The Maallemuuttajat 2030 project and Asikkala Municipal Library set up a tool-sharing library service.
The European NONTOX Project aims to eliminate hazardous and unpleasant substances from plastic waste and thus convert non-recyclable plastics and recycling waste into new resources.
The URBIOFIN project aims to demonstrate the techno-economic and environmental viability of an integrated and innovative biorefinery for the transformation of the organic fraction of municipal solid wasteinto new marketable bioproducts, chemical building blocks, biopolymers and additives for different markets like agriculture and cosmetics.
The Loop Company has discovered the opportunities offered by the circular economy and launched three initiatives - Book in Loop, BabyLoop and UniLoop - that bring circularity to everyday life.
C2C ExpoLAB is a consultancy firm which specialises in the practical application of Cradle to Cradle (C2C) principles in the built environment. It enables its clients to exploit the circular economy concept. One of its projects was Venlo city hall which illustrates its approach and principles.
Leadax uses high-tech material and production knowledge to develop and manufacture 100% circular materials out of discarded PVB for waterproofing buildings.
Green Serendipity is an international consultancy firm with a focus on renewable plastics for packaging and products. It advises businesses on how to develop circular concepts and strategies for packaging and products.
Schijvens has been producing corporate uniforms for more than 150 years now. In 2017, they began collecting customers' old clothing, shredding it and mixing the textile fibres with shredded PET-polyester ones from sportswear, fishing nets and bottles. This led to 100% recycled yarn, which is used to make new fabrics and ultimately new uniforms.
Van Werven Plastics Recyling specialises in creating high-quality raw materials from post-consumer hard plastics, collected from construction waste, industrial waste and municipal recycling centres. Van Werven has a separate machine for each type of plastic, as every material has its own properties.
Groningen Seaports is the economic operator, developer and port authority for the port of Delfzijl, Eemshaven and adjoining industrial sites. Groningen Seaports is at the forefront of the circular economy with an innovative circular cluster and ongoing sustainable investments. They facilitate mechanical and chemical recycling and specialise in recycling plastics.
This model reinforces Wallonia's objective of renewing its industry and will ensure that the region is better able to cope with future crises.
The strategy will achieve this by fully integrating the alterations and adaptations required by climate change, and by making Wallonia more independent in terms of resources and global supply chains.
Wallonia’s vision is based on the following guidelines:
Particular attention is paid to the six value chains: Construction, Plastics, Food, Water, Textiles and Metallurgy
The Intermunicipal Community of the Tâmega e Sousa is a public entity composed of 11 municipalities in Northern Portugal. It has developed a circular project aiming to enhance circular economy achievements and green transition agendas within local authorities, municipal companies and intermunicipal entities. In this regard, it has created the manual Economia Circular nas Compras Públicas on circular economy in public procurement to assist municipalities.
The manual presents an in-depth mapping of circular economy practices for a Portuguese strategy for ecological public procurement, as well as indications on how to address the circular economy challenge, with a range of criteria and procedures for public procurement.
The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg is a frontrunner in many economic sectors, including finance, construction, data-driven innovation and space resources.
In recent years, the country has sought to position itself as a hotspot for the circular economy (CE) and many ongoing public and private initiatives support this claim.
Based on these fruitful experiences and the recognition of the CE as a high priority by the Luxembourg government, which has made it a major feature of the 2018-2023 Government agreement, the current strategy aims to take the CE in Luxembourg to the next level. It identifies proven regulatory, financial and information management methods and tools for boosting circular initiatives, and proposes a methodology for using them in a number of key economic sectors.
The Finnish region of Päijät-Häme is a strong promoter of circular economy practices. In line with the national strategy, the region focuses on regional-level initiatives. It therefore seeks to engage various regional stakeholders and foster a common vision and strategy.
The formation of a stakeholder group through a series of networking events has led to a constantly evolving roadmap. Several projects are currently being implemented on the basis of this roadmap, and many good practices have been achieved which serve as an example of a circular economy in the region.
The strategy was originally published in 2017.
The City of Amsterdam’s Sharing Economy Action Plan (2015) is a strategy by the city to provide solutions for a sharing and circular economy (CE) that works for all.
It provides five key points on which action should be taken:
The intention is to widen the available tools and materials to enable the spreading of a CE, thus encouraging collaborative initiatives taking place in the city. Therefore, the plan facilitates the creation and spreading of more circular projects, such as the "fashion libraries" or the promotion of various digital platforms like the ones existing in the transport and accommodation sectors.
Castilla-La Mancha’s Circular Economy Strategy for 2030 is comprised of 21 main areas and 48 measures organised within six policy strands. There are four strategic sectors (industrial, agri-food, construction and tourism) and various objectives to be achieved by the region in order to implement circular models in the 17 focus areas.
This strategy is based on a circular economy analysis of the region, and relies on the collaboration and involvement of all stakeholders. It will be developed and implemented by means of two action plans, covering the 2021-2025 and 2026-2030 periods.
What steps has the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management Rijkswaterstaat taken in the field of circularity in 2019? You can read everything in this annual report, intended for colleagues, other government agencies, research centres or private parties.
New in this report is the focus on climate neutrality, i.e. the ambition to have zero impact on the climate in all Rijkswaterstaat's work – including that of its contractors. It wants to work in a circular and climate-neutral way by 2030. Both ambitions reinforce each other.
More high-quality recycling of materials, an important principle of the circular economy, means less CO2 emissions and therefore less impact on the climate. On the other hand, working on climate neutrality stimulates the circular transition.
In spring 2020, the spread of the COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis had a severe impact on society. This situation does, however, enable a stronger contribution to a transition to a circular economy through a green recovery.
As one of the world’s most innovative countries, Sweden has a good chance of addressing this transition by taking important steps to strengthen its competitiveness through technological development and innovation for circular solutions.
Adopted in 2020 based on an agreement between the Government, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party, this strategy sets out the direction and ambition for a long-term and sustainable transition of Swedish society.
Read it now in English.
The European Circular Cities Declaration is designed to help accelerate the transition from a linear to a circular economy in Europe, and thereby create a resource-efficient, low-carbon and socially responsible society.
It aims to:
For more information on the declaration, please click here.
The Großes Walsertal region has developed a Circular Economy Strategy: it has set itself the objective of introducing circularity at every stage of the value chain, from production to consumption, repair and waste management. Smart product design and increased recycling and reuse activities will contribute to gradually close the loop of each product life-cycle in the region.
The Großes Walsertal communities act as role models by sharing tools, offering vouchers for local food stores (as part of the leisure activities funding) and implementing binding green criteria for events organised on their territory.
This report is published by the Cyprus Federation of Employers & Industrialists (OEB), the Institute of Greek Tourism Confederation (INSETE) and the public policy consultancy adelphi (Germany) as part of the European project Hotels4Climate financed by EUKI.
The report aims to assess the current state of circularity in the hotel industry in Cyprus and Greece by conducting national surveys in both countries targeting hotels in order to:
The circular economy is an alternative to the dominant economic model, which causes considerable damage to the environment as it is based on the linear use of resources.
The development of the circular economy has been hindered by a number of economic, technological and regulatory constraints.
EpE's natural resources commission has spent three years identifying what makes circular economy initiatives successful. An analysis of 27 circular economy initiatives carried out by companies shows that partnerships are one key to overcoming these constraints. A closer examination of these partnerships sheds light on various forms of governance.
This report connects the potential for resource efficiency, via circular economy and the value-retention processes (VRPs), with a policy-relevant lens. It is one of the first to quantify the current-state and potential impacts associated with the inclusion of VRPs within industrial economic systems.
In order to do that the assessment applies the different VRPs to a series of products within three industrial sectors and quantifies benefits in relation to the original manufactured product, such as the material requirement, the energy used, the waste as well as the costs and the generation of jobs.
The report also highlights the systemic barriers that may inhibit progressive scale-up including regulatory, market, technology and infrastructure barriers, and how they could be overcome.
The International Resource Panel think piece provides policy options to reduce marine plastic litter and achieve the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision, which voluntarily commits G20 countries to “reduce additional pollution by marine plastic litter to zero by 2050 through a comprehensive life-cycle approach”.
The report shows the marine plastic litter trends relevant to 2050, summarizes the current plastic policy landscape and explores policy upstream and downstream interventions to reduce marine plastic litter and to transition to a circular plastic economy. They include, among others, actions to design out waste, incentivise reuse, and exploit market-based instruments.
4 Horizon 2020 projects working on biowaste valorisation have teamed up to promote innovative solutions for the circular bioeconomy. This joint initiative is named ROOTS-circulaR pOlicies for changing the biOwasTe System. The projects - HOOP, ValueWaste, Scalibur and WaysTUP - are piloting new solutions to transform urban biowaste and wastewater into valuable products like Feed, Fertilisers, Bioplastics, Biopesticides, Proteins and Bioethanol.
The promoters have discussed their views and shared their concerns on policy barriers hindering innovations that lead to the Circular Economy for urban biowaste. As a result of the discussion, 4 focus topics have been singled out, accompanied by proposed solutions, that will constitute the key messages and be addressed in future initiatives.
The EESC and CCMI believe that the present/future of critical raw materials resilience is of essential concern to EU's organised civil society. For this reason, and because the CEAP represents a step forward with a clear roadmap for initiatives and actions, the EESC recommends that the Parliament and the Council support this approach.
The EESC position concerns 6 main objectives:
18 Italian Consumer Associations sponsored by Eni have identified the challenges to be tackled and the actions to be implemented in order to empower consumers for the circular economy transition in a document titled Circular Consumption Charter.
According to the Charter, circular consumption should be:
Proposed actions
For more information click here.
Textiles are an important issue for cities, as people generate more and more textile waste. City authorities are required to provide for separate collection of used textiles but have limited ways of putting the waste generated to good use.
Eurocities’ paper on circular textiles is published ahead of the Commission's new Strategy for Sustainable Textiles, planned for autumn 2021, to help the EU shift to a climate-neutral, circular economy (CE) where products are designed to be more durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable and energy-efficient. It focuses on a sustainable recovery of the textile sector from the Covid-19 crisis by:
The transition to a circular economy is at an early stage in the EU.
Regulations, markets and investment tools, including financial risk assessment, are adapted to linear models. Generally speaking, externalities linked to linear business models are not taken into account. This poses a problem for emerging circular models, which have to contend with the challenge of accessing finance, as the financial sector sees circular projects as highly risky.
To improve the conditions for financing CE projects, the Expert Group on Circular Economy Financing identified the main areas where incentives are needed, addressing recommendations to policy makers, financial institutions and project promoters.
See also: Categorisation system and Incentives to boost the CE reports
Over the past decades concepts such as sustainability and industrial development have slowly come to the same operational logic, as demonstrated by a growing interest in exploring and describing the synergy between developments in the circular economy and industrial digitalisation. There is agreement on their complementarity evolution paths, but no outlook is available regarding the co-evolution staging and structuring. This paper based on desk and empirical research presents an approach to outline the likely path of evolution.
So far, the notion of transition to sustainability has been applied in single sector studies, while reality indicates that the systemic change required cuts across thematic technologies and sectors. The approach taken can be useful to enrich current analyses.
The European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils Network (EEAC Network) brings together advisory bodies offering independent advice to national or regional governments and parliaments on climate change, environment and sustainable development.
The vast majority of EEAC members work in particular on the transition towards a circular economy model. With representatives from academia, civil society, the private sector and public bodies, the EEAC network brings together experts with years of experience producing analysis and recommendations that should enhance the shift to a circular economy at sub-national, national and the EU level.
CONTINUED was launched in 2017 with the aim to create a generic software solution for circular consumption in the fashion industry. Recirculating clothes is up to 3000% more efficient than reusing material in reducing the fashion industry's environmental footprint.
With the CONTINUED platform, brands and consumers can be connected, while increasing the brands' environmental impact. The platform offers dashboard tools for Sales, Inventory, Finance and Impact, as well as a Webshop back-end supporting several rent/resale models, account management and payment.
CONTINUED is fashion as a service and sustainability as a product. It lets brands explore future business opportunities based on circular economy while carrying out existing business activities.
Precious plastic is a community platform launched in the Netherlands in 2012, that brings together the solutions needed to tackle the problem of plastic waste: the people, the machines, the knowledge, the techniques, etc. The platform aims to reduce plastic waste by boosting recycling, promoting new biodegradable materials or by adopting zero waste lifestyles.
As an open source project, all the information, code, drawings and source material contributed is made freely available online under Creative Commons licenses. The platform brings together plastic waste collection points, recycling workspaces for people to access equipment and machinery, a community of people to share knowledge, and a global network for collective action.
France Barter is a B2B platform allowing companies to save money by replacing purchases with exchanges. This marketplace, created in 2015, facilitates multilateral exchanges via its own unit of exchange: the "Barter euro". The barter system allows companies to pool and optimise the use of unused assets, such as human time, machine time, storage space, surplus stock, etc.
Companies register the assets they offer and their purchasing needs, then the platform's support team helps identify under-exploited assets and structure offers. The platform thus helps companies avoid unnecessary purchases, saving money while cutting resource use.
ShopC, is the first-ever online marketplace for verified circular products from the fashion and lifestyle sectors. Created at the heart of the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship at the Copenhagen Business School, it came as an answer to the problem of conscious consumers wanting truly sustainable products but being bombarded with green-washing campaigns and untrustworthy sustainability claims.
ShopC as a circular marketplace for sustainable, circular products, focuses on transparency, upholding the values of sustainability and circular economy to the highest standard. It focuses on brands that make products that last and if their life comes to an end, they are re-looped back into the system in some way.
Welcome to Green Tech Valley, focussing on Climate and Circular Solutions. The Green Tech Valley is located in the south of Austria and is internationally regarded as the hotspot for innovative energy and environmental technology.
The Green Tech Cluster initiates growth through innovation. It brings together around 220 companies and research institutions shaping green solutions of the future. With 20 global technology leaders within an hour’s drive, the location forms one of the highest concentrations of companies in this industry.
Have a look at their Don't waste / Invest campaign: One-stop-shop recycling solutions for a wide range of waste fractions derived from Austrian excellence in achieving one of Europe's highest recycling rates.
ReziProK is a funding programme focusing on a resource-efficient circular economy and innovative product cycles, and is run by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). It supports research and development projects which will help reach these goals. The projects seek to close product cycles by developing appropriate business models, design concepts and digital technologies and thus contribute to the implementation of a resource-efficient circular economy.
The projects focus on:
SUSTAINair is an H2020-funded platform developing circular economy principles for the aviation and aerospace design, manufacturing, operations and end-of-life phases. This EU-funded research project aims to make the entire supply chain ecosystem greener, in line with the Circular Economy Action Plan, and to set new standards for aerospace manufacturing, enabling an increase in cross-sector synergies.
The SUSTAINair project provides the aviation sector with a path to a more cost-effective, low-carbon economy, while tackling the increase in resource consumption, waste and emissions. Because of this, the SUSTAINair project has been endorsed by the Future Sky research initiative of the Association of European Research Establishments in Aeronautics (EREA).
VCØB aims to guide, support and involve actors from the construction value chain in Denmark. They help identify issues and barriers to the circular economy in construction, through increased knowledge sharing and dialogue.
Ultimately, VCØB wants Denmark to have a flexible market for the circular economy. It is working on:
The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) is a private business and employers' organisation representing approximately 18 000 companies in Denmark. They aim to provide the best possible corporate conditions for their member companies.
The DI network for circular economy (text in Danish only) aims to create a platform for companies that are interested in, working with or want to be updated on the circular economy. It organises three meetings a year, and is open to members of the Confederation of Danish Industry. The network has around 150 members and growing.
At Zero Waste Europe (ZWE), Larissa Copello is the Consumption and Production Campaigner working on upstream solutions for packaging and single-use plastic products, such as waste-free business models and reuse systems.
Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) is the European network of communities, local leaders, experts and change agents working towards the elimination of waste in our society. ZWE advocates for sustainable systems and the redesign of our relationship with resources to accelerate a just transition towards zero waste for the benefit of people and the planet.
ZWE is also part of Rethink Plastic, an alliance of +10 European NGOs working with European policy-makers to design and deliver policy solutions to tackle plastic pollution, in which Larissa Copello follows policy developments on single-use plastic and packaging.
Guido Lena (Italian – 1965) was Director for Environmental Affairs in UEAPME from 1999 to 2008, when he was appointed Director for Sustainable Development, extending his competences to EU energy and climate change policies. His experience covers the challenges and opportunities of sustainability applied to SMEs. In this role, he has represented his organisation in several consultative committees set up by the EU Commission and worked as both sherpa in high-level groups set up by the EU Commission and as expert for the EESC. Due to the recent name change of his organisation, he has been Sustainable Development Director in SMEunited since November 2018.
SMEunited, formerly known as UEAPME, is the association of crafts and SMEs in Europe with around 70 member organisations from over 30 European countries. SMEunited is a recognised employers’ organisation and European social partner and acts on behalf of crafts and SMEs in European social dialogue and in discussions with the EU institutions. SMEunited represents national cross-sectoral craft and SME federations, European SME branch organisations and associate members. It speaks on behalf of the 24 million SMEs in Europe which employ almost 95 million people. It is a non-profit seeking and non-partisan organisation.
Dr Sarah Miller is Chief Executive of the Rediscovery Centre, Ireland's National Centre for the Circular Economy. Since 2005, Sarah has overseen the development of the centre as an ecological centre of excellence and an innovation hub for the circular economy in Ireland. Sarah has a keen interest in research and holds a PhD in Environmental Science, a Master’s in Business Administration and an Honours Degree in Biotechnology.
Based in Dublin, but operating on a national basis, the Rediscovery Centre is a creative movement connecting people, ideas and resources to support the circular economy and sustainable, low-carbon living. The centre’s work is built around the three key themes of education, demonstration and advocacy. To support the transition to a circular economy in Ireland, the centre provides training, education and events that inspire active participation and citizen engagement.
The visitor centre demonstrates good practice through social enterprise excellence, a reuse retail collective and onsite circular economy programmes and showcases. Working in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency, the centre also runs the national Circular Economy Academy, a free mentoring and support programme to assist social enterprises and community organisations embrace circularity. In collaboration with the Irish government, regional and city authorities, NGOs, academic institutions and corporate partners, the Rediscovery Centre’s education, research and policy team coordinate action-based programmes which drive change and support the circular economy in Ireland.
Alberto Arroyo Schnell is responsible for policy and programmes at the European Regional Office of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He has held leading positions on EU environmental policy for the past 15 years. His current focus is working together with the key sectors related to / impacted by / benefiting from biodiversity and nature, aiming to find ways to achieve the environmental targets jointly and to ensure ownership of these targets by all stakeholders. He is Spanish, with a background in Forestry Engineering.
Agnieszka Sznyk is chair of the Board at INNOWO, the Institute of Innovation and Responsible Development in Warsaw, Poland. She holds a PhD in Life Sciences and is an expert in the fields of sustainable production and consumption, circular economy and healthcare economics. Agnieszka has been connected with nongovernmental organisations for many years, notably as founder and manager of the Polish Circular Hotspot and the international educational campaign Circular Week.
Agnieszka serves as an economy expert at the CE Working Group under the National Smart Specializations (NSS) appointed by the Steering Committee, which consists of representatives of the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy in Poland.
She is author of numerous reports including:
INNOWO (the Institute of Innovation and Responsible Development) is a foundation, non-governmental organisation and a THINK-to-DO TANK established to support the development of innovation and implementation of systemic changes for the purpose of sustainable socio-economic progress. The circular economy is the main field of interest and expertise of INNOWO. The organisation supports decision-makers and different stakeholder groups in identifying effective solutions and policy instruments to engage businesses and consumers in achieving a significant and lasting change towards sustainable production and consumption.
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability is a global network of more than 1 750 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development. Active in over 100 countries, ICLEI influences sustainability policy and drives local action for low emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular development.
Mark Hidson joined ICLEI in 2003. He is a member of ICLEI Europe’s Board of Directors and responsible for ICLEI’s sustainable economy and procurement work. For 25 years he has worked for, and on behalf of, local, regional and national governments in project, policy and strategy development on sustainability issues such as smart cities, circular economy, business and city interaction, procurement, climate change and transport.
Freek van Eijk is CEO of Holland Circular Hotspot (HCH), a private-public platform that facilitates the transition to a circular economy at international level by bringing together government authorities, knowledge institutes and especially businesses. HCH supports knowledge exchange with the aim of stimulating entrepreneurship in the field of the circular economy.
Freek van Eijk is also vice-chair of Circular Biobased Delta, an alliance of Dutch provinces, businesses and knowledge centres pioneering a sustainable circular and biobased economy. He is one of the more senior Dutch experts in the field of waste management and the circular economy. He also serves as Managing Director of Acceleratio.
Previously, Freek van Eijk worked for over a decade as Director of strategy and PA at the multinational SUEZ and as a board member of the Dutch Waste Management Association and the Society and Enterprise Foundation and acted as a Sherpa for the EU Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials.
He has a MSc. Eng. (Delft University of Technology).
Agata Meysner is a youth activist and the director of Generation Climate Europe (GCE). She holds an LLB in European Law from Maastricht University and is currently pursuing an MSc in Public Policy from University College London specialising in the circular economy and resource efficiency. Ms Meysner previously worked at the European Environmental Bureau, where she focused on the implementation of the SDGs by and in the EU.
Generation Climate Europe is the largest coalition of youth-led networks at the European level, pushing for stronger action from the EU on climate and environmental issues. GCE brings together 460 national organisations across 47 countries in Europe. It is guided by the voices of 20 million young Europeans. GCE's mission is to create a platform for the youth to advocate for a just and green transition in Europe.
The circular economy is one of the key thematic areas for GCE, encompassing various issues such as textiles, digitalisation, energy and food systems.
EuroCommerce is the principal European organisation representing the retail and wholesale sector. It embraces national associations in 31 countries and 5.4 million companies, both leading global players such as Carrefour, Ikea, Metro and Tesco, and many small businesses. Retail and wholesale provide a link between producers and 500 million European consumers over a billion times a day. It generates 1 in 7 jobs, providing a varied career for 29 million Europeans, many of them young people. It also supports millions of further jobs throughout the supply chain, from small local suppliers to international businesses. EuroCommerce is the recognised European social partner for the retail and wholesale sector.
Isabelle Maurizi is head of Sustainability and Environment at EuroCommerce. She focuses on promoting retailers' and wholesalers' circular economy initiatives such as deploying more sustainable products, ensuring the right waste management infrastructure and empowering consumers.
Mercè Boy Roura is coordinator of the Interreg MED Green Growth community and EU project manager at the BETA Technological Center at the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (Spain). She is an environmental scientist with a PhD in Experimental Sciences and Sustainability. She has 10 years' international experience in research and knowledge transfer projects in the field of natural resources and sustainability.
The Interreg MED Green Growth community is a multi-stakeholder network of projects which promotes the green and circular economy in the Mediterranean by enhancing cross-sectoral innovation practices through a regional cooperation approach. Since 2016, the network has consisted of 14 projects connecting 165 partners from 13 countries in the Mediterranean. It structures its work around four focus areas: food systems, eco-innovation, smart cities and waste management. The community supports projects with their communication and capitalisation efforts, thus increasing their impact at policy level and fostering potential transfer and replication of their results in other regions. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled the Green Growth Community in October 2019, acknowledging its potential to advance cooperation in the transition to a green and circular economy in the Mediterranean region.
By 2025, 100% recyclable beverage packaging & PET bottles of 50% recycled content.
By 2030, PET bottles of 100% recycled and/or renewable PET, 90% collected & more use of refillables.
By 2025, all new PET bottling lines will be suitable for processing up to 100% high-quality rPET without compromising output quality, efficiency or effectiveness.
By 2022, alternative secondary packaging solutions free of disposable plastics will be available for every established SKU format multipack.
Krones will leverage its technological expertise to help customers design packaging that specifically facilitates post-consumer recycling.
Krones will assist its customers to adapt existing lines in order to achieve the best possible outcomes when using recycled or renewable input materials.
With immediate effect, Krones will make available capping equipment for tethered caps.
Krones makes it possible to use detachable labels to enhance recyclability. It aims to make labels jointly recyclable with containers or to eliminate separate labelling.
Krones will continue to allocate substantial R&D resources to its recycling technology division in order to facilitate physical recycling of post-consumer plastics.
Krones will actively explore disruptive new technologies delivering beverages to consumers without conventional PET packaging (e.g. pulp bottles, no-packaging solutions).
LIPOR's Environmental Education and Intervention Program aims to create an educational offer that encourages citizens to implement good environmental practices and facilitates the acquisition of skills that support civic intervention and a sustainable development.
LIPOR intends to reach 90 000 people with its awareness campaign within its catchment area. This involves delivering about 10 direct environmental awareness actions to the community its environmental education technicians daily.
LIPOR’s annual prevention programme includes several projects and initiatives implemented across all eight municipalities aiming to prevent and reduce food waste.
With the “Embrulha" (Pack It) project LIPOR wants to engage 50 restaurants in Porto Municipality and 10 restaurants in other LIPOR municipalities to recover 6 tonnes of food waste.
The "Dose Certa" (Right Portion) project aims to certify 46 food establishments in total.
The Strategic Plan for Urban Waste 2020 (PERSU 2020) is the reference instrument of the urban waste policy in Portugal.
LIPOR has defined a target of 50 kg per inhabitant a year in 2020 for selective collection as a goal. Several projects that aim to increase multi-material and organic recovery figures are defined in LIPOR's strategic plan.
For landfills, the target is a maximum value of landfill of biodegradable waste deposition of 10%.
One public tender for catering services with fully sustainable and circular criteria.
Starbucks target is to phase out plastic straws from its more than 28,000 stores worldwide by 2020, a decision that will eliminate more than 1 billion straws a year.
100% recycled and other sustainable sourced materials by 2030.
100% recycled, certified organic or sustainable sourced cotton by 2020.
To increase the collected volume of garments to reach 25,000 tonnes annually; achieved in 2019 with 29,005 tonnes of garments collected for recycling and reuse.
100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging
Reduce plastic packaging by 25%
25% post recycled plastic across all packaging used
100% recycled or other sustainably sourced material
100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging
Reduce plastic packaging by 25%
25% post recycled plastic across all packaging used
Buyers have committed themselves to successfully completing two circular purchasing projects between June 2017 and June 2019. In practice they will choose 1 or more goals that will guide them towards circular products & services.
These goals are:
- Reduce total amount of materials
- Reduce non-renewable virgin input
- Extend the use/lifetime of products
-Optimize the potential Reuse of products&components
-Optimize the potential Recycling of products& materials
The transition towards a circular economy needs to be supported by supranational, national and regional governments. This info session organised by REPLACE focuses on the role that the regions can play in this transition, flagging up the importance of interregional cooperation.
Join REPLACE (REgional PoLicy Actions for Circular Economy) for a #circulareuregionsweek event and find out about the Circular Benchmark Tool. The circular economy has certainly gained momentum: it is being recognised as an extremely important asset in the fight against climate change as it reduces society's pressure on ecosystems. Raw material prices are also skyrocketing, demonstrating the fragility of the current wasteful global supply chain.
To mark the construction of its two multi-feedstock pilot plants (biorefineries), the BBI JU-funded Agrimax project is hosting an online event to showcase its ground-breaking new facilities in Spain and Italy.
The linear way of producing and consuming products is ruining fragile ecosystems and causing the loss of valuable natural resources. The circular economy brings more sustainable solutions where products are in use longer, and materials are reused to manufacture new products.
GS1, TCO Development and the ECESP invite you to the #EUCircularTalks on the green digital passport. Mark your calendars on 14 September, and stay tuned via our communication channels for updates.
Euric, Innowo, the Leadership Group on Economic Incentives and the ECESP invite you to this #EUCircularTalks event to take place from 2 to 4 p.m. CEST on 3 September 2021. The event aims to foster discussion on the importance of aligning taxation with the strategic goals enshrined in the Green Deal and the new Circular Economy Action Plan. High-level policy makers will talk with experts from industry and non-governmental organisations about the key factors involved when developing a fair taxation system.
From 28 June to 9 July, join the European Commission's experts online for the Horizon Europe Info Days. This 10-day event will enable prospective applicants and other EU research and innovation stakeholders to get information and ask questions about the new features, main funding instruments and processes of Horizon Europe.
The New European Bauhaus is a way to implement the EU Green Deal with due regard for sustainability, inclusion and esthetics. However, red tape and legal obstacles will make success impossible. Therefore, companies in particular are being asked to brief the European Commission on obstacles as well as possible solutions at this event.
Lors d’un colloque organisé à l’ESCP, le 29 juin en présence de Florent Menegaux, président de Michelin, l’association française Entreprises pour l’Environnement (EpE) dévoile le fruit de trois ans de réflexion de sa commission «Ressources Naturelles» sur l’économie circulaire. Illustrée de 27 démarches concrètes mise à bien par des entreprises, la publication insiste sur l’importance des partenariats, décrit leurs principaux objectifs et, en collaboration avec la Chaire Economie Circulaire de ESCP-Deloitte, propose une analyse de la diversité des principaux modèles de gouvernance observés.
The EU has put forward several ambitious initiatives that support the transition to a circular building sector. These initiatives include the EU Action Plan for a Circular Economy, the Renovation Wave, the New European Bauhaus and the framework for lifecycle assessment of buildings. Regions and cities have a crucial role to play in the transition to a circular economy and the implementation of these EU initiatives.
Going the extra mile on the road towards a climate neutral and circular economy is a must to achieve the targets set by the European Green Deal - and tyre recycling is key. Tyres are complex products made from the very best quality raw materials, such as rubber, steel and textile fibres.
Recyclers have invested heavily in recovering more materials from end-of-life tyres while creating non-outsourceable jobs and contributing to environmental sustainability. However, there is still considerable room for improvement in the European Union with a view to optimising tyre recycling.
Join Recyclers’ Talks #4 | Boosting Tyre Recyclers - Essential to the European Green Deal on 16 June to discuss what is needed to achieve more circularity in tyres and a more sustainable value chain. Find out how different players in the tyre value chain can contribute to this goal.
Join this online workshop, organised by the European Commission, focusing on the current and possible upcoming initiatives for research and development in the EU textile industry, as part of the consultative process for the development of the Strategy for Sustainable Textiles.
The European Investment Bank has signed a loan agreement of up to €30.75 million with Renewcell. The Sweden-based fashion innovator has devised a way to turn discarded clothing into Circulose®, a pulp from which new fabric can be made. After proving their concept, Renewcell will use the loan to build their first full commercial-scale recycling plant, able to produce 60 000 tonnes per year.
Join the online workshop on Traceability, the accuracy of information and market surveillance in the Textile Industry which will be held on 12 July 2021, from 10:00 to 13:00 CEST, as part of the consultative process for the development of the Strategy for Sustainable Textiles.
New European Bauhaus (NEB) and Level(s)
Thank you to everyone who joined the session on the ‘search for sustainable buildings’ at EU Green Week on 3 June, which showed how the New European Bauhaus (NEB) and Level(s) can drive a circular and inclusive built-environment transformation.
Circular Insider - A speed date with circular economy frontrunners
Circular Change invites you to discover the circular lifestyle with its brand new publication. Circular Insider aims to be a source of inspiration for decision makers and to bring the concept of the circular economy closer to the general public.
Aimplas coordinated the European Life Ecomethylal Project, which has ended with the construction of a plant capable of extracting up to half a kilo of methylal from each kilo of non-recyclable waste.
The Circular Consumption Charter is the result of a partnership between Eni and 18 Italian consumer associations. It was launched on 17 June at a conference involving consumer associations, representatives of public institutions, the scientific world and the certification sector. EESC Vice-President Cillian Lohan participated in the event.
Interested in contributing to EU efforts to fight food loss and waste? Don’t miss the opportunity to submit your application!
The Commission is calling for applications from private sector organisations with expertise and proven track record in food waste prevention to re-establish, together with public entities, the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste for its second mandate (2022-2026).
This study aims to provide information about circular economy perspectives in the management of textile products and textile waste in the European Union. The report improves the understanding of current value chains in the manufacturing and retailing of apparel products in the EU and provides a detailed picture of material flows in the EU textile sector in a global context.
The Conference on the Future of Europe is collecting ideas on how to use resources more efficiently in a circular economy. As well as sharing your own ideas, you can also find other ideas from across Europe.
The ECESP Coordination Group held its second meeting on 16 March 2021 to discuss how to take the ECESP to the next level.
On 4 February, Holland Circular Hotspot organised a webinar on European opportunities for the circular economy during the Dutch Week of the Circular Economy.
Members of the Coordination group are selected through an open call for expression of interest for a 2.5-year mandate. The second call took place over summer 2020 and the renewed Coordination group was selected in early November 2020. The first meeting of the newly-selected ECESP Coordination Group took place on 18 November in an online format.
Circular Change joined other Coordination Group members in several activities to encourage the participation of other relevant circular economy stakeholders in Central and Eastern Europe.
On 11 December 2019, stakeholders of the Retail Forum were introduced to the ECESP. Several discussions took place about the interest and role of retailers in advancing the circular economy in Europe.
The topic of ‘Retailers and Consumers’ was seen as an opportunity to start a leadership group to discuss and advance circular economy action between those two key stakeholder groups.
The ECESP leadership group on economic incentives is focusing on incentives with a specific potential for increasing the demand for a circular economy, and on policies and challenges such as circular public procurement, Extended Producer Responsibility, tax shift, CO2 pricing, etc.
The Coordination Group decided, in Autumn 2019, to create Leadership Groups to hold in-depth discuss and deliver orientations on priority topics.
The Coordination Group decided, in Autumn 2019, to create leadeship groups to hold in-depth discuss and deliver orientations on priority topics.
The leadership group on cities and regions focused specifically on the territorial approach to the transition to circular economy at local and regional level.
The Coordination Group decided, in autumn 2019, to create focus groups to hold in-depth discuss and deliver orientations on priority topics.
Textiles are a vast category. The ECESP leadership group on textile focused on the TGLF value chain. Their discussion focused on ways to address essential challenges from a social, environmental and economic perspective.
The Coordination Group decided, in autumn 2019, to create leadeship groups to hold in-depth discuss and deliver orientations on priority topics.
Food waste generates around 8% of the global greenhouse emissions. In their reflection document, the ECESP leadership group led by Copa-Cogeca discussed ways to reduce food waste and to maximise the circularity of food production.
In September 2018, Intesa Sanpaolo launched a Circular Economy Plafond to finance innovative and transformative projects and companies that adopt Circular Economy principles.
The 2021 edition of BeCircular offers up to EUR 200 000 financial support for circular economy projects in the Brussels-Capital Region. Its launch event will take place online on 15 March.
This new UNEP report highlights the critical role of financial institutions in advancing the growth of circularity by investing in businesses that take a more sustainable approach to production and consumption.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's new report highlights rapid growth in circular economy financing and investment, and describes how investors and the banking and insurance industry are capitalising on the resulting opportunities.
Eco-vouchers (Ecocheques) are an incentive for Belgian households to purchase eco-friendly goods and services, including second-hand and refurbished ones.
JLG, a company that takes machines back to a dedicated reconditioning facility after their first use cycle and repairs and restores them to original specification, builded a business model that integrates the recovery of assets.
This allowed their financial partner to develop a complete finance offering for JLG’s new and reconditioned assets, including rental solutions.
Dive into the online business game The Blue Connection together with your students for a case study on introducing circularity into supply chains. The learning outcome is to have an understanding of the principles of circular supply chain management. Experience the circular way of doing business for a sustainable future!
The first edition of "MOOC in Circular Economy" in Portuguese and Spanish is now available. The course is completely free and developed under the CIRCULAR LABS Project which is co-financed by the Interreg programme.
The BetterGeoEdu project supplies primary teachers with educational material about raw materials, the circular economy and sustainability. BetterGeoEdu uses Minecraft to develop the material.
The master's degree programme in Sustainable Chemistry and Technologies for Circular Economy offered by the University of Padova will be available as of the 2021-22 academic year. It is one of the first of its kind in Europe and aims to explore the key issues of the circular economy transition and sustainability. It will be taught entirely in English and is a two-year course.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has launched an immersive learning hub, which gives users the opportunity to discover and explore the circular economy through curated learning paths and real-world examples.
Circular Economy Institute (CEI) certificates are professional credentials for those aiming to excel in the circular economy. The certificates available are "Circular Economy Trained", "Circular Economy Specialist" and "Circular Economy Instructor".
Risk&RACE is a board game designed to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset and introduce players to the benefits and challenges of a circular economy.
Tiganokinisi focuses on collecting used cooking oil (UCO) from schools and converting it to biodiesel. Its end-goal is to provide resources for environmental education activities and environmental infrastructure in schools. Tiganokinisi tackles the issues linked to UCO, while applying the values of the circular economy.
The LGH Company – Linea Gestioni – manages the Integrated Waste Service and Energy Service in Northern Italy, aiming to provide efficient services for the community and to promote the principles of sustainability. It has also launched an educational programme for 10 000 students, which seeks to raise awareness about sustainable development, energy and recycling.
Sign up for the Design4Circle course, with a total of 70 hours of training, to understand the necessary shift in the textile industry towards a more sustainable circular economy.
The Expert Group on Circular Economy Financing has developed this guide to support public authorities in identifying the most suited incentives to speed up the transition towards a circular economy at national, regional or local level. Incentives aim at addressing market failures that prevent or delay the transition towards circular products, services and solutions.
The Cross-KIC circular economy system maps developed by the EIT Circular Economy Community consolidate two databases:
TOTEM is a Tool developed by the three Belgian regions to Optimise the Total Environmental impact of Materials.
The report focuses on combining life cycle assessment and circularity assessment to analyse environmental impacts of the medical remanufacturing of electrophysiology catheters.
Health Care Without Harm has recently developed a set of global principles for sustainable healthcare waste management. This position paper builds on those principles and focuses on the situation in Europe – particularly with reference to the EU Circular Economy framework.
This Circular Procurement toolkit outlines how businesses can redesign their procurement processes for greater ‘circularity’. This means maximising the value of products and materials while in use and recovering and repurposing them at the end of their lives, eliminating waste. This toolkit contains six simple steps for any business beginning their circular procurement journey.
Guidance for evaluating waste prevention programmes provides guidelines and practical advice and highlights case studies to help all EEA member countries evaluate their waste prevention programmes.
This E-Learning module on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement guides learners, for instance, through the process of building a procurement strategy and procuring in a circular way.
Circle Economy's Circular Toolbox is a free online, step-by-step guide for apparel brands to launch rental and resale business models in 10 months. The toolbox guides users through a tried and tested circular innovation process and provides them with all the resources they will need along the way.
The Product Circularity Data Sheet (PCDS) is the result of the European Circularity Dataset Initiative launched by the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg in 2018. More than 50 companies from 12 different countries have put together the proof of concept of the PCDS data template, including the related standard and its audit system. More information can be found on www.pcds.lu.
The Bellagio Declaration is a set of principles for how to ensure that any system for monitoring the transition to a circular economy captures all relevant aspects and involves all relevant parties.
LIPOR, the Intermunicipal Waste Management Service of Greater Porto, specializes in the treatment and recovery of municipal waste. Their digital platform, the Waste management Datacenter, optimizes the monitoring waste flows and the recovery of materials, which contributes to the reduction of biodegradable urban waste landfill disposal and the preparation of materials for reuse and recycling.
Circulytics is a comprehensive circularity measurement tool which enables companies to measure circularity across their entire operation and identify opportunities to adopt or further embed circular practices.
The Expert Group of Support to Circular Economy Financing proposes a sector-agnostic circular economy categorisation system that defines categories of activities substantially contributing to a circular economy. This categorisation system is intended as a contribution to the work of the Sustainable Finance Platform on the EU taxonomy of activities contributing to the circular economy.
Since June 2018, the Factor10 Working Group of more than two dozen companies has drafted, commented, pilot tested, reviewed, redrafted and refined the enclosed methodology - Circular Transition Indicators: proposed metrics for buisiness, by business - which combines a methodological framework and user manual for circular action plans in business.
Forética and the Task Force on Circular Economy*, which coordinates with 11 large Spanish companies, presented on 11 July 2019 the report Measuring the circular economy - Frameworks, Indicators and Impact Management.
The document analyses the business opportunities in measuring circular economy in business management and contains a roadmap to support companies in this measurement.
Les entreprises sont de plus en plus nombreuses à explorer de nouveaux modèles d’affaires intégrant les principes de l’économie circulaire. Elles ont un besoin croissant d’indicateurs pour mesurer leur degré de circularité et ses effets sur l’environnement. A cet effet, les membres d’Entreprises pour l’Environnement et de l’Institut National de l’Economie Circulaire ont réalisé cette publication.
This short term assignment for Circular Flanders aims to provide an inventory of indicators that are relevant to monitor the transition to a circular economy and to measure the effects of new policy and trends. The inventory of indicators is based on scoreboards and monitoring frameworks developed by the EU and reports by JRC and EEA.
The Dutch Government has outlined its plans for the transition to a circular economy in the government-wide circular economy policy programme, entitled ‘A circular economy in the Netherlands by 2050’. A monitoring system is required to determine whether this transition is progressing as planned, a proposal for which is made in this report.
By providing life cycle assessment data and information on the End of Life scenarios, the DGNB Navigator facilitates the application of the life cycle assessment method and fosters the use of circular economy suitable construction products.
