Amsterdam, the Circular City
The city of Amsterdam has made a major step in the transition to become one of the world’s first circular cities. The goal? Minimize waste, innovate product-as-a-service business, boast new bu...
Pollution as Blue as Our Jeans
In Tehuacán there are over one hundred industrial laundries, some legal and others illegal. For over thirty years the city, in the region of Puebla, has been a cornerstone of the textile...
A Textbook Case
Analysing internal industrial processes and finding the keys to make them sustainable. This is one of the most interesting and hardest challenges of the circular economy because if sustainability do...
The Lazarus' Effect: The Second Life of Patagonia Clothes
Product Life-Extension is an oft-talked pillar of the circular economy, many talk the talk, but less walk the walk. Patagonia, the famous outdoor fashion brand from Ventura, California, ha...
The Need for a Perspective Change
“All packaging plastic must be recyclable by 2030.” This is the appeal launched by Brussels at the beginning of 2018. A strategy aimed at drastically reducing plastic waste while creatin...
The Landfill, a Model for Economic Participation
The story of Belvedere SPA started in the past century. Founded in 1997, for the last 20 years, it has managed the waste disposal site for the Municipality of Peccioli, in the Province of Pisa. A un...
The Indian Way towards Zero Waste
The Saahas Zero Waste model comes from Bangalore, India’s technological capital. It concentrates on partnerships with large companies, Extended Producer Responsibility and recycling to formali...
Upcycling our Buildings
In architecture it is possible to combine aesthetics, sustainability, quality and harmony with the surrounding environment. Out of Denmark emerges the example of Lendager Group, an architecture firm...
Stop Death (of Objects)
If Ellen MacArthur is the dame of the circular economy, Walter R. Stahel (born June 5, 1946) can be well awarded the title of father of this economic model. Stahel has been influential in ...
Closing the Circle is Just One Option
Photo by Mirjam Verschoor Two Germans in the kingdom of the Netherlands. A great big slice of the Dutch circular economy is based on the vision of Thomas Rau and ...
Water vs. Coal. South Africa's Filthy War
Photography: Fausto Podavini Research: Marirosa Iannelli Top image: Witbank. In a coal mine a woman collects coal for personal use. Coal is the only resource for locals. “Do y...
The Bioeconomy is the New Force de Frappe
France has finally taken its place at the table alongside other European countries with a national bioeconomy strategy. Announced in June 2015 and presented on 18 January of this year, Une Strat&eac...
Towards Circular Public Procurement in France
edited by Institut de l’économie circulaire, Parigi www.institut-economie-circulaire.fr Public procurement is considered as a top policy lever as it represents a sign...
Brewing with Leftover Bread
Call it a hype if you will, but the circular economy is here to stay: it is gaining traction around the world, and the strategies it provides can solve our current dependence on finite resources. By...
Fashion, Cannibals and Forks
Top image: Details of Besani’s knitted textile. “Is it progress if a cannibal uses a fork?” John Elkington is asked at the beginning of Cannibals with Forks, one of t...
Jeans for Rent
Swedish label Filippa K has been one of the leading companies in sustainable, circular fashion since 1993. As its founder, Filippa Knutsson, claims “inspired by my needs, I have created a bran...
Rethinking the Function of the Fridge
Over the last decades, the functionality of the home refrigerator has remained pretty much the same: a big cold box with a temperature between 4 and 7 °C, in which you store all food products yo...
DS Smith: The Power of Less
Until about 20 years ago, the papermaking industry was regarded as one of the most detrimental sectors on the planet precisely because of the raw materials employed: cellulose and wood pulp provided...
Symbiosis & Innovation
Industrial symbiosis. A concept that can be either narrowed to the known role, at industrial level, of partnership, or developed into a 360-degree view. In the case of the circular economy, grafted ...
From Sheets to Packaging to Newspapers
The European Pulp and Paper Industry can be considered one of the bioeconomy beacons of the Old Continent. The Pulp and Paper sector has a high rate of collection and recycling, uses raw materials s...