Waste + Information = Resource
Circular economy principles rely on a very simple equation, “waste = resource.” However, the reality is somewhat different. For example, converting plastic waste into valuable material i...
For a Circular Europe
After years of delays, the European Parliament in Strasbourg has approved the Circular Economy (CE) Package. However, things have not yet come full circle. “The way for a new develop...
An Important Step Forward
Janez Potocnik – Forum for the Future of Agriculture, Brussels 2016 Adopted by the European Parliament on April 18th 2018 and approved by the European Council on...
The American Way
What is the difference in the way Brussels and Washington D.C. see the circular economy? To get an answer one should have attended the Fourth Circular Economy Summit, organised by the powerful US Ch...
BusinessEurope, Circular Means Business
©BUSINESSEUROPE / Photo: Erik Luntang “Business is fully on board with the circular economy revolution. Not only because it is good business to save resourc...
Circular Economy Package: The Packaging Directive
Packaging has found its place in the European Circular Economy Package, approved last April by the European Parliament. It involves a revision a revision of Special Directive 1994/62/CE on packaging...
The Plastic Route no Longer Leads East
A little girl plays among heaps of packaging and plastic waste coming from every corner of the world. She “fishes” for dead fish in a polluted stream, whilst sheep graze on bubblewrap in...
The Solution is Circular
When Daniel Webb opened his storage room, where for a whole year he had collected his plastic waste, a mountain of 4.490 bags, packaging, wrappings, containers, bottles, cups, cutlery, toothbrushes ...
Plastic Europe
What is the role of plastics today? “If they did not exist, modern society would have to invent them to ensure a sustainable future. The reason plastics are the go to material in so...
Cleaning Our Oceans? No Lack of New Ideas
Over the past few years, a trending environmental issues has been that of marine litter. It is a problem affecting many countries around the world. Contrary to what usually occurs, marine litter is ...
Despite Brussels, the Market for Bioplastics Keeps Growing
We can already find it in shopping bags, in many vehicle components, in toys and in food packaging. It’s bioplastic. Plastic that is not derived from oil but, in different percentages, from or...
The Cemetery of Cannibalised Refrigerators
The picture of a cemetery for refrigerators – cannibalised and discarded in an abandoned industrial site just outside Rome, a stone’s throw from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli – p...
Bamboo Makes a Comeback
The Anjan Bridge in China is one of the oldest in the world and up until a few decades ago was entirely made of bamboo. Only at the end of last century were the bamboo canes replaced with steel cabl...
In Singapore the Air-con Runs as a Service
Everything started around eight years ago when Kaer’s CEO, Justin Taylor, sat down with the chairman and senior directors to begin a conversation on how to innovate the company and generate ad...
Trash 2 Cash
Every year the European Union’s 28 member States discard over three million tonnes of textile fibres. A serious instance of waste that damages both the environment and the pockets of consumers...
Circular Europe
How will the Circular Economy Package (CEP) impact Europe? This is the fundamental question everyone in the business is debating right now. In Brussels the glass seems to be half full for ...
The Dark Side of Digitalisation
According to a report issued by Global e-Sustainability Initiative, digital solutions can bring to a 16% reduction of climate-altering gases before 2020, a result that would go way beyond ...
Use-by Date Product
Markets seek value, just like consumers. The problem is that different types of value are brought into opposition. For markets it is about economic value, whereas for consumers of a good it is about...
When a Party Extends Your Life
In 1924 the expression “planned obsolescence” did not exist, but the phenomenon was already there. Indeed, during the same year, a few light bulb manufacturers signed a non-aggression pa...