here.
A Digital Platform for Circular Economy created by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
The Digital Platform for Circular Economy (CE HUB) recently created by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia showcases circular economy-related information for the business community on:
- possibilities of improving knowledge and practice
- current events in the EU
- potential grants
- financial support
- business models
- possible savings by shifting to a CE business model.
The interactive part of the platform aims to:
- link business people from different sectors,
- present best practice examples, ideas and projects, and
- establish future cooperation and new investments with national, regional and international partners.
The aim is for CE businesses to join the Alliance for Green Transition of Serbia.
Forest Sharing, an innovative platform taking care of woods
Forest Sharing is a platform/marketplace for the shared and innovative management of unmanaged or underutilized privately-owned forests according to PEFC standards, a network where exchanges between owners and economic operators within the supply chain are facilitated and organized, thus creating the economies of scale needed for forest activities (sale of wood or derived products, recreational areas, adventure parks, thematic routes, management of Rural Development Plans etc.) to become economically viable.
The platform, online since September 2020, has around 300 registered users for 2 500 hectares of woods in various regions, with a potential of another 2 000 hectares. In 2019 it was selected as best practice/new business idea within Rosewood.
22 Mar 2021
Welcome to have your say on the Sustainable Products Initiative, one of the deliverables of the Circular Economy Action Plan!
The feedback period runs until 9 June 2021 (midnight CET). The Commission would like to hear your views. Through public consultations you can express your views on aspects of EU laws and policies before the Commission finalises its proposals.
Marta Gómez
Arpit Bhutani
23 Mar 2021
On 23 March an online event is organised to launch Circular Regions - a data-driven platform bridging bottom-up and top-down circular initiatives for mission-oriented eco-system transformation in a network of regions.
Kitchen Dates – a restaurant without a rubbish bin
Kitchen Dates is an environmentally friendly restaurant located in Lisbon. It has the particularity of operating without generating any waste - so no use for rubbish bins!