26 Apr 2022
This webinar on 26 April will show you how to help your value chain reduce its carbon emissions to fight climate change, keep your business competitive, and stay legally compliant.
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International
The circular economy as EU environmental policy – Changing or maintaining the status quo?
The circular economy as EU environmental policy – Changing or maintaining the status quo?
Many actors see the EU’s circular economy (CE) as a promising narrative which steps outside dominant end-of-pipe solutions towards an encompassing vision for strategies across the supply chain. However, this study finds that the EU CE Action Plan maintains the status quo narrative instead of suggesting radical changes.
By focusing on stakeholder narratives, this analysis shows that the inertia is primarily due to CE proponents’ self-perception of being in a legitimacy crisis and their strategic arguments that have:
- concealed social conflict and potential trade-offs
- strengthened the agency of ‘status quo’ agents
- excluded alternative voices questioning the proposed CE narrative.
The paper discusses how to develop new environmental narratives outside the status quo.
05 Apr 2022
The Circulab Academy is an independent design studio and strategy consulting agency that helps organizations worldwide imagine and design regenerative solutions. It provides online courses based on powerful and open source circular design tools, created and enhanced by Circulab since 2014.
Now the Circulab Academy has a new free online course "Activate the Circular Economy".
12 Apr 2022
The 4th OECD Roundtable on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions will bring together key stakeholders from cities, regions, national governments, the private sector, civil society, academia, philanthropy and international organisations on 12 April 2022.
07 Apr 2022
This event on 7 April aims to explore the concept of biofactories and present the technical advances of the projects ECOVAL and WALNUT. The social, legal and market barriers for the valorisation of high added value products for agriculture and industry, such as sludge or biofertilisers obtained from waste flows from urban water treatment plants, will be discussed.
Almudena
05 Apr 2022
Book launch for "Social and Cultural Aspects of the Circular Economy: Towards Solidarity", edited By Viktor Pál.
During this open and free webinar on 5 April, the book chapter authors will be sharing some of the insights set out in chapter 9 on "Assessing through a gender-inclusion lens the social impact of circular strategies in the apparel value chain: The Dutch case".
06 Apr 2022
At this side event of the UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, to take place on 6 April at 17:15 CEST, government officials and other stakeholders will discuss how to facilitate coordination between government institutions and share good practices on administrative requirements for policy making in the circular economy context.
15 Jun 2022
After two years of cancellations due to COVID-19, EuRIC is delighted to announce that the European Recycling Conference is back and will take place on 14-15 June 2022 at IFEMA in Madrid.
The 4th conference will offer unique networking opportunities, brief participants on the latest regulatory and business developments and be part of the International Recycling and Recovery Trade Fair in Madrid which attracts over 10 000 visitors and 200 exhibition stands. The event will bring together top-level executives from companies, federation leaders and officials from EU institutions.
27 Jun 2022 to 29 Jun 2022
The 3rd Symposium on Circular Economy and Sustainability will take place in Chania, Greece on 27-29 June 2022. Researchers, practitioners and entrepreneurs are invited to submit both empirical and theoretical papers that are broadly consistent with any of the topics covered by the Symposium.
05 Apr 2022
This EU Circular Talk aims to share insights and impressions from the collaboration of the German-based Packaging Club, learn about experiences in other European countries and regions, and discuss implications for the future with interested European stakeholders.
24 Mar 2022
The circular economy has the potential to tackle the main drivers of biodiversity loss, including land-use change, climate change, overexploitation, and pollution, by transforming how we produce, consume and manage materials. During this official side-event on 24 March 2022 at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity negotiations, the role that a circular economy can play in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework through supporting sustainable use of biodiversity will be explored.
Learning after the flood - waste management in focus
134 people died in the devastating flooding in the German region of Ahrweiler in July 2021, caused by a climate change-induced weather situation. Over 400 000 tonnes of waste were created by the floods in one night. 40 000 households were hit, and massive damage to infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals was reported. The situation was described as being similar to the massive destruction following a war.
Thinking Circular’s report summarises the process of waste management and learning from this regional crisis.
ReCreate: Innovate and develop novel technological solutions for deconstruction and reuse
ReCreate pushes towards circular construction by investigating the system changes needed in the whole ecosystems of construction and demolition.
Decoupling Debunked - Evidence and arguments against green growth as a sole strategy for sustainability
Decoupling Debunked – Evidence and arguments against green growth as a sole strategy for sustainability
Is it possible to enjoy both economic growth and environmental sustainability? This question is a matter of political debate between green growth and post-growth advocates. Considering what is at stake, a careful assessment to determine whether the scientific foundations behind this decoupling hypothesis are robust or not is needed.
This report reviews the empirical and theoretical literature to assess the validity of this hypothesis. The conclusion is both overwhelmingly clear and sobering: not only is there no empirical evidence supporting the existence of a decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressures on anywhere near the scale needed to deal with environmental breakdown, but also, and perhaps more importantly, such decoupling appears unlikely to happen in the future.
APPLiA - Home Appliance Europe, Circular Appliances: an online platform
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.
Federica Lavoro
Laboratorio Cartiera: leather and a social conscience!
The Italian Cartiera is an ethical fashion workshop founded in Lama di Reno, Marzabotto in 2017 which makes leather and fabric items.
Believing strongly that work is an extraordinary tool for social inclusion, Cartiera offers paths for employment and integration of disadvantaged people, mainly refugees and asylum seekers.
Circular Infrastructure: the road towards a sustainable future
Circular infrastructure: the road towards a sustainable future
The availability of a quality infrastructure system – networks of roads, railways, bridges and waterways – is a prerequisite for all economic activity to flourish and is also paramount for people’s health, wellbeing and safety. Infrastructure is very important for human society - but its adverse environmental impact on our planet is undeniable.
To mitigate the long-term catastrophic effects of climate change and depleting material resources, a circular economy for infrastructure is crucial. The publication Circular Infrastructure: the road towards a sustainable future aims to bring this aspect into the limelight to inspire action by public actors and practitioners.
A two-year stakeholders’ consultation on the construction and infrastructure value chains
A two-year stakeholders’ consultation on the construction and infrastructure value chains
This paper by ENEA focuses on circular economy in the construction sector, by illustrating the main market dynamics related to materials for buildings and infrastructures, and active and/or potential value chain collaborations in a circular and industrial symbiosis perspective.
The paper offers an overview of:
- the relevance of construction and infrastructure value chains within the EU economy,
- their potential for circularity, resource efficiency and decarbonisation and
- the main barriers and levers.
Contributors:
- the Environmental European Bureau (EEB), within the ECESP Leadership Group Construction, led by ENEA in 2020, and
- alchemia-nova and Innowo, within the ECESP Leadership Group Construction & Infrastructure, led by Holland Circular Hotspot in 2021.
Why Steel recycles for ever
Why steel recycles forever: How to collect, sort and recycle steel for packaging
This report, which contains best practices and policy recommendations, provides updated information relevant to all organisations and stakeholders, both in the public and private sector, who wish to learn more about material recycling.
The objective is to help stakeholders - throughout the whole value chain - work collaboratively to achieve APEAL’s vision of zero steel packaging to landfill by 2025.
Steel for packaging is already the most recycled primary packaging material in Europe (2019 recycling rate: 84%), bringing great savings in emissions, resource and energy use.
Steel’s unique inherent qualities give it a natural advantage. Its magnetic properties make it easy and economical to recycle. As a permanent material, it can also be recycled forever.
Steve Claus
Steve Claus
30 Jun 2022 to 01 Jul 2022
The International MonGOS conference - Water and Sewage in the Circular Economy Model, which will be held from 30 June to 1 July 2022 in Cracow (Poland), will provide a summary of the MonGOS project "Monitoring of water and sewage management in the context of the implementation of the circular economy assumptions" financed by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) under the International Academic Partnerships Programme (2020-2022).
08 Mar 2022
You are invited to participate in a webinar led by the European Commission, DG ENV, on 8 March 2022, to launch a "Support study for the development of the Roadmap for the reduction of whole life carbon of buildings", .
18 May 2022 to 20 May 2022
SUM 2022 - 6th Symposium on Circular Economy and Urban Mining - will take place from 18 to 20 May 2022 in the fascinating venue of Capri, Italy. The Symposium, organised biennially since 2012 by the International Waste Working Group (IWWG), is the reference forum for resource recovery from waste, where scientists and stakeholders can debate cutting edge results and focus on future needs. The conference programme will include parallel tracks of oral sessions, workshops, poster presentations and much more.
03 Mar 2022
Batteries are considered crucial for the transition to a circular and climate-neutral economy. On 10 February, the European Parliament's Environment Committee (ENVI) overwhelmingly (by 74 to 8!) adopted an ambitious report on the European Batteries Regulation covering proposed rules governing the entire battery product lifecycle, from design to end-of-life. This webinar, which will take place on 3 March at 15:00 CET and is organised by TÜV Rheinland, will address durability of consumer electronics with regard to needs/issues for removable and replaceable batteries.
Final year of the RepescaPlas Project: a complete management system for marine plastics
AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, has now completed the fourth and final year of the RepescaPlas project. The project has developed a complete management system for plastic waste recovered from the sea and subsequent recycling into products of commercial value.
Recovo: linking up sellers and buyers of deadstock fabric
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!