The ECESP Coordination Group met for the third time on 17 October 2019 in Brussels to review the Platform's 2019 activities and define its objectives for 2020.
On 9 May 2019, the National Institute for Circular Economy (INEC) and Orée, the two main circular economy organisations in France, presented their collaborative research on the political dynamics of circular economy in Europe and the civil society networks that drive this circular transition.
For four days in 2019, Antwerp was the epicentre of the circular economy. More than 750 company leaders, scientists and policy makers from all over the world came to the city from February 24 to 27 for the World Resources Forum (WRF), organised by OVAM - the Public Waste Agency of Flanders. On the menu? Sessions on the power of the circular economy and the link with climate change, and an introduction to numerous pioneering projects and initiatives that are driving the transition.
During Romania's Presidency of the Council of the European Union in Spring 2019, IRCEM began a project to support the development of a circular economy strategy for Romania until 2030. With support from the Ministry of Environment, Department for Sustainable Development and countless other public authorities, civil society organisations and private businesses, a series of 9 conferences and workshops was held from April to June 2019. A draft strategy will be presented to the Romanian government on the basis of these discussions in Autumn 2019.
Werflink is an online sharing platform on which construction sites and companies and can share equipment, materials, resources, freight space and facilities. The platform has been set up in collaboration with the Flemish Construction Confederation, construction company BESIX, Circular Flanders and FLOOW2, to create a more circular construction sector.
Seminar discussing the different aspects of urban waste prevention, with a particular focus on exchanging best practices coming from European heritage cities.
Examining the role of selective waste collection in a CE by focusing on two different waste streams (plastics and bio-waste) while also granting consideration to the future of highly selective collection streams.
The Climate Pact, which was set up by Luxembourg's Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure in order to enable municipalities wishing to actively tackle climate change to request State support by signing an engagement charter, now includes measures on circular economy.
The Austrian Circular Economy Platform Circular Futures was launched in March 2018 at the House of the European Union in Vienna.
Taking advantage of the eternal recyclability of Gypsum, Saint-Gobain's gypsum subsidiary already launched a voluntary and ambitious policy in 2000 to encourage the recycling of pre- and post-consumer gypsum waste.
Kalundborg Symbiosis is a partnership between nine public and private companies in Kalundborg, Denmark.
As a densely populated and economically powerful urban area, the city of Dusseldorf recognised the challenge of climate change early on and initiated a process of low carbon and zero waste strategy development.
In 2015 Amsterdam commissioned an in-depth study on the potential of a circular economy. The project was the first large-scale research study in the world that uses the ‘city circle scan’ methodology. The scan identifies the areas in which the most significant, tangible progress in realising a circular economy can be achieved. This potential impact is significant and can result in more jobs, bring added value to the city’s economy, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions and material use.
Birmingham is Britain’s youngest and fastest growing city, boasting the highest quality of life of any English city outside London. The city also has the strongest economy outside the capital and is one of the first cities to adopt a proactive industrial symbiosis approach to develop a medium and long-term strategy for sustainable economic development. Often described as ‘the circular economy in action’, the projects born from the industrial symbiosis approach are part of Birmingham’s circular economy strategy.
The purpose of the project has been to highlight the possibilities the municipalities and regions have to accommodate a more circular economy in the future.
EU-funded SwitchMed Programme supports and connects stakeholders to scale-up social and eco-innovations in the Mediterranean. It promotes inclusive growth, job creation and sustainable development by supporting policy makers, eco-innovative small and medium sized enterprises, industries, start-ups and entrepreneurs in the Southern Mediterranean countries.
Founded in 2012‚ "Reinwerfen statt Wegwerfen"is a voluntary initiative of Austrian businesses, based on an agreement between Austrian social partners and the Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism to improve the ecological performance of packaging (mainly beverage containers) by creating public awareness, preventing and reducing littering and promoting the separate collection and recycling of packaging.
The cement industry and LafargeHolcim under the Geocycle brand, have developed strong expertise in coprocessing. This latter refers to the simultaneous recovery of energy and the recycling of mineral materials within one single industrial process: cement manufacturing. This waste treatment solution allows 100% of the material input to be recovered or recycled in the production process without any additional residue or impact on health and cement quality.
Stories of Circular Economy combines the first online Atlas gathering circular economy experiences in Italy with an annual competition.
Following the successful completion of the European Remanufacturing Network project funded through Horizon 2020, the Conseil Européen de Remanufacture was launched in January 2017. It has members such as IBM, Lexmark, SKF, Panalpina, syncreon, Autocraft and others who pay annual membership subscriptions to develop, promote and exchange good practise between the many sectors in which remanufacturing occurs.
The term “sharing economy” has become a staple in our current society and making more efficient use of what we already have is becoming more important every day.
FLOOW2 provides organizations with a tool that allows them to take on a fitting new business model: sharing assets. Sharing assets is an integral part of the development towards a more circular economy, in which loops are closed and disruptive business models are the talk of the town.
Cities and regions in Alpine Space have mainly set their low-carbon objectives and adopted relevant strategies in energy, mobility, construction aso. The project GREENCYCLE aims to introduce the system of circular economy as a holistic approach to support implementation of low-carbon strategies and provide additional 2-4 % greenhouse emission reduction to the partner cities.
The PolyStyreneLoop (PSL) Cooperative is the European EPS/XPS industry’s closedloop solution for the recycling of polystyrene (PS) insulation foam waste.
This innovative project employs a ground-breaking technology to dissolve PS foam waste while also allowing for the extraction and recovery of bromine from the recently restricted flame retardant chemical, HBCD, which can then be used again for the production of new flame retardants.
The EU FP7 funded project R3Water (“Demonstration of innovative solutions for Reuse of water, Recovery of valuables and Resource efficiency in urban wastewater treatment“) demonstrated solutions to support the transition from being purely a wastewater treatment plant using energy and chemicals, towards a resource facility delivering different valuables.
Focus in the project was to develop, demonstrate and test solutions for upgrading existing urban wastewater treatment plants and to improve resource efficiency with the implementation of new technologies and business models.
