The MERLIN project (Increasing the quality and rate of MultilayER packaging recycLINg waste) aims at designing innovative solutions for all the processes required to increase the quality and rate of recycled plastic materials coming from multi-layer packaging waste. MERLIN’s new solutions will meet the growing number of plants that are seeking effective solutions.
Coffeefrom is an innovative project from Italy, the second circular economy project run by Il Giardinone Cooperativa Sociale. It has built a supply chain based on the recovery and processing of industrial coffee grounds. Coffee grounds from the food industry are blended with biopolymers to become a new bio-based material that is a durable and resistant alternative to single-use plastic.
The RE.WIND project routes used film to a dedicated supply chain that allows it to be recycled more efficiently, ensuring that the film obtained is of a high quality. The material goes back to the company in the form of film that can be used again to wrap pallets of goods.
Bioforcetech aims to reduce energy and labour costs while reducing emissions and generating by-products (fertilisers) with added value. The company's vision is simple: instead of transporting "waste", machines are designed to autonomously transform organics into value. Bioforcetech's technology locally transforms organic streams into renewable energy and biochar.
Food waste causes loss of materials and energy, environmental damage and negative effects on people's health and quality of life. In response to this, two Italian consumers' associations have decided to provide a series of nationwide services and activities, investing in innovative tools that promote the information needed to curb daily food waste.
NP-bioTech uses a biocatalyst, adsorbed onto an inert material (catalytic substrate). This enables the accelerated fermentation of critical biomass (such as citrus pulp or sewage sludge), transforming it into a biostabilised and pasteurised material with excellent agronomic properties.
The Hydro Ben project focuses on resource recovery for reuse in other industrial activities. It consists of recovering fatty substances from wastewater in professional catering facilities, by means of a special device which is placed under the sink.
The LIFE CIRC-ELV project has developed a new process for managing end-of-life vehicles to recover bumpers and fuel tanks, recycle the materials and use them to manufacture pipes and new parts for vehicles. Using this recycled plastic in products from this industry and others will help reduce the carbon footprint by 85%.
remesh is a socio-professional business workshop with an environmental impact. Most of its employees are women from disadvantaged background. The workshop is also providing a circular economy business model as they reuse advertising banners and meshes to make new products that are fashionable but sustainable.
educlick is a social and circular economy workshop that brings positive social impact with an unique business model.
The Roadmap - Towards the Circular Economy in Montenegro aims to steer the transition to a circular economy in Montenegro. It is based on systemic thinking and outlines the main drivers, horizontal and priority areas, opportunities for circular transformation and recommendations for the way forward.
The strategy identifies five focus areas (food and forest systems, the built environment, tourism and manufacturing) that are highly interconnected and, through the principles of industrial symbiosis and synergies, can result in systemic change.
The roadmap is an outcome of collaboration between the Montenegrin Chamber of the Economy, UNDP, Circular Change and Deloitte BiH.
In 2017, Poland was the third most carbon–intensive economy in Europe. The five main contributing sectors are power, industry, the built environment (mainly heating), agrifood and transport.
Poland is home to 33 out of 50 cities with the highest air quality concerns in the EU, according to the WHO. The two major sources of pollutants are motor vehicles and the burning of coal in domestic solid fuel furnaces.
Recent action by Poland's cities, governments, and local communities indicate that change is sought after. The acceptance of the circular economy roadmap at the national level in 2018 and city development strategies emphasize readiness for a transition towards a circular economy. This transition could help tackle some of the country's greatest social and environmental challenges.
Each year, humanity consumes resources equivalent to 1.7 planets. Sustainable resource use is therefore essential if we are to achieve our national environmental and climate objectives and the sustainable global development goals in the 2030 Agenda.
RE:Source is a strategic innovation programme co-funded by the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova), the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas) and the Swedish Energy Agency. The programme focuses on research and innovation in sustainable material use.
Within RE:Source, the RE:Agenda describes the innovation area of sustainable use of resources, which aims to support solutions that contribute to the efficient use of the earth’s resources within the planetary boundaries.
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.
This report:
It is designed not only to provide an overview of the project’s activities, but also to share learnings, findings and models that could support potential future initiatives in the field of circular electronics and beyond.
Circularity offers pathways to achieve a more sustainable production and consumption and to provide benefits to society. Although sustainability entails an ecological, economic, and a social dimension, the discourse on social aspects seems to have been less prevalent than on economic and environmental ones. Hence the need to further explore the social impacts of circularity and its potential societal benefits.
The aim of this report is to frame, address and better understand questions related to the social impacts of the transition to a Circular Economy. The report synthesises the gathered insights into key emerging themes and identifies gaps or areas of potential in the field as part of the Consumer Insight Action Panel (CIAP) project, led by the CSCP and funded by Sitra and DBU.
The EU Green Deal includes a commitment to shift the tax burden from labour to pollution. EU companies seek to adopt circular practices, but financial incentives in their tax systems curb circular growth.
This study presents a roadmap for a rebalancing of the tax mix, both at national and EU levels. It assesses the impact of 20 taxshift measures significantly decreasing the tax burden on labour while increasing taxation of resource use and pollution.
The analysis shows that a well-considered, broad-based tax reform could lead to more jobs, higher economic growth, fewer emissions and less dependence on imports. It also shows that it is possible to design policy measures addressing environmental issues (Polluter Pays Principle) and social issues (leaving no-one behind) simultaneously.
By building on the insights from previous EEA reports on drivers of sustainability transitions, this briefing explores alternative ideas about growth and progress with the aim of broadening the sustainability debate.
Economic growth is closely linked to increases in production, consumption and resource use and has detrimental effects on the natural environment and human health. It is unlikely that a long-lasting, absolute decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressures can be achieved at the global scale. Societies need to rethink what is meant by growth and progress and their meaning for global sustainability.
The briefing outlines how circular economy may not deliver the transformation to sustainability when growth strategy still leads to increased material consumption.
Across the globe, current approaches to sustainability are leaving lower-income countries behind. The authors of this paper believe a different vision for the future can be built, but transitioning to a circular economy, where waste is eliminated, materials are used and reused at their highest value, and nature is regenerated, won’t be socially just by default.
It is necessary to design the transition well to ensure that workers aren’t left behind, labour rights are uplifted, social benefits are maximised, and a wide range of approaches to circularity are recognised.
This brief highlights where we are headed if we do not take action, and illustrates key levers to address current oversights on circularity and its relationship to power, trade and technology.
Small Scale Actions (SSA) are a new element introduced for this round of URBACT action planning networks (2019-2022). This compendium summarises all of the SSAs carried out within the Resourceful Cities Network. It aims to support and inspire other cities which want to accelerate their circular transition.
A wide range of SSAs were carried out by Resourceful Cities partners, each one responding to an identified need within the individual city context. Actions included promoting citizen engagement and participation, enhancing knowledge and raising awareness of the circular economy, business support, data collection and monitoring and trialling new business models.
The built environment has a huge impact on the environment. This means that it is a key lever for achieving both the goals set by the Paris Agreement and many other sustainability objectives. Activating that lever will require a long-term transformation of the entire sector.
The circular economy is a way to secure resources, limit impact and promote affordability.
The Metabolic Institute, supported by the Laudes Foundation Built Environment Programme, set out to explore the circularity of the built environment in Europe. The resulting snapshot lays out key challenges, needs and opportunities in this field.
This exploration fed into the process of shaping a new programme starting in May 2022: Accelerating the Circular Economy in the Built Environment.
In the research Youth competencies in the circular economy labour market – A taxonomy of competencies, 50 circular entrepreneurs across Europe were interviewed on the competences that are relevant in their work. The central question is: How should young people be equipped to shift the labour market towards circularity and sustainability?
The results provide an overview of the types of skills, knowledge and attitudes that characterise circular entrepreneurship and leadership. The study concludes with a discussion on the role of youth workers in developing these competences.
This report is the second intellectual output of the Circular Economy - Sustainable Competences for Youth (CESCY) project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU.
The aim of this study is to report on the status quo of circular economy and sustainable practices implementation at the EU level, as well as in Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
This status quo is considered from different perspectives – rules, social norms, funding, knowledge and education, knowledge dissemination vehicles and implementation of the circular economy vision – and involves different stakeholders: state (national government, regional/local government and municipalities), public companies, public and private universities, civil society, private businesses, cooperatives, association of companies and transnational corporations.
This is the first intellectual output of the Circular Economy - Sustainable Competences for Youth (CESCY) project.
Circular economy interventions in four key sectors can halt global biodiversity loss and help the world's biodiversity recover, finds this study.
Tackling root causes - Halting biodiversity loss through the circular economy, written by experts from Sitra and Vivid Economics, is the first to quantify the role a circular economy can play in tackling global biodiversity loss, targeting the four sectors with the largest impacts:
Circular interventions in these sectors can halt biodiversity loss even if no other action is taken. And more than that, the study finds that the world’s biodiversity can recover to 2000 levels by 2035, if the circular interventions are implemented.
The project Osservatorio Innovazione Packaging (Observatory for Innovative Packaging) aims to trigger innovation in the area of packaging. It collects, prepares and provides case studies, knowledge and experience in order to promote circular, collaborative and responsible innovation projects along the packaging chain.
One of the observatory's goals is to create a regional and national "network of networks" within the packaging sector so as to foster connections between stakeholders. The platform contains:
The Circular Economy Network in Islands (RECIS) is a non-profit association based on the island of Gran Canaria.
It studies and disseminates circular economy solutions to resource scarcity and environmental fragility, which hinder the development of island territories. It also promotes the circular economy in islands and nurtures good practices and sustainability. The network takes a broad approach, since many of the problems facing islands require multidisciplinary solutions.
The network focuses on:
The Romanian Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ROCESP) was launched at national level by the Ernest Lupan Institute for Research in Circular Economy and Environment (IRCEM).
ROCESP members include local and central government institutions, academic, research and innovation institutions, businesses and civil society representatives.
The platform aims to promote and reinforce circular economy measures at national level and to facilitate cross-sectoral dialogue in Romania. It acts through 11 working groups, such as: Social and collaborative economy, Urban and territorial development, Energy efficiency, Education and training for the circular economy, Mobility and transport, Materials, Goods and packaging.
Resourceful Cities is an URBACT Action Planning Network of European cities that want to develop next-generation urban resource centres to accelerate the transition to the circular economy. The idea for this network arose from one of the actions identified by the Urban Agenda Partnership on Circular Economy under its ‘better knowledge’ pillar - namely to promote Urban Resource Centres for waste prevention, re-use and recycling.
Broadly these centres serve as connection points for citizens, new businesses, researchers, and the public sector to co-create new ways of closing local resource loops, while promoting waste prevention, re-use, repair, and recycling. Their precise manifestation will differ from city to city in response to the local context and needs identified.
WaVa / Waste Valorisation is a chemical exchange platform for all professionals which promotes the circular economy among manufacturers. Specifically, it is a co-product marketplace where sellers can sell their waste as a secondary raw material and buyers can buy cheaper, local materials.
Any industrial raw material, waste, by-product or manufacturing co-product can be traded on the WaVa platform. It aims to help people achieve their circular economy objectives and thus reap the economic and environmental benefits.
WaVa is not recognised as a waste disposal facility; it simply connects buyers and sellers. It never actually takes ownership of the product.
There are no fees for registration, selling or buying.
The HOOP Network of Cities and Regions seeks to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and mutual learning among cities and regions willing to recover valuable resources from urban bio-waste and wastewater to make bio-based products. By joining the network, they gain information on innovative urban bioeconomy solutions and engage in activities relevant to their specific situation and interests. Participants have direct exchanges with the eight HOOP lighthouse cities and regions, sharing experiences and expertise, and can be invited to the project's events.
The HOOP network is only open to organisations that plan, organise or operate municipal waste management or wastewater treatment activities, for instance local or regional authorities and waste management companies.
TCO Certified has 30 years' experience of driving sustainable development in the IT industry. By continuously developing criteria and verification methods, TCO Certified tackles new challenges such as circularity, hazardous substances, and socially and environmentally responsible manufacturing.
All criteria are mandatory, which means that all products must meet all the criteria for their product category to be certified according to TCO Certified.
The need to go circular has become especially pressing as digitalisation continues to grow and with it the consumption of electronic devices. TCO Certified’s circular criteria help purchasers lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduce e-waste and extend the life of IT products.
The catalogue of best practices in circular economy (CBPCE) is a Spanish meeting forum for the production, public, education and training sectors allowing the exchange of good practices and putting in contact different entities - suppliers and customers - who operate according to the same circular economy criteria, in order to create a network that strengthens circular value chains.
In addition, the CBPCE promotes sectoral and intersectoral connections by showcasing success stories that can be scalable and transferable between companies and sectors, thus facilitating circular growth in the economy as a whole. The call for this second CBPEC was made during 2021 and 46 circular economy practices were selected and made available to companies and the general public.
The Circular Appliances website, an initiative powered by APPLiA - Home Appliance Europe representing home appliance manufacturers from across Europe, is an online platform which takes readers through each phase of the home appliances’ lifecycle, from design to end-of-use, aimed at displaying the achievements of the sector and fostering a more sustainable culture among European citizens.
Thanks to an immersive and interactive format, the Circular Appliances website offers the public a comprehensive experience to discover each phase of the product’s lifecycle and how the home appliance industry drives the circular transition. This is all based on what APPLiA calls a “circular culture”, which means bringing all societal actors together to achieve more ambitious circularity objectives.
Recovo is a B2B platform located in Spain which specialises in selling on deadstock fabric which would otherwise be classified as textile waste.
The platform helps EU-based brands and suppliers to give a second life to unused fabric: this reduces the amount of resources needed to meet buyers' needs and cuts down on the amount of waste to be processed. The platform uploads photos and information on fabric remnants put up for sale by producers which can then earn money from products rather than paying for waste disposal. Buyers can order samples, then buy as much of the fabric as they want which is delivered straight to them.
A user-friendly platform promoting circularity and combating waste!
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
The Basque Circular Summit is one of the largest events on eco-design and circular economy in Europe. It aims to provide information about major circular challenges, to analyse the opportunities for the Basque economy and to highlight the work carried out by local companies through public-private partnerships with a view to reaching the objectives of the Basque Circular Economy and Bioeconomy Plan 2024.
To celebrate Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day, 10 innovative projects by #CirCoAX30 will be presented to promote inclusiveness and empower these 10 businesses. The key role played by fashion and textile entrepreneurs in the green transition will be celebrated by sharing good practices and innovative solutions.
The EURE project is organising a conference in Brussels on 29 June (09:30-16:00 CEST) on the new territorial models for the management of European urban policy and the role of small and medium-sized cities in proposing a renewed European urban policy adapted to the challenges of our times.
From 12 to 14 September 2022, the Circular Economy Hotspot will be held in North-Rhine Westphalia, in the city of Bottrop. Talk with world-renowned experts and delegates from business, politics, science and public initiatives and gain insight through impressive practical examples.
This webinar on 7 July aims at presenting a leaflet providing road transport SMEs with tips on how to start their decarbonisation journey by becoming more circular and sustainable. The leaflet was drafted jointly by SMEunited, its sectoral member UETR and the EU LIFE Programme. Participants enrolling for the webinar will receive a copy of the leaflet.
The Digital Product Passport (DPP) promotes sustainable production. The passport lists all materials and components used in a product or a building and the information on their location. Providing this information could increase the product circularity and contribute to reaching the net-zero objective.
What are the challenges ahead? What are the initiatives in place at the European level? Join us online on 8 July from 09:00 to 10:30 CEST to learn more from frontrunner stakeholders that have already conceptualised digital product passports and are operating them on the EU market.
With the EU and Japan seeing the circular economy as a key tool for achieving resource efficiency and net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, this webinar on 23 June will build a bridge between the EU and Japan to share initiatives and strategies aimed at achieving circular economies. It will focus on the circular economy of strategic metals used to decarbonise energy and mobility and will address the opportunities for EU-Japan industrial and innovation cooperation.
This event is aimed at policymakers, researchers and industry figures and will identify the EU and Japanese policy instruments and industrial innovation methods that will nurture their circular economies for strategic metals and help the EU and Japan achieve the green transition.
As the Horizon 2020 research programme becomes Horizon Europe, what better time to witness how great ideas turned into real projects? LOOPS will be the opportunity to show what cutting-edge research has been produced, and which changes it can bring to our communities.
For those who are not familiar with it, LOOPS is a live webinar series committed to spotlighting innovation in the field of circular economy. The topic of this episode on 15 June will be photovoltaics.
The first Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) Info Day will take place online on 7 June 2022.
Join the event to find out about the new CBE JU partnership and the 2022 call for proposals and build your network via the CBE JU platform.
This Policy Dialogue will take place on 7 June starting at 14:00 CEST. It will consider the importance of strategic resources, notably critical raw materials, for achieving the European Green Deal objectives, and the role for a circular economy in enabling access to those resources.
The European Economic and Social Committee has adopted an own-initiative opinion on the European furniture industry's recovery and shift towards an innovative, green and circular economy. The opinion calls on the European Commission to provide more integrated strategies for specific economic sectors, coordinating the various policy fields into an ongoing transition of the European economy.
On Thursday 23 June 2022, from 13:30 to 15:30 CEST, the United Nations Environment Program will be hosting a webinar to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Life Cycle Initiative. The event will take stock of how Life Cycles Approaches have accelerated the transition to sustainable consumption and production.
The European Commission is carrying out an impact assessment in preparation for the revision of the Waste Framework Directive. You have until 16 August to tell the European Commission what you think about waste management and its environmental impact!
The European Commission has published a call for proposals on “Social innovations for a fair green and digital transition”, under the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) strand of the European Social Fund+.
The European Commission has launched new resources to help buildings professionals to start using Level(s), the EU common language framework for monitoring and assessing the sustainability performance of buildings. Level(s) is a simple entry point for applying circular economy principles in our built environment.
The Balearic Islands have adopted a new law on urgent measures to promote the sustainability and circularity of tourism, introducing a strategy for circularity.
The Circular Week is a series of events and initiatives dedicated to circular economy and sustainable development, taking place across Europe. It aims to promote the idea of circular economy, support sustainable business models and establish cooperation between stakeholders.
The 2022 edition will take place from 3 to 9 October. Submit your event and help close the circle!
The European Commission would like to hear your views on the initiative "Circular economy – revision of the monitoring framework". This call for evidence will be open for feedback until 3 June 2022. Your input will be taken into account when developing and finetuning the initiative.
This year, the LIFE programme turns 30. It is appointing external experts to assist with the evaluation of grant applications, projects and tenders.
This year, the LIFE programme turns 30. There are more than 5 500 LIFE projects – both past and present – across Europe. All LIFE 2022 calls for proposals are expected to be published on the Funding & tender opportunities portal on 17 May 2022.
This Reflection paper of the ECESP Leadership Group on Network governance and circular economy hubs draws on the lessons learned when a group of ECESP Coordination Group members focused on road-mapping processes in various countries. The key to success is making the networks work, making them actionable, with a focus on network governance and the role of individual circular economy hubs.
The built environment has a significant impact on a multitude of sectors, on local jobs and on quality of life. The construction sector accounts approximately for 50% of materials extracted in Europe, and is responsible for more than 35% of Europe's waste.
Extended Producer Responsibility Schemes (EPR) are increasingly used across Member States to finance proper waste management. The workshop discussed the take-aways, benefits but also shortcomings of EPR Schemes, in order to focus on the various areas of improvements. Particular emphasis was placed on the role played by eco-modulation of fees.
While digital networking is of great advantage for everyday life, the incredible amounts of electrical devices bring with it some particularly ecological risks, especially with regard to the use of resources. This is why the European Commission in the New Circular Economy Action Plan announced a Circular Electronics Initiative. There are still many challenges to be discussed during this workshop.
This workshop brought together experts from various organisations to discuss topics like the undervalued importance of infrastructure in tackling climate change, discuss the markets for secondary resources, the relevance of deconstruction design to enable the renovation wave, and stress value-chains collaboration.
At a moment when the EU stakeholders hold their breath for the EU Textiles strategy to be published, this workshop aims to give a final signal to the policy makers that a high level of ambition needs to be maintained in the upcoming proposal in order to create a watershed moment for the textile production and consumption, and more importantly for its global impact on the society and environment.
This workshop aims to better understand the key ingredients for the successful circular transformation as well as the definition of the optimal profile of the transition broker.
This workshop used the concrete example of procurement of charging stations for electrical vehicles to link circular procurement to the energy transition.
The Cities & Regions Leadership Group in 2021 continued the work on the analysis of indicators to measure the transition to the circular economy in cities and regions.
This workshop capitalized on those discussion points, gearing the discussions towards the definition of operational cooperation leads between different initiatives supporting CE transition in cities and regions.
This workshop session was divided into three different thematic blocks focussing on:
The first Circular Bio-based Europe - Joint Undertaking call for proposals is now open for submissions and will run until 17:00 CEST on 22 September 2022.
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 Polish AGH UST Faculty of Management will be providing a 45-hour course on Business strategies in the circular economy on 5-12 July 2022. This 3 ECTS-credit course is free of charge and will take place online in English. It is intended for foreign students studying for a bachelor's, master's or phD degree.
There can be no doubt that a significant change in lifestyle and patterns of production and consumption is needed to cope with the various climate, energy and resource-related crises coming our way. Cittadinanzattiva promotes the circular economy by means of training, debates, awareness raising activities and the encouragement of positive patterns of behaviour.
The Reflow Masterclasses offer a deep dive into dedicated topics relevant to the transition to circular cities. In a condensed 30-minute lecture, experts provide an overview of key knowledge about and insights into circular economy-related topics.
Following a massive open online course (MOOC) approach, REFLOW Academy enables stakeholders to enrol in a set of three courses focusing on the circular economy.
In this six-week course, participants will learn about circular economy, sustainable mobility, energy efficiency and clean energy through interactive materials, live events and working groups. The course is part of the Interreg Euro-MED Academy catalogue and will provide particpants with tangible examples of actions, policies, and tools available to apply effective solutions in their own context.
The INSIGHT training course aims to increase knowledge, skills, and competences concerning industrial symbiosis for trainees willing to become industrial symbiosis facilitators. The course, which is available for free on an online e-learning platform, is in English, but summaries of each unit are provided in Italian, Spanish, French, Slovenian and Romanian.
The Circulab Academy is proud to announce the following 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.
This open access MOOC is for entrepreneurs and students to work on a sustainable, circular or social business model using the Business Model Template (BMT).
In three phases and 10 steps, all aspects for developing a business model are systematically dealt with. The MOOC consists of a self-paced programme of seven chapters and over 50 teaching units.
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.
UNECE and UN/CEFACT, together with key industry stakeholders, have launched a project for an international framework initiative to enhance transparency and traceability for sustainable and circular value chains in the garment and footwear industry.
Reducing your value chain’s emissions is a key factor in combating climate change, transitioning to a circular economy and ensuring that your business is competitive and complies with the law. This guide by Normative sets out six building blocks to measure and reduce carbon emissions from your value chain, a prerequisite for adopting circular business model principles.
This guide helps municipal authority practitioners adopt a more circular approach to public procurement. It provides an overarching framework that should be adapted to the local context and the reality of each city. Each step includes questions to consider, examples of how other municipal authorities have implemented circular procurement, and resources.
As a company or organisation you want to contribute to circularity. This may require a new business model focused on efficient use and reuse of products, components and raw materials. You can use Saxion University of Applied Sciences' free, interactive toolset to clarify what you want to achieve and start exploring how to develop your circular business model.
This Whitepaper presents research into existing and emerging circular business models (CBMs). This results in the identification of seven basic types of CBM, divided into three groups that together form a classification.
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.
The NETWAP project has produced a set of guidelines for national and local governments to manage biowaste and optimise marine litter prevention on beaches, with an emphasis on the local/community dimension.
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.
SuperDrecksKëscht has developed the concept of resources potential certification of demanufacturing plants. It allows for product-related evaluation of treatment, recycling and disposal plants including actual volumes of raw materials recovered and the proportion used for energy generation.
Normative's carbon accounting service explains the role of carbon emissions in a circular economy and why it is important to reduce them.
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.
