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.
The BDI Initiative Circular Economy was created in April 2021 by the Federation of German Industries.
It is a network of more than 50 members that defines the potential of the circular economy and the necessary framework conditions through practical discussions. To this end, they are in close dialogue with policymakers in Berlin and Brussels and with the scientific community.
Every year, about 100 billion tons of material are taken from the planet - but only 10 billion are circularized. The results of the TOP 10 study clearly highlight the differences between the systems: the waste culture and concepts are different in the Global North and the Global South, as are the objectives of the respective legislations.
In the Global North, the goal is to decouple waste generation from consumption. In the Global South, waste increases with per capita income; here, the old consumption patterns and images of the rich Global North are often emulated.
Scorecards are used in the study to assess individual materials and their circular maturity in the region. The overall score is shown in the summary per material.
By designing and enabling the use of Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries for multiple use-cycles, valuable materials are maintained, and a range of economic and environmental benefits can be unlocked.
Innovators from the automotive industry, Dutch and French public authorities, and the European Commission have collaborated to identify regulatory barriers to reusing EV batteries as energy storage devices and unlock solutions.
