Splosh sells its range of products – from detergents and fabric softeners to shower gel and hand wash – in bottles that can be refilled from their concentrated refill pouches. Buying refills in these pouches cuts plastic waste by 95%.
Since 2010, Philips has been working on introducing recycled plastics into its product portfolio. The baseplate of Senseo Original coffee makers, the company’s most popular model, has been changed to 95% post-consumer recycled plastic.
SECONTRADE is the first and largest European online market for secondary raw materials, launched in Austria in 2018. It digitalises waste management and enables the trade of recycled materials across Europe.
Oryzite is a method for incorporating rice husks as a filler in all types of thermoplastics. The company transforms the rice husks into resin, which can then be used to obtain the same volume of injection-moulded plastic using much fewer fossil-fuel-based polymers.
Complementing traditional mechanical recycling efforts, Plastic Energy has developed a patented Thermal Anaerobic Conversion (TAC) technology to convert end-of-life plastic waste into a new feedstock, called TACOIL, that can be used in the manufacturing of virgin-quality plastics suitable for food-grade packaging.
ReBlend develops textiles and textile products made from textiles that otherwise end up in incineration. Textiles made from recycled fibres offer a positive alternative for designers and companies. In collaboration with waste collectors, producers, designers, makers and visionaries, ReBlend organises a full supply chain from start to finish to accelerate a new ecosystem for circular textiles.
Niaga® and its partner future-proof everyday products by making sure materials don’t have to end up as waste. Ever. Niaga designs producted to be used again. It makes them healthier and recyclable.
“Staramaki” is a straw made of wheat. It is produced by a social cooperative KoinSep in Kilkis, northern Greece. The most widely produced local product wheat is used to create a viable eco-friendly alternative to single use plastic straws. At the same time they create employment opportunities and promote social cohesion, as well as local and regional development.
In 2020, the Czech bank ČSOB, in cooperation with IDEMIA, launched an eco-friendly recycled card to reduce the amount of virgin plastic which ends up in rubbish bins. By opting for IDEMIA’s eco-friendly product, ČSOB is the first bank in the Czech Republic to take a significant step towards addressing this ecological burden.
CIRAA is a company active in promoting circular economy principles and helping businesses ensure that their plans and projects abide by those principles.
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:
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:
making it more competitive,
applying CE principles to production, waste management, etc.
and directing investment, research and innovation.
A report by the Informal Commission Expert Group “Support to Circular Economy Financing” (E03517)
This report has greatly benefited from the comments and contributions by Arnold Verbeek, Christian Schempp, Gianpiero Nacci, Philip Marynissen, Frido Kraanen, Rebeka Kovacic and Laura Busato.
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.
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.
As an impact leader and frontrunner promoting resource circularity, TOMRA has extensively explored, analysed and collaborated with value chain partners to address the ever-increasing global problem of waste. This white paper presents the challenges, projections and opportunities involved in managing post-consumer waste in developed and developing countries. It describes how society can speed up the transition to a circular economy by collecting and recycling waste, especially plastic packaging and other carbon-intensive materials.
The white paper can be downloaded from TOMRA's website, but this requires registering in a third party's data base and submitting your email address.
This joint position paper from the Wardrobe Change coalition contains recommendations for the EU Strategy for Sustainable Textiles. It has been signed by 25 civil society organisations. The paper sets out recommendations structured around four overarching principles:
Make sustainable textile products the norm
Drive resource-sufficient textile consumption
Leave the linear business model behind
Hold the EU textile industry responsible for its role in the world.
The COVID-19 may have hit the pause button on tourism, but it also highlighted the need to switch to the circular economy.
This report summarises the findings of a two-year policy dialogue with the city of Granada in Spain, and provides recommendations and a vision to transition to a circular economy. It draws on Granada’s own experience with the transformation of a wastewater treatment plant into a bio factory in 2015, which contributed to increased water reuse and the production of new material from waste. The report argues that the city of Granada can play a role as a promoter, facilitator and enabler of the circular economy. This will require a collective and coordinated approach across all stakeholders and levels of government.
The circular economy promises a move away from a linear model of growth (extract, make, dispose) to a sustainable model (recycle, reuse, remake, share). This report, Safe Jobs in the Circular Economy, commissioned by the European Public Service Union (EPSU), focuses on the role of labour in the transition to a circular economy and, in particular, the health and safety of workers operating waste and wastewater management systems.
An increasing number of countries consider implementing a deposit return system for single-use beverage containers to address today’s challenges, i.e.:
meeting new waste recovery targets,
ending littering and
moving towards a circular economy.
TOMRA shares lessons learnt from its 45+ years’ experience of innovating and managing deposit return systems globally in a new white paper including:
outcomes of effective deposit return systems
4 key principles and 12 elements of high-performing deposit return systems
dozens of case studies on real-world implementation of deposit return policy.
The white paper seeks to contribute to an educated discussion on recycling best practice – including what can be learnt from the past and what the future may look like.
Romania’s recycling rate of 13% is one of the lowest in the EU with most waste going to landfill. The publication explains how the city of Sălacea, in the north-west of Romania, not only managed to quickly rise from almost no waste recycling to 40% in 3 months, but also how the community reduced its overall waste by 55%.
The case study also explains how political will, commitment from local waste operators and involvement of the community were key to the success of the strategy. The municipality introduced door-to-door household separate collection for 5 types of waste (paper and cardboard, plastic and metal, glass, bio-waste, residual waste) and implemented a four-week education programme with citizens before changing the collection infrastructure.
This webinar on 15 December 2022 presents Horizon Europe calls for proposals relating to local and regional-scale circular economy. It also provides information on how local and regional authorities can apply to these calls.
Attend the Horizon Europe-Cluster 6 Info Days on 13-14 December 2022 to get informed!
The Info Days will present the Research and Innovation topics of the Horizon Europe Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment) Work Programme 2023.
On 15 December 2022 the H2020 Pop-Machina community will gather once more in a hybrid event to exchange lessons learnt, best practices, and success stories over the Circular Maker Accelerator programme that has been successfully executed in several municipal makerspaces, effectively supporting over 100 makers.
On 24 January 2023, the European Commission is co-organising the Conference “Towards a greener Defence: the challenge of sustainable development for European Defence industries”.
This in-person event will take place in Bordeaux, France, in the framework of the European Network of Defence-related Regions.
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.
A new World Bank report titled "Squaring the Circle: Policies from Europe’s Circular Economy Transition” reviews Europe’s experience in spearheading CE policy. It identifies key features in the EU policy landscape that have successfully driven the circular transition, existing barriers to future progress, and critical measures to overcome them. Despite the progress achieved, squaring the circle of the transition and breaking away from linear systems will require a far-reaching suite of CE policies.
Join the event, co-organised by the World Bank and CEPS, on 6 December 2022 from 11:30 - 13:00 CET to discuss the existing key constraints and the policy domains where ambitious action will be needed in the coming years to further boost the CE agenda both within and beyond the EU borders.
Are you looking for business opportunities in Thailand and exploring Dutch-Thai economic collaboration? Do you want to learn more about the Bio-Circular and Green (BCG) economic model in Thailand?
Join the webinar, jointly organized by Holland Circular Hotspot, the Netherlands Embassy in Thailand and the Netherlands-Thai Chamber of Commerce on 13 December, that aims to engage Dutch companies interested in the Bio-Circular and Green (BCG) economic model in Thailand.
Taking place on Monday 5 December 2022 at 15:00 - 17:00 CET, this online workshop organised by the FOODRUS project will focus on how to monitor and report food loss and waste.
This EU Circular Talk on 8 December will focus on the role of network governance; building a coalition of partners willing to contribute to transformational changes will promote the implementation of circular economy roadmaps at national and local levels. One of the main objectives of the session is to present and discuss the role of transition brokers in accelerating circular initiatives.
These intermediaries (also hub leaders) coordinate the circular transition with different actors (such as industry, local governments, research and educational institutes and civil society). Transition brokers can fulfil various functions in setting up network governance, from helping build circular initiatives to upscaling them by linking successful local case studies to national policy and agenda setting.
This event is an Accelerator Session at the World Circular Economy Forum 2022.
The Circle the Med Forum 2022 will build on the findings and recommendations of COP27 and take into consideration the important developments in the Mediterranean Region in regard to energy transition, climate neutrality, zero pollution, and food security.
Circle Med promotes the concept of Circular Mediterranean and enhances the circular economy model as the one that will ensure a smooth energy transition and the carbon neutrality of the Region.
Virtual MeetingPack 2021 is taking place on 27 May from 9:30 a.m. More than 130 packaging industry companies have confirmed their attendance at this event offering a strategic overview of the development of barrier packaging.
The new Circular Economy Action Plan identifies textiles as a key product value chain with potential to boost the EU market for sustainable and circular textiles. The European Commission is organising a series of targeted stakeholder workshops to gather input on challenges and gaps as well as opportunities for the sector towards sustainability. Join the second workshop on 2 June 2021!
Imagine Circularity is a new global initiative aiming to reach one million people in Europe and beyond. At its core is a short survey which exposes all participants to the basics of a circular economy, educates them and gathers their views and perceptions of circularity.
The New Circular Economy Action Plan identifies textiles as a key product value chain where there is potential to boost the EU market for sustainable and circular textiles. The European Commission has launched a public consultation to gather input on challenges and gaps as well as opportunities for the sector towards sustainability.
The New European Bauhaus has the ambition to make the Green Deal a cultural, human-centred and positive, tangible experience. Its Prizes will give visibility to examples and concepts that illustrate how beautiful, sustainable, inclusive places already exist in our territories, our communities and in our practices, paving the way to the future.
The Asia-Europe Environment Forum (ENVForum) Workshop Series on Circular Plastic Use: Innovate & Change to Close the Loop offers participants the opportunity to design and implement innovative solutions in the field of circular plastic use and waste management. This project planned for June 2021 is organized in association with INNOWO.
"Innovative Business Practices and Economic Models in the Textile Value Chain" (InTex) is a three-year UNEP project funded by the European Union. The InTex project has five components, two with global reach and three focusing on national implementation in three African countries: Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia.
The 2021-2027 programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) will become the EU’s most ambitious climate and environmental programme. It will enter into force retroactively from 1 January 2021.
A new partnership led by the UNIDO is looking for interested organisations to express their interest in joining ‘SWITCH to Circular Economy Value Chains’ - a five-year European Union-funded project that aims to accelerate the transition to more circular value chains (namely textiles and garments, and plastic packaging) in developing countries.
Five consortium partners, including Ecopreneur.eu, have kicked off an EU-COSME funded project “Fashion For Change”. Over the next 3 years, they will help SMEs, designers and start-ups from the European fashion sector scale-up and accelerate their sustainable businesses while increasing awareness about circular fashion among stakeholders, including consumers. Share your views in the quick poll.