The World Circular Economy Forum 2022 presents circular economy game-changers. Hosted in Kigali and online on 6-8 December 2022, WCEF2022 is co-organised by the African Circular Economy Alliance, the Republic of Rwanda, the African Circular Economy Network (ACEN) and The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, with international partners. The title for this year's event is 'From Africa to the World'.
By using residual streams, we can take a big step towards a circular, sustainable food system. This shift does require cooperation, however...
Foodvalley NL aims to promote the shift to a sustainable global food system. One of its projects is the Upcycling Community: an international group of partners collaborating on upcycling food losses. There are still many barriers to this circular approach, however, so they are focusing on:
bringing together a diverse and impactful group of business partners with a shared interest in upcycling food losses;
encouraging purchasers and product developers to replace virgin ingredients;
Following the success of Lignofuels 2022 which brought 150+ senior industry professionals to Helsinki in June 2022, we are pleased to announce that the 2023 conference will be taking place in Helsinki again on 8-9 February 2023.
Coffeefrom is an innovative project from Italy. It recovers coffee grounds from the food industry and blends them with biopolymers to form a new bio-based material that is a durable and resistant alternative to single-use plastic.
WaVa - Co-products Marketplace is a chemical exchange platform where professionals can sell their manufacturing co-products or buy raw materials. It matches up supply and demand.
Any industrial raw material, waste, by-product or manufacturing co-product can be traded on the WaVa platform, but its chief focus is managing and processing chemical by-products. It aims to help people achieve their circular economy objectives and thus reap the economic and environmental benefits.
WaVa is not recognised as a waste disposal facility; it simply connects buyers and sellers. It never actually takes ownership of the product.
The HOOP Network of Cities and Regions seeks to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and mutual learning among cities and regions willing to recover valuable resources from urban bio-waste and wastewater to make bio-based products.
By joining the network, cities and regions gain information about innovative urban bioeconomy solutions and engage in activities relevant to their context and specific interests. Participants have direct exchanges with the eight HOOP lighthouse cities and regions, sharing experiences and expertise.
The HOOP network is only open to organisations that plan, organise or operate municipal waste management or wastewater treatment activities, for instance local or regional authorities and waste management companies.
This Reflection paper of the ECESP Leadership Group on Network governance and circular economy hubs draws on the lessons learned when a group of ECESP Coordination Group members focused on road-mapping processes in various countries. The key to success is making the networks work, making them actionable, with a focus on network governance and the role of individual circular economy hubs.
The project EffiSludge for LIFE has found a way to clean industrial wastewater with significant environmental benefits. The project team has developed an integrated wastewater treatment method that takes an "industrial symbiosis" approach where the waste from one sector becomes a resource for another.
