Plateforme des acteurs européens de l'économie circulaire

This report aims to inspire and show procuring organisations and their agents, management and sustainability managers examples of opportunities for circular procurement. The report targets the main sectors of ProCirc's activities, including furniture, construction, waste, ICT and textiles.

The report puts forward five recommendations:

1. Dare to try: start, learn and adjust.
2. Find the balance: push the market and encourage development during the contract.
3. Create alignment: link the organisation’s goals to the procurement practices.
4. Appreciate innovation: dedicate sufficient time and resources to finding new solutions.
5. Use existing knowledge: network, tools and experience sharing.

Read more about the scaling opportunities.

This paper analyses CE policies and discourses in three European cities to draw critical insights and recommendations.

It first reviews the academic literature on urban CE policies to develop a new conceptual framework for analysing CE discourses and policies. This is then used to analyse and compare the CE policies of Glasgow, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Results show that technocentric approaches to the CE are dominant in the three cities. Moreover, they have very limited social justice policies for fair distribution of the costs and benefits of a CE transition. Key policy recommendations to address these shortcomings are thus proposed.

The insights offered by this paper are valuable for practitioners and academics seeking to improve urban CE policies.

This white paper by Eunomia presents a vision for 2040, describing the way in which society will use materials and products in an economy that is well on its way to circularity. It sets the stage for the development of a detailed policy blueprint for the steps needed to deliver this vision, supported by research and stakeholder engagement.

For many islands, the answer to the question “Why a locally, self-sustaining, and regenerative economy is needed?” is clear. The struggle often lies in the “how”.

In this article, it is argued that tools from regenerative economics, which follow an island economy-as-an-organism analogy, offer valuable and complementary insights to socio-metabolic research.

Indicators from flow-based and information-based ecological network analysis can quantify properties of an island's socio-economic metabolism (SEM) which are related to cycling, resilience, and degree of mutualism, among others.

To illustrate the applicability of these methods, Samothraki in Greece has been selected as a case study.

Design requirements prescribed in the international Quality Management System standard ISO 9001 can also be interpreted from a circularity perspective. Designers can use ISO 9001 for designing "circular" products and services.

This article provides a few interesting examples of circularity linking them with ISO 9001 design requirements.

Contact: Sunil Thawani

A new report by Zero Waste Europe demonstrates how Material Recovery and Biological Treatment (MRBT) systems are a cost-effective approach to treating (leftover) mixed waste.

The study Nothing left behind: modelling Material Recovery and Biological Treatment’s contribution to resource recovery and fighting climate change focuses on the technology that combines the use of advanced sorting systems applied to mixed waste (to extract additional material for recycling) with biological treatment of the remaining residual waste aimed at stabilising the waste before its being landfilled.

Re-using textiles locally is the most sustainable way to close the textiles loop as well as to deliver local jobs for the circular and just transition.

Social enterprises in the re-use sector seek to implement the waste hierarchy and abide by the proximity principle. As such, they manage to extend textile products’ lifetime locally while equipping vulnerable individuals with circular skills and building local communities.

This paper by RREUSE outlines good practices in responsible used-textile management carried out by our social enterprises community. It focuses on ways to improve textile collection and local reuse and bolster textile transparency.

This report from the HOOP Project describes the methodological approach for identifying circular business models for bio-waste.

It presents an analysis of the business models behind 15 successful solutions for bio-waste valorisation and proposes a template business canvas for bio-waste valorisation. The report also presents a new integrated circular business model typology focused on bio-waste, along with drivers and barriers related to the implementation of circular business models in bio-waste valorisation.

Each of the eight HOOP Lighthouse Cities and Regions has set up its own local or regional Biowaste Club and carried out its first stakeholder engagement activities through Biowaste Club meetings. While some of these draw on existing local initiatives, others bring stakeholders together for the first time. In some Lighthouses, Biowaste Clubs are accompanied by citizen science activities.

This report documents the stakeholder engagement activities that have taken place so far and what can be expected next.

HOOP's Investment Package Manual was developed using a three-step approach and the public version has been distributed in three volumes. 

Volume III presents a selection and inventory of funding and financing schemes, programmes, instruments and tools for investment projects on circular bioeconomy and bioenergy at national and regional levels. It provides case studies from eight European countries: Finland, Greece, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands.