The Environmental Protection Agency has launched a challenge called 'Innovating a Circular Economy for soft plastic in Ireland' under Enterprise Ireland’s Small Business Innovation Research programme. The challenge focuses on reducing/eliminating soft plastic waste generated through the provision of school meals in Ireland.
In 2016, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) set up a Symbiosis Users Network (SUN) to boost industrial symbiosis in Italy. The network promotes circular economy models through industrial symbiosis by focusing on operational issues.
SUN's 2019 conference was devoted to Good practices of industrial symbiosis in Italy and the contribution of regional policies as a strategic lever. The event, co-organised by SUN, Ecomondo and ENEA was held in Rimini (IT) on 7 November 2019 at Ecomondo - a leading event in Europe for new circular economy models.
Click on 2017 and 2019 to see the reports on SUN's two conferences.
Reports on ENEA-promoted conferences on industrial symbiosis are available here.
Based on a circular economic model that combines ecology and economy, b:bot is a machine and digital ecosystem for the collection of PET plastic bottles - with a real social and environmental impact.
The Circular Economy Action Group led by Forética and composed of 11 companies, among them the ECESP Coordination Group member Ecoembes, presents an analysis on 'The reality of plastics: myths and truths', focused on promoting the development of circular business models.
The Circular Economy Action Group, the business initiative promoted by Forética in Spain to lead the transition of companies towards a circular economy model, has produced a report entitled "The reality of plastics: myths and truths" [La realidad de los plásticos: Mitos y verdades].
The aim of the report is to ensure a better understanding of plastic waste pollution, thus promoting the foundations of the new plastics economy. It also outlines the actions to be taken in order to improve plastic circularity.
Forética's mission is to promote the integration of social, environmental and good governance aspects in the strategy and management of companies and organisations with one objective: to achieve a sustainable future.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) has always been a meeting place for Sweden’s future. It builds bridges between the business community, the public sector, academia and the political sphere.
Its two-year project "Resource Effectiveness and the Circular Economy" was aimed at making Sweden more competitive in a future with finite resources, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, by economising on resources and developing new technologies, services and business models in five areas:
Read the synthesis report, marking the completion of the project, which presents the most important conclusions, recommendations and action plans from the five subprojects.
Holland Circular Hotspot is a private-public platform in which companies, knowledge institutes and local authorities collaborate to promote and support international collaboration and knowledge exchange on Dutch circular economy, and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, a government agency for sustainable, agricultural, innovative and international business development and growth, have come together to share insights, networks and resources to help kickstart circular developments that will boost the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Circular examples from various market segments closely linked to SDGs such as agri-food, manufacturing and the built environment are included in the brochure next to cross-sectoral topics such as consumer goods or plastics.
The European Manufacturers of Expanded Polystyrene (EUMEPS) is the voice of the Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) industry. It has published an op-ed welcoming the European Commission’s commitment to a Renovation Wave and the outline of its strategy shared in the roadmap published in May 2020. It believes that this initiative is a great opportunity for scaling-up current renovation rates and EU’s climate and energy efficiency goals.
EUMEPS agrees that increased renovation can be a key contributor to creating jobs and stimulating economic recovery in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It embraces the Commission’s finding that buildings are also critical for making circularity work and its objective to implement the Renovation Wave in line with circular economy principles.
Plastics represent a serious waste-handling problem with only 10% of the plastic waste generated worldwide being recycled. Plastics recycling is instrumental to close the loop of the circular economy by re-introducing into the economy high-quality plastic recyclates incorporated into new products.
The brochure highlights the importance of moving towards a circular economy for plastics in Europe. It identifies the most commonly used types of plastics and describes the current state-of-play, challenges faced by the European mechanical plastics recycling industry and key recommendations for overcoming them. Plastics recycling’s environmental benefits and economic importance are also touched upon.
Jerónimo Martins is an international Group based in Portugal with a massive know-how in food distribution. In 2019, it started selling washing up liquid under the Kraft and Ultra Pro brands with bottles made with 100% recycled PET and offering check-out bags made with 80% post-consumer recycled plastic.
What is the link between old fishing nets and your smartphone? The casing. POPICASE is the new generation of eco-friendly phone cases by a start-up based in Barcelona.
The GLOPACK (Granting society with LOw environmental impact innovative PACKaging) project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research programme, investigates food packaging with no environmental footprint and the ability to extend the shelf-life of food products.
The GLOPACK position paper aims at clarifying many debatable points related to bioplastics and biodegradability, especially terminology, and focuses on the benefits of biodegradable (in natural conditions) packaging material that can help the food sector enter the virtuous loop of the circular economy.
The paper also proposes some recommendations (basic, strategic and tactical interventions) to help all stakeholders in the food packaging sector to align with the common goal of ending plastic pollution.
Two European companies, polyamide supplier Domo and polymer manufacturer Covestro, are collaborating with Dutch technology startup Circularise to create a system for tracking plastics.
PackAlliance aims to modernise Higher Education curricula to better serve the plastic packaging sector's labour market needs. It has therefor prepared a questionnaire to gather information on the skills needed in the circular economy applied to this sector. Which skills are vital in the plastic packaging transition to circular economy?
ACI’s Future of Polyolefins Summit, on 20 and 21 January 2021 in Antwerp, will provide the perfect opportunity to meet with leading executives and experts from across the entire value chain.
AIMPLAS, the Spanish Plastics Technology Centre, is coordinating the LIFE CIRC-ELV project (other participants are Desguaces Cortés, Sigit and Sigrauto from Spain, Indra from France, and Isolago from Portugal) with the aim of creating a new, technically and economically viable network in Europe for reuse and recovery of at least 95% by weight of end-of-life vehicles.
Le secteur de l’événementiel est plus que jamais concerné par les enjeux de durabilité et de préservation des ressources. Conscients de la nécessité de concilier l’organisation d’événements et l’économie circulaire, les acteurs du secteur doivent se mobiliser davantage afin de mettre en œuvre les leviers d’action existants.
Dans le cadre de la nouvelle loi française, de nombreuses mesures sont pertinentes:
The European Green Deal sets out ambitious goals for plastic packaging products in the EU, which include ensuring that all products on the market are reusable or recyclable by 2030. The European project CIRC-PACK shared key lessons at its final online event in March.
According to the 7th edition of the International Seminar on Biopolymers and Sustainable Composites organized by AIMPLAS on 4 and 5 March, bioplastic production is expected to increase by 15% by 2024 and is carving out a niche in the construction and automotive sectors.
Packaging plastics can offer an almost infinite range of options for manufacturers, both in terms of function and design. Their durability and resistance to degradation means that if they ‘leak’ into the environment, they stay there. Leakage has been increasing rapidly and its detrimental impact, especially on the marine environment, has attracted wide public and political concern.
EASAC established in 2018 an Expert Group to look at scientific aspects of plastics packaging and the circular economy. This report is the result of an 18-month investigation and reviews the negative consequences of the current linear economy for plastic packaging, the scope for improvement towards a more circular pattern and options for increasing recycling rates and reducing leakage into the environment.
This French act of law contains about 50 measures providing for:
The Plastics Recycling World Expo is a dedicated free-to-attend marketplace for the plastics recycling industry. The event will host over 200 exhibitors presenting the full range of sorting, washing, size reduction and recycling equipment as well as materials, additives, and relevant services.
The Plastics Circularity Multiplier group invites you to attend its first conference on the 10th June in Brussels. The event will bring together policy makers and representatives from industry and academia who will communicate on a range of EU-funded innovations that aim of bringing plastic materials into the circular economy.
The CIRC-PACK project has produced breakthrough biodegradable plastics using alternative bio-based raw materials, which could play an important role to play throughout the plastic value chain. Join the project for its final event to learn more.
To prevent plastic from entering the environment and reaching the Oslo Fjord and to remove existing plastic pollution, an action plan with short-term and long-term measures was co-created by many stakeholders in Oslo.
