LOOPS is a webinar series which aims to shine a spotlight on innovation in the circular economy. The episode on 3 March will consist of a live conversation with leaders of the two Horizon2020-funded projects HOUSEFUL and WOOL2LOOP, which seek to identify innovative solutions in the construction industry.
CICERONE is a group of European programme owners, researchers and businesses seeking to build a platform for an efficient circular economy. Its report Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) on Circular Economy aims to help owners and funders of European circular economy programmes adopt a systemic approach to circular economy transition.
The SRIA was developed based on eight priority themes (biomass and biotechnologies, chemicals, construction and demolition, food, plastic, raw materials, waste and water) and builds on four societal areas that face sustainability challenges (urban areas, industrial systems, value chains and territory and sea) to identify priority areas to tackle EU region-wide issues and facilitate the circular economy transition.
The Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP) is an international, non-profit think-and-do tank. Together with companies, political organisations and civil society actors, the CSCP pursues its mission to mainstream sustainability towards the good life for all.
From H2020 projects (R2Pi, Scalibur, Refresh and Spread), to CE Missions to Japan and Mexico, to launching the Consumer Insight Action Panel with the European Economic and Social Committee, co-developing the European Circular Cities Declaration or designing and running the Academy of Change – a unique capacity building programme that can be replicated across various topics - the CSCP integrates multiple stakeholders and various perspectives to help implement a systemic transition towards circularity.
There are not many eco-friendly products on the Romanian construction market, so there was definitely a niche in the thermal insulation market. LanaTerm uses sheep's wool to create thermal insulation for buildings.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has identified five universal circular economy policy goals that provide a framework for national governments, cities and businesses to create a transition that fosters innovation and decouples growth from finite resource consumption and environmental degradation.
As governments and industries around the globe move towards a circular economy, it is key to align ambitions and collaborate effectively. The five goals provide a blueprint for cooperation and the private and public sectors need to pull together to achieve them. The goals acknowledge that the relevant policies are interconnected, which will help avoid creating a patchwork of solutions.
The Netherlands faces major challenges in the domain of sustainability. Its ambition is to create a circular economy and ultimately eliminate CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases altogether. What does that mean for Rijkswaterstaat?
This report contains a selection of sustainability highlights by Rijkswaterstaat (Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management). Inspiring tales of what can be achieved by making full use of everyone’s knowledge and experience, but also a fascinating description of how Rijkswaterstaat has evolved into a sustainable executive organisation for the entire national government.
Rijkswaterstaat has the ambition to make its infrastructure works fully climate-neutral by 2030 and to operate in a fully circular manner. A great ambition that it cannot achieve on its own. That is why Rijkswaterstaat invite you to participate in a number of online sessions (in DUTCH only) from 2 to 4 February and to work together on a circular and climate-neutral infrastructure.
What steps has the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management Rijkswaterstaat taken in the field of circularity in 2019? You can read everything in this annual report, intended for colleagues, other government agencies, research centres or private parties.
New in this report is the focus on climate neutrality, i.e. the ambition to have zero impact on the climate in all Rijkswaterstaat's work – including that of its contractors. It wants to work in a circular and climate-neutral way by 2030. Both ambitions reinforce each other.
More high-quality recycling of materials, an important principle of the circular economy, means less CO2 emissions and therefore less impact on the climate. On the other hand, working on climate neutrality stimulates the circular transition.
The virtual event Industrial symbiosis as an opportunity for carbon neutrality on 23 February (9:00-13:00 CET) will launch the CircLean network as a concrete opportunity to tap into the potential of industrial symbiosis (IS) for European businesses. This pilot initiative, led by DG GROW, aims to increase the availability and quality of information about the impacts and benefits of IS in the EU.
Recovery from the Covid-19 crisis presents an important and unique opportunity for the EU to accelerate its transition towards a climate-neutral and circular economy. While there is little dispute about the opportunities offered by the funds available for the low-carbon and circular economy, the longer-term impact on Europe’s decarbonisation trajectory will depend on the choices made in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans and on how the overall policy framework is adapted.
After describing the EU recovery plan, this paper discusses various policy instruments – both new and existing – to create demand for circular materials and lower-carbon products, illustrated by examples of four resource and carbon-intensive sectors, namely construction, steel, textiles and plastics.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation develops and promotes the idea of a circular economy. It works with, and inspires, business, academia, policymakers, and institutions to mobilise systems solutions at scale, globally.
Its vision is a new economic system that delivers better outcomes for people and the environment. Business models, products, and materials are designed to increase use and reuse, replicating the balance of the natural world, where nothing becomes waste and everything has value.
A circular economy, increasingly built on renewable energy and materials, is distributed, diverse, and inclusive. The Foundation’s work focuses on six interlinking areas:
ACR+ is an international network of cities and regions sharing the aim of promoting a sustainable resource management and accelerating the transition towards a circular economy on their territories and beyond. The network currently counts around 100 members, mainly local and regional authorities as well as national networks of local authorities.
As circular economy calls for cooperation between all actors, ACR+ is open to other players in the field of material resource management (NGOs, academic institutions, consultancy or private organisations). For 25 years now, ACR+ has been facilitating the exchange of experiences between members, while also sharing technical and policy information and participating in EU-funded and international projects.
CIRCULÉIRE is Ireland’s first cross-sectoral circular economy innovation network, first designated EU circular economy hotspot, and is supported by several government departments. Its goal is to accelerate the transition towards a net-zero carbon circular economy in Ireland.
CIRCULÉIRE is co-creating innovative solutions with Irish industry from the agri-food, pharmaceutical, recycling, medical devices, ICT and built environment sectors. It has a dedicated innovation fund to invest in innovation demonstration projects.
CIRCULÉIRE also engages with a wide range of stakeholders from the Irish innovation ecosystem through our open-access circular economy knowledge library and capacity building activities including annual thematic working groups and workshops.
The Life-REPOLYUSE project is about REcovery of POLYurethane for reUSE in eco-efficient materials. It tries to solve the environmental challenge of the scarcity of resources and waste management in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. It addresses the problem of polyurethane plastic waste using innovative techniques.
The Großes Walsertal region has developed a Circular Economy Strategy: it has set itself the objective of introducing circularity at every stage of the value chain, from production to consumption, repair and waste management. Smart product design and increased recycling and reuse activities will contribute to gradually close the loop of each product life-cycle in the region.
The Großes Walsertal communities act as role models by sharing tools, offering vouchers for local food stores (as part of the leisure activities funding) and implementing binding green criteria for events organised on their territory.
HISER's main objective is to develop and demonstrate holistic, technological and cost-effective solutions to increase recovery rates from increasingly complex construction and demolition waste (C&DW), with due regard for circular economy principles on the value chain in the construction sector (from buildings' end of life to new buildings).
Join a series of livestream events to understand better how the private sector can help accelerate the world’s transition toward a regenerative and circular economy. The webinar on 16 November 2020 will be on Circular Economy & Emerging Technologies.
This report follows on from the publication Circular Czechia from July 2018, exploring the circular economy in the Czech Republic.
The report explains how innovation has developed in this field since 2018, and aims to be an inspiration for firms, organisations and authorities on how to implement circular principles. It sets out a wide selection of good practices from the Czech Republic, and includes the retail, wastewater treatment, transport, construction and furniture sectors.
PU foam pressurised containers are used to fill gaps and to insulate and install window and door frames so as to make buildings airtight. OCF (one-component foam) producers have invested in a recycling company which recycles the metals in the packaging material, the reactive residual polyurethane prepolymer and the propellant.
