A Question of Fibre
Not all fibres were made equal. With regard to paper, we are used to “noble” wood-derived cellulose, that a few decades ago came from virgin sources, but over the last few years has been...
Paper: Sustainability Enters the Production Cycle
Sustainable processes. It is not just a question of matter and energy, but often of methods and processes as well. This is a new approach taking hold in the management of industrial activities and o...
We Recyle Oil
In the circular economy one of the most controversial sticking points is the supply of material to recycle or regenerate. As William McDonough outlines in this issue of Renewable Matter, waste shou...
700 for the Bioeconomy
Promoted and organized by EuropaBio, representative association of European biotech and biobased industry, EFIB (European Forum on Industrial Biotech), has reached its eighth edition. Thi...
Joseph Beuys: Recognizing Nature's Intelligence
“For some time we still have the chance to freely come to a decision, that is following a different flow from the one we went through in the past. We still can decide to align our intelligence...
Remaking Will Change the Economy of Tomorrow
The Culture of Second-Hand Goods The culture of second-hand goods means sharing what we have now with those who owned it before and with those who will own it after us: both in space and time. And ...
Awakening the Sleeping Giant
In the past, a damaged object used to be mended. Clothes were patched, pots and working tools were repaired. End-of-life materials’ recycling was normal. The throwaway civilization, though, re...
Better Remanufactured than New
“Take-make-dispose”: these are the key words describing the industrial system of the last 150 years. In other words, a system based on a linear production and consumption model where goo...
The Match is still to be played
The match on circular economy is still to be played. And the European Parliament will make its voice heard on the measures proposed by the EU Commission last December replacing those of July 2014. T...
Time for a Copernican Revolution
She calls it “a Copernican revolution”. And the circular economy certainly is. Because, as Franco Battiato put it, it changes the world’s perspectives, placing sustainabi...
The Bioeconomy: The Netherlands in Pole Position
Top universities and research centres, innovative start-ups and large companies, clusters, pilot plants, a cutting-edge logistic system and agriculture and chemistry as the economy’s driving f...
Quo vadis sharing economy?
Bologna-based 35-year-old Valentina, with a degree in viola at the conservatory, is often travelling both for work as a musician and for passion. “To save money, but mainly to feel at home&rdq...
How to Eradicate the Trash Islands
Not all plastics are indestructible. In fact, over the years, due to the constant inaction by the Countries, plastics are liable to end up not only at sea – thus making up the above-mentioned ...
6000 Years Old and Still Going Strong
“Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of th...
When Luxury Goes Hand in Hand with Sustainability
Upcycling upon upcycling. This is how we could define the new upcycling experience carried out by Favini based on the use of wine pomace after the distillation process for the production of paper: t...
Repairing Your Teeth with a Bunch of Barbera
It has all the ingredients to become a successful story. We are talking about Nobil Bio Ricerche, a Piedmont-based business located in Portacomaro, in the Asti area, that for over twenty years has s...
DeVine Land
Comieco has launched a challenge to promote a product and a territory through sustainable packaging. What makes this endeavor even more interesting is the fact that the territory in question is a UN...
Tyres Galore
From a screeching noise to the muffled silence in a church. That of recycled tyres is a crucial parable, in the latest project by Ecopneus, a non profit company for ELTs (End-of-life tyres), made of...
Fuels: The Battle of Cement Factories
One of Renewable Matter’s objectives is to open a dialogue on sensitive and difficult subjects, where environmentalists and industrialists can have opposite views. The use in cement plants of ...
27 Million Messages
But actually, considering that we are talking about a heap of aluminium cans patiently collected one after the other since 2007 on board Costa Crociere cruise ships, these are impressive numbers: a ...