The transformation into a circular economy entails factoring resource flows into production, sales and consumption processes and thus massively reducing the use of materials (raw or otherwise), as well as the volume of waste and the strain on the environment.
Austria's circular economy strategy therefore aims to:
The Romanian Government has approved an Action Plan promoting the Circular Economy as part of the National Strategy for the Circular Economy (NSCE). The action plan sets out a national vision for speeding up the transition to a circular economy, with measures geared to the nine economic sectors with the greatest potential for circularity in Romania's economy: agriculture and forestry; automotive; construction; food and beverages; packaging; textiles; electrical and electronic equipment; waste; water; wastewater.
The action plan has a cross-sectoral strand including promotion activities and a monitoring platform. It also stipulates 52 priority measures scheduled to be rolled out between 2024 and 2032.
EcoeFISHent, a cluster involving several actors belonging to different sectors and organization types, is working on developing both a coating for food packaging using gelatine extracted from fish processing side-streams and packaging for cosmetics from the polyethylene recovered from fishing nets.
The 4th International Conference on Strategies toward Green Deal Implementation – Water, Raw Materials & Energy (ICGreenDeal2023) will take place on 14-15 December. It will tackle climate change and ways to prevent it, including innovative solutions (technological, environmental, economic and social) that can be implemented under the Green Deal Strategies.
AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, is working on the development of new foams made with poultry feathers for sustainable hydroponic crop systems within the framework of UNLOCK, an initiative funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
The BRILIAN project is designed to support the adoption of sustainable and cooperative business models in rural areas, enabling a smoother transition to bio-based economies. It plays a fundamental role in revitalising these regions and promoting sustainable economic and social development by transforming primary producers into active players in the supply chain, aligned with the goals outlined in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Green Deal and the European Bioeconomy Strategy.
Plastic multi-layer composites are often used to package food in a functional and safe way. However, current recycling technologies are unable to reprocess these multi-layer composites into high-quality materials and so they are excluded from the circular economy.
For flexible food packaging, recyclability is even more complicated due to the high hygiene and safety standards that recyclates must meet when reused in contact with food. This is why CIRCULAR FoodPack is developing innovative solutions along the entire recycling value chain to make flexible food packaging circular.
At the Circularity FoodPack conference on 23 November, project partners and experts will present the latest findings and developments.
After Pazardzhik, Barcelona and Naples, the Biocircularcities partners are coming to Brussels on 28 September. Come and be inspired to bring the Biocircularcities approach to your garden by learning more about the project and its results. Discuss the future of a circular bioeconomy in Europe and exchange notes with your peers.
Circular Week, an international series of events dedicated to sustainable development and the circular economy, will take place this year from 23 to 29 October.
Look through the full agenda of events and sign up!
FEAD, the European Waste Management Association, invites you to an in-person conference to take place in Rimini, Italy, on Wednesday 8 November 2023. The event will explore the presence of PFAS in waste.
