The project idea called Urban Click is focused on finding a solution to promote recycling and reuse of construction and demolition waste (CDW) within the construction sector in urban areas of Europe.
Finnish jewelry company EKORU makes jewelry out of discarded Finnish coins, old silver spoons and other cutlery. After Finland changed to the Euro, the metal of old Finnish coins found other purposes.
Concular disrupts the construction industry by developing a circular process for material flow. The system is based on an AI-driven platform that matches buyers’ demand for construction material with suppliers’ circular materials.
Volvo Cars commissioned Circulor to implement a technology-enabled traceability solution, to enable an end-to-end chain of custody to be constructed, initially for Cobalt and subsequently for Mica, with other materials being planned.
ZERO BRINE proposes a circular economy approach to reduce the negative impacts of brine from process industries and create economic value from the reuse of its constituents, such as sodium chloride, magnesium, calcium, sulphates, sodium bicarbonate, heat and fresh water.
Fair hairdressers (Coiffeurs Justes) give hair left on the floor in their salons for reuse in sectors such as agriculture, construction and environmental protection.
Finnish company Pa-Ri Materia gives used office furniture a second life by refurbishing and selling it. The company purchases some of the furniture it recycles, while certain companies pay for their furniture to be recycled or reused.
The Finnish foodtech company, Solar Foods, produces natural single-cell protein using simply renewable electricity and air, called Solein®. They bring to the market an entirely new kind of food that is both natural, and not dependent on agriculture, climate or the weather. The protein can be made in tough environmental conditions, such as the desert, the Arctic, or possibly even in space.
TOMRA's Circular Economy Division was established in January 2019 to speed up the transformation to a circular economy and shape future waste and resource systems.
TOMRA’s cutting-edge sorting technologies retain valuable resources by extracting high-purity fractions from mixed waste and metal streams in the most remote parts of the world. Its technology and equipment has been used in the world’s most advanced recycling plants.
In 2012, the United Nations Environment Programme launched the Global Initiative for Resource-Efficient Cities (GI-REC) with the goal of applying integrated approaches and analyses such as urban metabolism in city planning and management (building on the work of the International Resource Panel).
After seven years, the first phase of the Initiative has brought together professionals from different disciplines, scientists, and policy makers. It has also brought together separate work streams of climate and resource efficiency, and how they are connected at the city level.
“Growing in Circles” summarises the GI-REC experience, and provides guidance on the transition of cities from a linear to a circular economy, and on alternatives to the way our cities are being planned and built.
The Plastic Atlas contains more than 49 detailed infographics covering a broad range of topics regarding the plastic pollution crisis looking along the entire value chain of plastic. The atlas highlights the scale of the crisis, and the global impacts of plastic production, consumption and disposal on other key global challenges such as human health and climate change. It also outlines the role of plastic for key industrial sectors such as agriculture and tourism and describes the corporate interests and drivers behind the plastic crisis. Finally, the Plastic Atlas presents an overview of key plastic-free regulations, zero waste solutions and a snapshot of the growing global movement working towards a future free from plastic pollution.
The previous Commission policy on resources management was part of the priority for jobs and growth and economic competitiveness. The circular economy will be no less important for the new political priority of climate neutrality; it will become one of the indispensable elements for meeting the EU’s ambitions.
EU climate policy and the circular economy are, by and large, complementary and mutually reinforcing. The circular economy is more than just another ‘product standards’ policy.
Circular economy products for the foreseeable future will require both technology push and market pull policies. The principal challenge will be to create ‘lead markets’ for the circular economy in combination with low-carbon products.
Textiles are fundamental to our society and employs millions of people worldwide, making it among the largest in the world and an important part of Europe's manufacturing industry. However, textile production and consumption cause significant environmental, climate and social impacts by using resources, water, land and chemicals and emitting greenhouse gases and pollutants.
In Europe, the sector employs 1.7 million people and Europeans consume on average 26 kg of textiles per person per year. This briefing by the European Environment Agency provides an EU perspective of the environmental and climate pressures from textile production and consumption, and discusses how circular business models and regulation can help move us towards a circular textiles economy.
This report by the EEA highlights that fostering circular material use requires a broad system perspective and extensive stakeholder involvement. The entire product lifecycle — including the design, production, consumption and waste phases — needs to be addressed in a coherent way. The enablers of and barriers to circular business models need to be well understood and addressed before innovation and competitiveness can be enhanced.
This policy paper by the Institute for European Environmental Policy examines the interface between the EU circular economy, trade and sustainable development. It identifies the expected global impacts associated with the EU’s shift to circularity and investigates the role of trade in either incentivising or hindering this process.
Finally, the paper highlights the links between the circular economy, trade and sustainable development, emphasising the need for better policy coherence among these areas in the EU.
This guide presents how dredged sediments can be beneficially used in road engineering with a view to sustainable development and to the protection of the environment and of populations.
This is the result of research carried out by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DGCE) at the School of Mines of Douai for more than ten years on the theme of using dredged sediments. It is coherent with French regulations and the methodological framework (ADEME, 2010; SETRA, 2011) that prevailed at the time of the work.
This guide is not intended for use of sediments abstracted from a river system. It is only intended for harbour and canal dredgings, where restitution to river systems is usually not possible -at least economically.
The Fibersort project aims at realising the widespread implementation of the automated sorting technology by validating it as a key value adding innovation to enable textile-to-textile recycling.
While the challenges and opportunities of used textiles are increasingly in the spotlight of governments, industry, and civil society, considerable system changes are required to transition towards a circular economy for textiles. Throughout this report, policy recommendations are formulated showing the legislative, economic and soft instruments that regional, national and the European governments have at their disposal to create an enabling environment for textiles collection, sorting and recycling at scale.
Launched in 2018, the Global Commitment now includes over 400 signatories, which are aligned on a path to build a new plastics economy. Business signatories, including companies representing 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally, are working to eliminate the plastic we don't need, to innovate so that all plastic we do need is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and to circulate all the plastic we use.
Identifying the impact of the circular economy on the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Industry: opportunities and challenges for businesses, workers and consumers – mobile phones as an example
Mobile phones, particularly smartphones, have undergone a period of rapid growth to become virtually indispensable to today's lifestyle. Yet their production, use and disposal can entail a significant environmental burden.
This study, commissioned by the European Economic and Social Committee and carried out by the Centre for European Policy Studies, looks at the opportunities and challenges arising from implementing circular economy approaches in the mobile phone value chain. A review of the value chain and different circular approaches is complemented by a scenario analysis that aims to quantify the potential impacts of circular approaches such as recycling, refurbishment and lifetime extension.
The study finds that there is a large untapped potential for recovering materials.
LOOPS is an opportunity to show what cutting-edge research has been produced, and which changes it can bring to our communities. It is a series of live webinars committed to spotlighting innovation in the field of circular economy. Next event, taking place on 18 November, is about improving the life cycle of textiles.
As part of the CONDEREFF Project, the Workshop and Exchange-of-experience visit on "Selection, permits and monitoring of C&D waste management sites and facilities" will be held online on 15 November.
A week of meetings and discussion on the economic transition in the Brussels-Capital Region. Come and find out more about the Brussels economy of the future, talk to other economic players and get inspired by innovative initiatives during the events that will take place throughout the week in the four corners of the region.
We need to rethink urban development, production and consumption models so that they respond to environmental and social challenges, both regional and global. The Brussels-Capital Region is beginning its transition to a local, circular, social and democratic economy in line with these overarching principles.
What actually is the economic transition?
How can we launch an economic activity that fits in with it?
What tools is the region putting in place to help businesses?
For one week, renowned speakers and inspiring contributors will take it in turn to present the regional transition and invite Brussels' actors to join the movement!
Lack of standards in meeting sustainability goals may open the door to greenwashing or misallocation of assets and could lead to a lack of trust in progress towards SDGs. At the webinar on Standards4SDGs on 17 November, you will get an overview of how international organisations have already developed standards that can be linked to policies related to the circular economy, resource efficiency, environmental management and social responsibility, providing a level playing field for standards adopters.
With emissions rising and dwindling time to reach the 1.5-degree target, it is paramount to increase the ambition of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and accelerate their implementation. The circular economy (CE) offers vast potential for GHG emission reduction on a global scale.
On 9 November, from 11:30, The NDC Partnership and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will host a COP26 side event on integrating circular action into climate strategies and present findings of a new study published by GIZ on behalf of BMZ.
The study outlines a roadmap for NDC coordinators and decision-makers to clarify the envisioned CE transition measures and design CE-smart NDCs. The event aims to provide policymakers and NDC coordinators with a practical guide to raise their ambitions.
A webinar series connecting the dots between EU decision-makers and recyclers. It will provide an opportunity to discuss the building blocks required to speed up the transition towards a more circular economy and achieve Europe's climate neutral agenda.
Recyclers’ Talks #6 will focus on the challenges and opportunities for the automotive value chain.
Circular procurement is one of the answers to the changing functional needs of users within an organisation. It is also an essential tool for promoting a circular economy in the procurement process by stimulating the market for circular products and services.
On 25 November 2021, at 10.00-12.00 CET, the ECESP Leadership Group for Circular Procurement invites you to join the #EUCircularTalks on circular procurement. The debate will centre on the policies to drive circular procurement, thereby accelerating the transition to a circular economy within the EU. From policy levels varying from the European Commission to cities, speakers will share their experiences with circular and green procurement policies. These will set the stage for an interactive dialogue.
Although there is a well-established body of literature on measuring the circular economy and its implications, most monitoring frameworks focus on measuring materials and waste production. However, the multi-dimensional aspect of the circular economy and the range of objectives underpinning circular economy strategies mean that we need to identify new targets and indicators.
ACR+, Zero Waste Scotland, EEB, ICLEI, EIT Circular Economy Community, Circular Regions and the ECESP invite you to discuss the implications of measuring circular economy actions in cities and regions on 17 November at 10:00 CET.
The hybrid event Addressing the Textile Microplastics Challenge on 16 November is introducing ongoing developments and plans concerning the evaluation of microplastic shedding. The event is organized by TUV Rheinland together with HKRITA, HKUST and GIZ GABRIC with the support of the German Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Invest Hong Kong.
A high-level debate & presentation on Smart Villages, organised under the auspices of the 2021 Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, will take place on 1st November in Dubai. It will focus on the "smart village" concept, co-initiated and co-created at EU and world level, which is about citizens taking ownership and responsibility.
At the beginning of June, Circle Economy and Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA) released the Circularity Gap Report Austria, which makes Austria the first nation to measure the Circularity Gap. This landmark report paves the way for nations to lead the transition from a linear economy of Take-Make-Waste to a circular economy.
The 3rd edition of the WCEF2019 (Helsinki, 3-5 June 2019) presented the most advanced circular solutions for governments, industries, businesses and citizens and put a strong emphasis on the next level of circularity and how to scale up the transition.
WCEF2019 presented the most advanced circular solutions for governments, industries, businesses and citizens and put a strong emphasis on the next level of circularity and how to scale up the transition.
CICERONE has launched an online consultation aimed at circular economy programme owners (organisations that design and fund programmes), as well as CICERONE partner organisations. The consultation is open until 18th July 2019.
In the face of a growing global waste crisis, new corporate reporting disclosures are being developed by Global reporting Initiative (GRI) to help organizations better understand and communicate their waste impacts. It is in this context that the GRI Waste Standard is under development, and open to public consultation and comment until 15 July 2019.
A 600.000 EUR funding programme to support innovators in Ireland to develop and demonstrate consumer and business solutions that will stimulate the circular economy is now open for applications.
Waste and pollution from the production of textiles and clothing have become critical global issues. The current ‘linear’ model is outdated and unsustainable. There is an urgent need for a strategy to transform industry into a circular model. A new report launched by Ecopreneur.eu, the European Sustainable Business Federation, calls for decisive policy measures to create an enabling framework.
On March 27, the European Parliament voted to adopt the Single-Use Plastics Directive, thus banning single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers to be banned by 2021, setting a 90% collection target for plastic bottles by 2029 and introducing more stringent application of the “polluter pays” principle.