Yuman Village is a temple of the circular economy located in Brussels. It offers a unique 'one stop shopping' experience that encourages the emergence of new circular economy models, creates local jobs and reduces the number of trips needed to buy sustainable and local products.
Atelier Riforma started as a social economy startup with a pioneer marketplace for upcycled garments. Realising that the sorting and cataloguing of textile waste were too labour-intensive for industry standards, founders came up with the idea of developing an AI-based automated solution - called Re4circular - to create a digitized and truly efficient post-consumer clothing supply chain.
The VETERIA21 project, funded by the Valencian Regional Government and implemented by AIMPLAS, will develop new, more efficient transformation processes for thermoplastic composites that can be used to replace the metal content of electric vehicle batteries.
These materials ensure a major reduction in vehicle weight, thus extending battery life. They are also easily recyclable.
Agroamb Prodalt SL is a rural SME working in the primary sector. It provides agricultural services for farmers and organic fertilisers from biodegradable waste generated in the primary and agri-food sectors. Its process sanitises biodegradable waste and animal by-products with lime and produces organic fertilisers (turning these waste materials into resources).
The Event Trailer is a trailer packed with goods and tools needed in the organisation of different events.
Ekofungi is a Serbian company that takes a 100% circular approach to mushroom cultivation. It has pioneered a technology for sustainable cultivation of edible mushrooms using recycled cellulose waste. Each year, Ekofungi grows 130 tons of mushrooms which are either sold fresh or dehydrated and mixed with other vegetables.
The mission of Reet Aus is to minimise the ecological footprint of one of the world's most contaminating businesses – the fashion industry. They do it by industrial upcycling. This not-wasteful way of production is based on a scientific methodology called UPMADE® that has been developed by the designer and founder PhD Reet Aus in cooperation with Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Center.
The auum-S, a machine designed for workplaces, cleans, dries and disinfects glasses in 10 seconds with only 2 cl of water and no chemicals.
The Environmental change project promotes proactive reskilling and upskilling to reap the benefits of the ecological transition. The project is in line with the European Green Deal and focuses on the circular economy and sustainable solutions.
The Spanish project APROEMA Conecta aims to encourage the launch of businesses in the environmental sector through circular economy business tables.
The Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy is Ireland’s first national circular economy strategy. The Strategy is a key addition to the Government’s drive to achieve a 51% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to get on a path to reach net-zero emissions by no later than 2050, as per commitments in the Programme for Government and the Climate Act 2021.
The Strategy explains what the circular economy is, why Ireland needs to deliver on a circular economy and how national policy will develop to support that goal. A circular economy can have positive environmental, economic and social impacts, such as reduced plastic pollution, new jobs and better quality, longer lasting consumer products.
The Madeira Circular Agenda bolsters the position of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (RAM) as a circular economy hotspot.
It involves civil society and public and private entities in a system that seeks to keep materials in the economy, and to promote efficiency, circularity and sustainability as competitiveness and differentiation factors for the regional economy. The Agenda also aims to ensure that RAM companies act as circular economy leaders in their respective sectors, adopting best practices and creating innovative solutions based on circularity principles, particularly in sectors deemed critical for the region, namely agri-food, construction, tourism, social sector and the sea.
Within the framework of the Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland (CEID) and its three interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral working groups, more than 130 experts from industry, science and civil society have summed up their findings in the Circular Economy (CE) Roadmap for Germany, which consists of a consolidated opinion addressing society as a whole.
This Roadmap, which has focused - right from the beginning - on shaping a consistent and common target vision for a circular economy in 2030, is a scientifically-based framework for action that systemically describes the necessary steps for Germany to transition to a CE and provides decision-makers from politics, industry and science with concrete recommendations for action.
In 2018 the City of Turku set the following target: becoming carbon neutral by 2029, in time for its 800th anniversary.
Finland's oldest city, Turku is a forerunner in circular innovations in the water, textiles and chemicals sectors, among others. A vibrant community of researchers and business actors, along with numerous public and private initiatives, already contribute to scale up circularity in the Turku region.
The Circular Turku roadmap is about creating the right conditions for a circular transition in the region. The city can support this transition through different levers such as local regulations, urban planning and infrastructure development.
Turku wants to promote a fair and inclusive circular transformation of economic systems that benefits all city residents.
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.
Circular Gothenburg focuses on resource efficiency to reduce climate change and achieve circular material flows.
It has three target groups: citizens, city departments and businesses. For all three target groups, the goal is to make it simple, straightforward and attractive to participate in transformational circular work. This includes the municipality’s in-house processes and activities which help people to live in a more circular way. One of these activities is the Fixotek: staffed facilities, close to where people live and open to everyone, where people can meet, learn, repair and redesign products, borrow tools and swap toys, clothes and books.
Friesland, a province in the north of the Netherlands, has a strong cultural identity, its own language, an economy mostly devoted to agriculture and 20 000 companies - 99% of them SMEs. The province faces economic and demographic challenges but is becoming one of the best examples of a successful transition towards a circular economy. It aims to be the most circular EU region by 2025.
According to the public/private association Circulair Friesland, this province is thus:
In 2018, the Spanish region of Andalusia introduced a progressive strategy towards a circular economy.
With the support of EU funding, the Andalusian Circular Bioeconomy Strategy project promotes sustainable growth and regional development by fostering the production of renewable and biological products and processes.
The targeted sectors include agriculture, forestry, fishing, food and paper production, as well as part of the chemical, biotechnology and energy industries.
The strategy works with a timeframe for 2030 and has resources worth around 1 400 million EUR, aimed at specific actions that have been developed with the collaboration of more than 50 external experts from the sectors of interest.
To consult the strategy in full (in Spanish), please click here.
Waste prevention is the best waste management policy option, according to the waste hierarchy - the EU's main rule for the environmental ranking of waste management policies. Its main objective is to reduce waste generation, the environmental impacts of waste management and the hazardousness of the waste generated.
To support this objective, the EU and all its Member States have put in place legislation that promotes activities in products' life cycles aimed at reducing the amount of waste generated.
This report aims to assess progress towards the main objective of waste prevention: decoupling (i. e. breaking the link between waste generation and economic growth).
This briefing provides a snapshot of the status of trading non-hazardous, recyclable waste within the EU. Its aim is to provide knowledge and information to support the review of the EU's Waste Shipment Regulation.
The idea is to improve the functioning of secondary material markets by offering insights and potential solutions to help ensure that waste is treated in the best possible way in line with the principles of the waste hierarchy.
How can a "strategic stock management" approach shed light on the potential of circular strategies for critical raw materials? This reports provides insights at regional macro-economic level for policy-makers.
The future economic and environmental potential of a Flemish Circularity Hub for li-ion batteries from electric vehicles is explored as a case study with high policy relevance.
In ‘Vision 2050. A long-term strategy for Flanders’, the circular economy is one of seven transition priorities. New business models play a key role in this transition.
This paper explores incentives and barriers for consumers in adopting new circular business models - such as Product-Service Systems (PSS). Eight B2C suppliers were interviewed in the sectors of coffee, housing, electrical appliances and clothing.
The study confirms that PSS are context-dependent and emphasises the dynamic relation between producers and consumers in PSS.
Future research priorities include uncovering practical and cultural aspects of PSS, as well as exploring what it takes for PSS to be transformative in the context of a transition towards the circular economy.
This study focuses on the willingness of consumers to use circular business models (CBMs).
It assesses the ‘suitability’ of a product or sector for a particular circular business model from a consumer-based perspective: is it likely that a sufficient number of consumers would be willing to adopt the CBM to make it worthwhile for providers to enter this market? The study aims to provide an overview of different attitudes towards a diverse set of CBMs. Specifically, it takes six scenarios concentrating on coffee, printing, housing, clothing, household chores and secondhand markets. This approach makes it possible to compare results for a variety of CBMs as well as to identify general trends in consumers’ intentions and reported behaviour.
This report assesses how the circular economy contributes to reaching climate goals with regard to residential housing.
The draft Flemish climate policy plan covers the operational phase of housing and the material and carbon footprints of building and renovation. The report explores two ways to reduce these footprints: reducing the size of new housing and splitting existing buildings, and applying alternative construction methods or building materials and increasing the use of recycled and reused materials.
This report details the research conducted by the Steunpunt Circulaire Economie, covering the results of a consumer survey with over 2000 respondents, as well as four interviews with car-sharing companies and interest groups.
The main objective is to get a better understanding of the position of car-sharing in Flanders, what people think of car-sharing, including the barriers people face, and what impact car-sharing is having on behaviour and the environment.
The report concludes with a set of implications and recommendations for policy relating to car-sharing and its place in the circular economy.
This short-term assignment attempts to improve our understanding of the data availability of biomass flows within the Flemish economy and develops a methodology to approximate the flow of biomass between different industries.
This needs to be done in order to maximise their potential and reduce unnecessary waste flows. However, the report finds that the data currently available are insufficient, and considers that the construction of a physical counterpart to monetary input/output tables might be the answer.
This study starts from the draft version of the Flemish Climate Policy plan. It assesses how specific measures and strategies reduce the impact on the climate. It also aims to illustrate the added value of the circular economy, which is intrinsically focused on reducing the material footprint.
The study looks at the climate impact from a consumption or footprint perspective, starting with Flemish consumption and including the value chain both inside and outside Flanders. Territorial GHG emissions are included separately to distinguish between the global and Flemish impact. The mobility sector has been selected as a case study. The study focuses on passenger transport by car.
The production of Portland cement (PC) is responsible for 8-10 % of the global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. PC and PC-based blends are the most common binder in concrete production (< 99 % of cases). As PC is accountable for 74-81% of the CO2 footprint, substantial climate impact reductions for concrete requires eco-innovation at the cement level.
One of the most promising technologies to lower CO2 emissions consists in partially replacing traditional PC with industrial byproducts displaying cementitious properties, such as blast furnace slag from iron production, or coal combustion fly ashes from power generation, but their availability and properties are rather constrained.
A diversification of local (secondary) raw materials to extend partial substitution of PC is ongoing.
Madeira Circular Platform provides a forum bringing together key actors for the transition to the circular economy (CE), including the civil society, businesses, public administrations and the scientific and academic communities.
Its main objective is to create the communication channels necessary to carry out and promote collaborative action and to support the implementation of the guidelines of the Madeira Circular Agenda, which are much needed to encourage the circular movement.
The Platform is a community of stakeholders in the form of a portal to support the Autonomous Region of Madeira in the transition to the CE and featuring good practices leading to the efficient and sustainable use of resources all along the business value chain.
Circusol - Circular Business Models for the Solar Power Industry - is an Innovation Action project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme, bringing together 15 partners from 7 European countries to develop and demonstrate business solutions for the circular economy in the solar power sector.
Photovoltaics (PV) currently accounts for about 5 % of world’s electricity generation capacity. As the PV and EV (electric vehicle) markets grow, so will their demand for raw materials, as well as their "waste" output. How to make sure that the material aspect of the energy transition will also be sustainable? Product-Service Systems (PSS) could be the answer.
Interested in what Circusol is doing (newsletter, events, sharing knowledge, feedback, etc.)? Join its Network!
In Limbo is a platform (digital website and physical warehouse) facilitating the reuse of materials within the social and cultural sectors and schools in Brussels.
It encourages exchange and mutual aid within these sectors, as well as boosting recycling, reducing landfill costs and enabling organisations with limited resources to obtain reusable materials. Following the principles of circularity and sharing, all partners are invited to give and receive materials for free.
In Limbo is open only to registered partners which must be formal or informal non-profit associations or collectives, specifically social, cultural and artistic organisations, schools and temporary projects in Brussels. However, In Limbo accepts donations from all types of organisations.
Watch a video on In Limbo
The BDI Initiative Circular Economy (CE) was created in April 2021 by the Federation of German Industries.
It is a network of more than 50 members that defines the potential of CE and the necessary framework conditions through practical exchange. To this end, they are in close dialogue with policymakers in Berlin and Brussels and with the sciences community.
CER Sustainable Business Network Slovenia is the largest sustainable business network in Slovenia on a mission to strengthen ambitions and activities to achieve a climate-neutral economy faster.
They bring business leaders together to share learnings and best practices, advocacy necessary for the change, influence policy, and accelerate the green transition using collective action. They raise awareness, grow ambition, build capacities, promote green tech, and foster partnerships to boost the transition towards climate-neutral Slovenia.
Furthermore, they work towards better understanding the necessity to act now on climate change. They bridge the gap between different stakeholders, offering them a safe space for open discussion about systemic barriers to reach climate neutrality.
Through its eight modules, the CICLO platform aims to upgrade, free of cost, the opportunities for up-skilling and re-skilling of long-term unemployed and low-skilled workers, in the field of the evolving circular economy market:
The material could be included in educational services offered by Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers, Training Centres, Higher Education Institutions, NGOs, SMEs, public services relevant to EU labour force, etc.
Why do we need a Circular Valley? Emissions resulting from “linear economy” pose a major threat to the environment and to us. We need a place to cooperate on solutions to reduce emissions and “closed cycles”.
Why is the Rhine-Ruhr region ideal? The Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany combines industries in need of solutions with already existing solution providers and a broad scientific landscape. It is also a cosmopolitan region with a rich industrial tradition.
How to start? The development of the region towards a “Circular Valley” has started with an Accelerator for Circular Economy topics to attract talent to work with companies from the region and beyond.
Application phase for Batch #2 starts in September 2021. It is for start-ups supporting the EU Green Deal and CEAP.
ReNewTex is an innovation network aiming to help use synergies and gradually transform the carpet & rug industry from a linear to a circular business sector.
At present it is working as a moderated matchmaking platform where people can connect to further common ideas and needs through technological projects. After finding the topics, it supports companies in finding the right investment strategy and all the way unto the project start.
To kindle creativity ReNewTex hosts discussions about sustainability or on single topics to shape the discussion into projects.
ZENIT, the agency for innovation and European affairs of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, moderates the talks, looking for new members and support in project planning and funding.
Based in Barcelona, Rezero is a non-profit organisation that, in collaboration with social and economic actors in Spain, aims to push the model of production and consumption towards zero waste, including the Jo Soc Coco (#IamCoco) conscious consumption campaign.
Rezero creates knowledge and promotes innovative ideas, regulations and projects so that companies, public administrations and people can live without toxic materials or products left unused.
Its activities target:
RECYCLO is a multi-stakeholder cooperative society (SCRL). It provides consultancy, training and business development, with the objective of raising awareness about urban waste.
It offers a collection service tailored to urban constraints and catering for professionals. It helps them to reduce the quantity of waste produced and to sort it more effectively. Its projects are conducted by means of partnerships with private and public initiatives, and tackle issues such as recycling smartphones, biomaterials, putting orange peels to use and creating a compost site in Brussels.
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.
Nick Dornheim is advisor for Environment & Sustainability at EuroCommerce. He 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.
Reduce water use in Diageo's operations with a 40% improvement in water use efficiency in water stressed areas and 30% improvement across the company.
Replenish more water than Diageo uses for their operations for all their sites in water-stressed areas by 2026.
Invest in 150 projects to improve access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in communities near Diageo sites and local sourcing areas in all of Diageo's water-stressed markets.
Engage in collective action in all of their Priority Water Basins to improve water accessibility, availability and quality and contribute to a net positive water impact.
Achieve zero waste in Diageo's direct operations and zero waste to landfill in Diageo's supply chain.
Ensure 100% of Diageo's packaging is widely recyclable (or reusable/compostable).
Continue to reduce packaging and increase recycled content in Diageo's packaging (delivering a 10% reduction in packaging weight + increasing the % recycled content of the packaging to 60%).
Ensure 100% of Diageo's plastics are designed to be widely recyclable (or reusable/compostable) by 2025 and achieve 40% recycled content in Diageo's plastic bottles by 2025, and 100% by 2030.
Provide all of Diageo's local sourcing communities with agricultural skills and resources, building economic and environmental resilience (supporting 150,000 smallholder farmers).
Develop regenerative agriculture pilot programmes in 5 key sourcing landscapes.
Become Net Zero carbon in Diageo's direct operations.
Reduce Diageo's value chain carbon emissions by 50%.
Use 100% renewable electricity across all of Diageo's direct operations.
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
This online conference will build on research by Chatham House, and others, to drive forward an inclusive circular economy agenda and promote a just transition to circular economic models.
This local event, in the framework of #EU Industry Week 2022, is an exchange of good practices by European regions addressing circular economy incentives for SMEs through the Taxonomy regulation for the classification of economic activities with a substantial contribution to the transition towards the circular economy. It is targeted to regional government, policymakers, regional agencies, SMEs and their support organisations.
The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa’s Department of the Environment and Hydraulic Works is organising the IV International Circular Economy Meeting. The event will take place in hybrid form on 2 February 2022. The meeting can be followed online, and international, national and local experts will analyse the state of play of the circular economy. They will also take a closer look at some very interesting subjects, including the new plastics economy, bioeconomy and innovation in the business world.
In this first series of webinars, representatives of the European Investment Bank (EIB) will introduce the newly launched Circular City Centre (C3). This is a competence and resource centre hosted within the EIB and developed with the support from the European Investment Advisory Hub and the European Commission, in cooperation with Circle Economy.
C3 aims to support cities through sharing resources and practical information, providing circular city advisory and raising awareness about relevant financing and advisory opportunities for circular initiatives and projects.
The webinar series is aimed at city representatives and other stakeholders interested in fostering and accelerating the circular economy transition in cities, and is open to all who want to learn more about the different opportunities offered by the circular economy implemented in an urban context.
Welcome to Circular City Week, an open, collaborative and free festival for circular economy-related events hosted by local and global stakeholders in New York City in May 2022!
As the Horizon 2020 research programme becomes Horizon Europe, now is the time to see how great ideas have turned into real projects.
LOOPS is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the cutting-edge research carried out and how it can change our communities. For those who are not familiar with it, LOOPS is a live webinar series committed to exploring innovation in the circular economy.
Join MEPs Pietikäinen and Kuhnke, the European Environment Agency and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra on 12 January to discuss how to scale up and mainstream circular business models, in line with a sustainable product policy.
On 17 and 18 January 2022, the ECESP Coordination Group will present Europe's pioneering work done by its Leadership groups in the field of the circular economy before a global audience at the Circular Europe Days in Dubai.
As the Horizon 2020 research programme becomes Horizon Europe, now is the time to see how great ideas have turned into real projects.
LOOPS is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the cutting-edge research carried out and how it can change our communities. For those who are not familiar with it, LOOPS is a live webinar series committed to exploring innovation in the circular economy.
Re-think Circular Economy Forum Milan 2022 on 10 and 11 February 2022 is designed to present a vision on macro-trends, possible evolutionary paths, and main projects concerning the Circular Economy both at a national and international level.
Its main purpose is to stimulate the birth and development of innovative and entrepreneurial activities that could have a positive impact on local and national economic systems. Over the two-day forum, corporates, startups, research bodies, and institutional actors will present the projects they are carrying out and supporting at different levels.
On 17 and 18 January, the ECESP Coordination Group showcased Europe's pioneering work in the field of the circular economy at the Dubai Expo 2020.
The call for nominations of the Meeting Pack 2022 Awards (deadline: 14 February) is targeted at national and international companies whose innovations in sustainable packaging solutions contribute to industry development. Barrier packaging is a challenge for the circular economy.
The European Commission is sounding out citizens, consumers and expert stakeholders with a view to the preparation of an EU-wide policy framework for biobased, biodegradable and compostable plastics.
The consultation is open for feedback until 15 March 2022.
The final part of the LIFE 2021 call for proposals is open! The deadline for applications is 10 March 2022 at 17:00 CET.
Under the topics Circular Economy & Quality of Life and Nature & Biodiversity, specific projects are financed concerning, amongst others, used textiles/textile waste and high quality compost from collected organic waste.
The Commission has published a call for tenders: ENV/2021/OP/0018- The EU Textile Agenda and a New European Movement – Stakeholder Representation - Three Lots. The overall objective of this call for tenders is to support the transformation of how Europe produces and consumes fashion through stakeholder engagement.
The Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference is the main gathering of the European Circular Economy community. Now in its 5th edition, the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee joined forces with the French EU Council Presidency to organise this flagship stakeholder conference on 1 and 2 March 2022.
Once you start to think beyond material presents, there’s an incredible range of original, planet-saving gift ideas you could offer this winter.
The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) is a new EU funding programme focused on bringing digital technology to businesses, citizens and public administrations. The calls for proposals are now open for submissions for Digital Product Passport: sustainable and circular systems. The deadline is 22 February 2022.
In 2020 the EU’s circular material use rate reached 12,8 %, i.e. almost 13 % of material resources used in the EU came from recycled waste materials, according to Eurostat.
The circularity rate - which is part of the EU monitoring framework on the circular economy - is the share of material resources used coming from recycled waste materials, thus saving extractions of primary raw materials.
The initiative called Microplastics pollution – measures to reduce its impact on the environment aims to tackle microplastics unintentionally released into the environment. It will focus on labelling, standardisation, certification and regulatory measures for the main sources of these plastics.
The European Commission would like to hear your views on microplastics pollution. Give your feedback!
The idea for a new Leadership Group specifically on Circular Procurement started during the ECESP Annual Event in 2020. Twenty-two organisations decided to harness the enormous potential of procurement to accelerate the circular economy in Europe. This outcome document focuses on the Sustainable Products Initiative and mandatory requirements as a driver of the CEAP.
The Leadership Group on Food waste, food systems and the bioeconomy has been working since November 2020 to highlight and raise awareness of the importance and complexity of food systems and the bioeconomy as a driver of the transition towards a circular economy in Europe.
Cities and local areas play a major role regionally in promoting the launch and implementation of systemic changes needed for the transition towards a circular economy. The ECESP Leadership Group on Cities and Regions focuses on this approach. In 2021, three meetings and two EU Circular Talks (EUCT) were organised.
The circular transition must be accompanied by a systemic change in the architecture of the tax system to head towards circular taxation, as the inherited tax system of today reinforces the linear economic model. A thorough examination of all aspects of tax design and its effects is needed during the process of switching to circular taxation.
In 2021, the Leadership Group on Retailers, Consumers and Skills considered issues such as how to made the electronics sector more circular, how to boost public awareness of the need to become more circular and how to step up training with a view to reskilling and upskilling.
In 2021, the ECESP Textiles Leadership Group identified three key topics: the EU Policy Framework, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Circular Design for textiles. This document summarises the main takeaways from the three #EUCircularTalks online events and a year of work.
Discover the ECESP Coordination Group's work plan 2021 which aims to advance the circular economy and bring the community together. The Group members will use their expertise and tackle issues in eight areas identified as being key for the transition to a more circular economy.
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.
Fashion For Change is a 3-year project co-financed by COSME, the European Union programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Together with COSME, Fashion For Change is enhancing the competitiveness and environmental performance of European fashion SMEs, designers and start-ups.
Greece's Green Fund aims to enhance development by protecting the environment. It achieves this goal by managing and providing financial and technical support for programmes, measures, interventions and actions geared towards safeguarding and restoring the environment, with a view to supporting the country's environmental policy and serving the public and social interest.
Submit your R&I project proposal and attend Info days for the 2022 Horizon Europe circular economy related calls under Cluster 4 ‘Digital, Industry and Space’ and Cluster 6 ‘Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment’!
Cluster 4 calls are open for submission; deadline: 30 March 2022. Cluster 6 calls open for submission on 28 October 2021; deadline: 15 February 2022.
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.
The Circulab Academy is proud to announce the following new training courses for 2022:
The Girls Go Circular Project aims to equip 50 000 schoolgirls aged 14-18 across Europe with digital and entrepreneurial skills by 2027 through an online learning programme about the circular economy.
Welcome to this MOOC on "Organizing for Sustainability" based on the book "Organizing for Sustainability – A Guide to Developing New Business Models".
Course Staff:
Among many other circular economy and sustainable development activities, the association LlobreGats from Barcelona creates animated mini-series that help young and old to reuse, reduce, separate and properly deposit their waste both in correct trash bins and in collection points.
With Biomimicry, embrace sustainable innovation and solve your business problems by finding inspiration from nature. Learn and apply this philosophy, its methods and tools for your company, your products, services, value chains...
In this 16-hour cohort-based course, participants will learn life's principles and apply them in their business or with their customers.
This course is suitable for all professionals and individuals, from entrepreneurs to business owners and project managers, wanting to learn how to design resilient and profitable business models built on circular economy principles. In this 15-hour, self-paced course, participants will learn the basics of business ecosystem design and how to put the circular design approach into practice.
Enhancing your Detox profile does more than reduce and mitigate risks. It can also improve brand reputation, increase stakeholders' trust and make entering even the most tightly-controlled markets faster and more profitable.
The Ask a DetoXpert Webinar Series is designed to help enterprises deep-dive into the details of chemical management and drive the development of Detox-compliant processes.
More than 20 organisations have come together in a global initiative to tackle the social and environmental problems of electronics. The Circular Electronics Initiative aims to encourage organisations and consumers to take a more responsible approach to the electronic goods they use. One core activity of the initiative is the annual event #CircularElectronicsDay.
Shift from linear to circular, learn to rethink and redesign: acquire the mindset, tools and skills needed to solve modern problems and transition to the circular economy through circular design. Circulab's Master Circular Design course has been designed to give you the keys to start your circular journey, adapt your organisation and create future-proof products and services.
FURN360 training course is a free-of-charge set of online modules offering 80 hours of training to understand the shift needed in the furniture industry to engage in a circular economy.
In its publication "Transition time! A circular economy for plastics", the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition sheds light on the challenges of plastic, shares innovative cases and makes specific recommendations on how to incentivise action.
Following the successful #EUCircularTalks events, EuroCommerce has prepared a Toolbox for Circular Packaging in the Retail sector. This Guidance aims to offer food for thought for retailers on how to improve the sustainability of their packaging.
In 2018, the National Institute for Circular Economy (INEC) launched an Operational Programme on Purchasing and Circular Economy, together with the Métropole du Grand Paris and the Observatoire des Achats Responsables. Drawing on participants' experiences, these guidelines aim to guide private and public buyers through integrating the circular economy into their purchasing policies.
Available in seven languages, the Circulab toolbox has been tested and improved by hundreds of customers in many industrial sectors around the world since 2014.
These powerful tools make it possible to explore a context, map a business model with all its impacts, identify key stakeholders, and start generating circular and regenerative ideas under a systemic approach.
This open access book by Jan Jonker and Niels Faber aims to educate students and professionals on how to develop business models that have a positive impact on people, society and the ecological environment. It explores a different view of how to organise value creation, from a focus on almost exclusively monetary value creation to one that creates positive impact through multiple values.
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.
CircularTool is an instrument developed by Matrec to measure the product circularity. It supports designers in the product design phase as it evaluates the choice of sustainable materials and helps them apply the Circular Economy EU Action Plan strategies and the Ecodesign Directive.
Following the study on the material flow analysis for Flanders in the period 2002-2018, which was published by the Circular Economy Policy Research Center in June 2020, this study introduces the link between the material flows in and out of the Flemish economy and the material flows within the Flemish economy.
This report is part of the ongoing research at the Policy Research Centre for Circular Economy to create a monitoring instrument to guide the transition to a circular economy in Flanders. This report presents a guiding framework specifically for circular economy in the food system and provides a first set of indicators to monitor the food system.
This report presents a circular economy monitor for the societal need fulfillment system of buildings and housing in Flanders. It is part of the CE monitor of the Circular Economy Policy Research Center.
This report is part of the ongoing research conducted by the Circular Economy Policy Research Center on creating a framework for a monitor to guide the transition to a circular economy in Flanders. It presents a set of indicators for the system of consumer goods, revealing how this system performs in relation to circular economy principles.
This report addresses blind spots in current research about the understudied circular phenomenon of reuse. It also explores the variety of channels for reuse, both formal (i.e. included in our economy through regulated economic units and protected workers) and informal (i.e. part of an informal economy in which transactions are not registered).
This report provides background data for the update of four macro indicators key to monitoring the circular economy: domestic material consumption (DMC), direct material input (DMI), raw material consumption (RMC) and raw material input (RMI).
This report presents the set of indicators comprising the mobility system. The indicators show that the mobility system is far from circular and is in fact becoming more linear. It is consuming ever greater amounts of materials, with more vehicles which are used less intensively and efficiently. The modal shift towards public transport or bicycles is simply not progressing.
This research paper on Modelling job creation in the circular economy in Flanders is the second output of the research line that studies employment and actor analysis for the circular economy.
The goal of this research paper is to investigate the impact of the transition to a more circular economy on employment in Flanders.
The Flemish Government wants to reduce the material footprint of consumption in Flanders by 30% by 2030. In order to know whether Flanders is on the right track and makes well-considered policy choices, data are needed. That is why Circular Flanders and the Circular Economy Research Centre launched the Circular Economy Monitor on 17 November.
