The overall objective of BIORECOVER is the research and development of a new sustainable and safe process, essentially based on biotechnology, for selective extraction of a wide range of critical raw materials (CRMs) such as Rare Earths, Magnesium or Platinum Group Metals.
This case study is a part of the MBB LIFE+ Investing in Water project. APS Bank decided to invest in a holistic on-site water conservation programme. The aim of the programme was to put the bank’s sustainability policy into practice, reduce operational costs and help conserve scarce national resources.
Our industries and our current way of life make us produce more and more in an "ephemeral" way. We throw away big amounts of raw materials that we could easily reuse and launch back in the circular economy.
Parapluiestandupcycling decided to retrieve the fabric of broken umbrellas and to create a utility garment out of it.
The PLATIRUS project seeks to address the European shortage of Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) by recovering PGMs from alternative secondary resources. It has the potential to offer a substitute for a large proportion of these critical raw materials which are becoming ever more scarce.
ETV4INNOVATION is a two-and-a-half-year long European Commission funded vocational education and training Strategic Partnership project under Erasmus+ programme. It has been designed with the aim to support the development and the implementation of an innovative practice and a new training path in the field of Environmental Technology Verification (ETV).
In 2018, the City of Antwerp kick-started the Circular South project. The aim is to encourage more efficient use of energy, water, waste and materials by the citizens of the New South district of Antwerp through an innovative community-driven approach.
Expertise in technology, medicine and the social sciences
Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are considered as "key enablers" of green technologies. However, they are also the elements with the highest supply risk.
The EU funded project REE4EU has developed processes that may help to regain REEs from RE-containing waste streams.
The overall objective of the project is the "smart" exploitation of Petroleum Refinery Sludges (PRS) produced by the Refinery of Motor Oil Hellas in Corinth (Greece).
Austria Glas Recycling Gmbh is setting the course for the future: the Austria Glas Agenda 2030, which it has developed together with stakeholders, experts and scholars, defines the orientation of the glass recycling system according to the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
The Austria Glass Agenda 2030 is pioneering work setting new impulses for the implementation of the SDGs. As one of the first companies in Austria, Austria Glas Recycling Gmbh is facing the challenge to implement the SDGs in all its business processes. The Austria Glas Agenda 2030 is the basis for future project developments of the glass recycling system.
In addition, the Austria Glas Agenda 2030 should serve as a role model for other sectors and inspire them to take action for the SDGs.
The EU Guidelines for the feed use of food no longer intended for human consumptionare an integral part of the communication Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy.
They were developed by the Commission in close cooperation with the food, feed, animal health and environmental authorities of the Member States and the members of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste, as well as other stakeholders.
The valorisation of the nutrients of food which, for commercial reasons or owing to problems of manufacturing, is no longer intended for human consumption, but can be safely used in animal nutrition, prevents these materials from being composted, transformed in biogas or disposed of by incineration or landfilling.
The report ‘Circular Economy in the Furniture Sector: Overview of Current Challenges and Competence Needs’, provides an overview on how the circular economy is currently being implemented within the furniture sector.
By focusing on existing practices, challenges and opportunities at the micro-level, the main objective of this report is to identify the necessary skills and competences needed to support the transformation of furniture companies towards a circular economy.
Project partners identified 25 furniture companies active in the circular economy throughout Europe.
Interviews, held between March and May 2018 in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Italy and Sweden, yielded insights on the necessary skills and competences needed to develop circular business.
As part of the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Commission is examining ways to improve the use of date marking by actors in the food chain and its understanding by consumers, in particular "best before" labelling. Better understanding and use of date marking on food, i.e. "use by" and "best before" dates, by all actors concerned, can prevent and reduce food waste in the EU.
In order to help inform its work on date marking, the Commission launched a study to map how date marking is used in the market by food business operators and control authorities.
The market study found wide variation in date marking practices within product categories surveyed in the EU. The legibility of date marks was judged to be poor for 11% of products sampled.
Electric vehicles are a key technology to decarbonise the road transport sector and their use is expected to increase, thereby increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries. This makes developing a full value chain for batteries in Europe a priority, particularly the recycling of lithium-ion batteries where Europe is at an advantage as a market leader.
What will happen to this huge number of batteries at their end-of-life and how the valuable materials within each battery can be recovered and recycled are important questions for EU policymakers, as is information on the impacts of developing a lithium-ion battery recycling industry within the EU.
The circular economy is more than a potential model for Luxembourg; it is an economic imperative. Due to its history of exhausting resources then finding substitutes, Luxembourg is already a testing ground for circularity methods. For example its steel, aluminum, glass, and other industries are expert at re-using secondary raw materials. The re-use of those materials is core to their economic survival. It is a competitive necessity to sharpen their capacities in those areas.
Because Luxembourg’s exemplary European society is based on equity, cultural tolerance, economic stability, responsive government and manageable size, the country is a powerful proving ground for circularity.
Despite resource efficiency improving 41% between 2000 and 2016,with the Circular Economy Package and the initiatives set out in the accompanying Action Plan nearing completion, the EU institutions must acknowledge that the move to a more resource efficient or “circular” economy will take time. To invest in new business models, more resource-efficient processes and new supply chains for good quality secondary materials, businesses need the assurance that the resource efficiency agenda will remain a priority for the EU in the long term.
This briefing sets out a range of policy recommendations that the Aldersgate Group believe EU institutions should continue to pursue beyond completion of the Circular Economy Package to scale up business action on resource efficiency.
Circular City Governance - An explorative research study presents the results of an empirical research study into current barriers and governance practices in circular city transitions across Europe carried out by a team from the Radboud University Nijmegen School of Management (NL). The research activities ran from October to December 2017. The main objective of the study was to support the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other members of the Urban Agenda Partnership on Circular Economy involved in the working group on “Circular City Governance” (CCG) with the identification, analysis and elaboration of actions in support of Circular Governance in Cities, particularly through better knowledge and better funding.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Urban Development and Services Initiative has released its new White Paper on the Circular Economy in Cities: evolving the model for a sustainable urban future.
This White Paper traces the conceptual underpinnings of the Circular Economy, and explains why cities are key to accelerating the transition away from the traditional ‘take-make-dispose’ model. It draws on examples from cities around the world in areas that include: channelling used building materials to new building sites, water harvesting and reuse, reducing energy use, electronic waste, healthcare and procurement. It explains the opportunities in the Circular Economy for all stakeholders and the ways in which they can work together at city level.
This report, commissioned by DG GROW and prepard by Technopolis and Franhofer ISI, identified major obstacles of regulatory nature or gaps within the existing legal framework where significant unlocked opportunities remain. The study includes an in-depth analysis of the identified obstacles and possible solutions through specific cases.
The analysis of specific regulatory barriers includes the full product lifecycle and focuses on the interfaces between different steps of the value chain (extraction/production, production/production internal loops, production/use, collection, waste-management/recycling/production).
As the largest Extended Producer Responsibility organisation in Europe in charge of household packaging and graphic papers, Citeo is fully concerned by the fight against litter pollution. In order to address the main questions and challenges surrounding this complex issue, Citeo is organising a coffee-break conference on Wednesday 2 June on Tackling litter pollution: from obligations to actions!
Metal recycling plays a key role in Europe’s circular and climate neutral objectives. Thanks to their intrinsic properties, metals can be indefinitely recycled without losing their properties. Yet, more can be done to better reward metal recycling and circular metal value chains, while preserving the competitiveness of Europe’s recycling industry. Join EuRIC Recyclers’ Talks#3 on Circular Metals on 7 June 2021 to learn more!
This roundtable discussion on 10 June 2021 will bring together experts from Europe and beyond to share knowledge and best practices in life-cycle assessment approaches, particularly in the rare earth sector.
Circular Week, an international campaign consisting of a series of events and initiatives devoted to circular economy and sustainable development, will take place on 12-18 October 2021 throughout Europe. Its goal is to promote the idea of a circular economy, support sustainable business models and establish cooperation between interested stakeholders.
The Market-driven Circular & Bioeconomy EU Green Week Partner Event on 8 June 2021 brings together representatives of European projects based on industry-academic partnerships in the fields of biodiversity, forestry, engineering, chemistry, agriculture, and transport.
Recycling plastic is a good thing, but stopping the cycle and the plastic waste before it starts, is better. To cut down the use of single-use items, the current standards need to be disrupted when it comes to our throwaway culture. Join a Loop seminar on Reusable solutions to single-use culture on 25 May 2021, from 16:30 to 17:30 CEST.
The building and construction sector consumes around 10 million tonnes of plastics in Europe each year, which accounts for 20% of all plastics consumption. LOOP's idea was to find out what concrete ways there are both to reduce the use of plastics and to increase circularity of plastics in residential construction.
If you want to learn more about Green Economy investment in the Mediterranean, join this experience-sharing webinar organised as part of the Interreg MED Green Growth Community project. The session will take place online on 20 May 2021. Don't miss it!
The Interreg MED Green Growth Community (GGC) will take part in EU Green Week, organising a partner event to present best practices on moving towards zero pollution in the agri-food sector, with a focus on the Mediterranean region. Join the webinar on 1 June! It aims to showcase how to make the agri-food value chain more sustainable by applying circular economy approaches.
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!
On 20 February 2018 three frontrunning companies commit to partner with Circle Economy, to develop a circular decision-making tool for the fashion and textiles industry.
El Gobierno espagnol tiene lista su primera Estrategia de Economía Circular, que busca mejorar el aprovechamiento de los recursos para reducir el uso de materias primas.
The Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE) aims to enable greater cooperation among public and private-sector organizations to close the production-consumption loop.
