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.
The Economic Cooperation and Trade Division of UNECE organises an online and in-person event titled "Regional Policy Dialogue: Sustainable and Innovation-Enhancing Public Procurement to support Circular Economy Transition in the UNECE region" on 15 November (8:00-9:45 CET), which will also contribute to the development of a policy brief on Sustainable and Innovation-Enhancing Public Procurement.
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'.
The European Commission is launching a call for applications for members for the new mandate of the Platform on Sustainable Finance. The next Platform’s mandate will run from Q1 2023 to Q4 2024. The future Platform will consist of maximum 35 members, up to 28 of whom will be selected through this call for applications.
The European Commission has launched a call for evidence and a public consultation with a view to the European Critical Raw Materials Act, announced by Commission president Ursula von der Leyen during her 2022 State of the Union address. Interested parties can provide their input until 25 November 2022.
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;
CIMPA, an EU-funded H2020 project, aimed to develop a recycling chain for post-industrial and post-consumer multilayer films from food and agricultural applications. This complex approach combines innovative compositional sorting, mechanical and physical recycling and an advanced decontamination process.
The consortium CIRCULAR FoodPack worked on solutions to enable the circular use of plastic packaging, focusing on the most sensitive product category: food. The project aimed to develop recyclable packaging with at least 50% post-consumer recyclates incorporated behind a functional barrier.
If you are a representative of a retail SME based in a Member State of the European Union, you are invited to complete the survey "Twin transition for Retail SMEs", that is part of an independent study commissioned by the European Commission. The idea is to collect best case stories from SMEs engaged in digitalization to increase their sustainability.
