A Kingdom Disunited by Waste
Every year, in the United Kingdom, secondary raw materials and energy for a total of about £15 million are recovered from waste, but sadly, most of it goes overseas. While the countr...
Vandana Shiva: 'No Land Just for Biofuels'
There is no such thing as a “good” biofuel deriving from a crop cultivated for energy. According to Vandana Shiva, a physicist and founder of the Navdanya (nine crops) Movement...
All Together on the Sailing Boat
Ellen MacArthur, a 28 year old sailor who in 2005 broke the record of solo circumnavigation of the world in just 71 days To survive the solitude of the ocean, sh...
A New Paradise between Artifice and Nature
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venus of the Rags, 1967 - Photo: Paolo Pellion In 2012, at Venice Architecture Biennale, Pistoletto exhibited his work Recycled Italy, made en...
5.5 Billion Precious Tons of Forests and Agricultural Fields
According to estimates by Water Footprint Network, for each ton of vegetables an average 300 cubic metres of water (300,000 litres) are needed; 1,000 for fruit; 1,600 for cereals; 4,000 for pulses. ...
Europe Desperately Seeking Biomass
The availability of biomass is the bioeconomy’s lifeblood. Being able to predict flows becomes strategic for government and the industrial sector. Lately there has been a proliferation of anal...
Bioplastics: Fostering a Sustainable and Resource Efficient Circular Economy in Europe
Dynamic Growth Potential Currently, bioplastics still only represent well under 1% of the about 300 million tonnes of plastic produced annually. But as demand is rising and with more sophisticated ...
Good Fibre Packaging
Every year 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans. Every year we use 1 trillion plastic bags, most of them only once. A constant stream of plastic waste, that is filling up seas and o...
Bioeconomy and Food Security: The Relaunch of Agriculture Is at Stake
A growing demand for food, raw materials and energy, following land consumption that went beyond the security threshold, has now reached its physical limit. This was the scenario addressed in Berl...
EPR - A Building Block of the Circular Economy
In Germany, reaching such a conclusion is a serious business. When Töpfer stepped in – an economist by training – he was determined to apply the polluter pays principle, i.e. the pr...
EPR as an Economic and Environmental Instrument
Over the years, EPR has been applied within the European Union and various countries to different waste streams, including packaging waste at municipal level. This has undoubtedly led to a better en...
Italy: Compost is Catching up
Collection of the organic fraction continues to grow in Italy. This gives us a profile of excellence compared to the rest of Europe, and in some cases such as Milan, even compared to the rest of t...
Biofuels: The Aviation Industry Takes Off
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), in 2014 air transport produced 715 million tons of CO2 (689 in 2012), about 2% of climate-change gases. Not a negligible share. There...
Sardinia: An Alliance between Farmers and Green Chemistry Is Born
It is a deal between agriculture and chemistry, local and global markets, environmental and production interests. An agreement, not a compromise, because the challenge of Matrìca, the joint...
Problem Solved: Tyres Soon to Become a Versatile Resource
Armando Testa, Pirelli Elephant, 1954 ©Pirelli Ecopneus has come a long way in less than three years. It is a not-for-profit consortium business made up of...
Distributed Generation Finally Hits the Bioplastics Production
Just think of localized and distributed generation of electricity. Such is the case of a family installing a photovoltaic system on the roof of its house, thus becoming a power prosumer, i.e. it p...
The Po Valley: An Open Air Biorefinery
A huge wholly-Italian open air biorefinery, where wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, tomatoes are grown (and refined) and cows, pigs, calves and sheep are bred. And where the residues of agricultural pro...
Biomaterials Come out on Top
If the creation of an award is a sign of the maturity of a sector, and considering that “Bio-based Material of the Year” has now reached its eighth edition, then the bio-based material s...
Circular Design: Matter Exits No Man's land
“Nature and its design are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for science and designers. Its shapes, materials and complexity offer great inspiration.” These were the words of Jani...
The New Economy According to Tim Jackson
Meant as a report for the British government in 2009, Prosperity without Growth is back in the bookstores in a completely revised new edition. In such volume, Tim Jackson, professor of Sus...