Beyond ownership: Tool Libraries on the rise
Going beyond ownership and borrowing a blender or a ladder for a limited time at a Tool Library: despite the restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 emergency, this has been one of the simplest an...
SynBio: What Synthetic Biology Can Do for the Circular Economy
Synthetic biology or SynBio is a powerful and versatile tool that can be used in a wide number of applications. The limit lies in the researcher’s fantasy – and, obviously, ethical issues linked...
Making Empties Count: Deposit Return Schemes Across The World
Many experts identify Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) as a key way of reducing the production of single-use packaging waste, especially in the food and drinks sector. The mechanism is simple: encourage...
New EU rules on packaging shows beverage carton is not as renewable as previously thought
Several of Europe’s biggest economies recycle less drink carton than previously thought, shows a recent report from Zero Waste Europe. New EU rules for calculating packaging recycling rates reveal...
How Robotics and AI are Changing Recycling in the US
Recycling can be regarded as one of the pillar of circular economy. The essential step towards the transformation of a good into a new good relies and depends to its process. Recycling process is th...
Bioplastics: Novamont Acquires Norway-Based Biobag
From Novara to Norway, and then to the whole world. Novamont, the Italian bioplastics giant, has taken an important new step in its international expansion with the acquisition of BioBag, a Norway-b...
Enough Is Enough: Overpackaging in the Food System
In Europe alone, the demand for plastic is close to 50 million tonnes a year, 40% of which is packaging. And almost entirely single-use. This is too much. Examples of overpackaging mostly come from ...
Natural hydrogen: a geological curiosity or the primary energy source for a low-carbon future?
The history of energy is one of gradual substitutions from inefficient, dirtier, expensive options to cleaner, cheaper, higher-performing fuels. Mills and machines replaced manual labor, and more re...
Hydrogen Future
The Clean Hydrogen industry can avoid 82 million-ton CO2 emissions per year in the EU and create 140,000-170,000 jobs: a vital contribution to the European Green Deal.Carbon Neutrality is not achiev...
Christa Schweng: the Union is Circular
Christa Schweng was elected President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 28 October 2020 for a period of two and a half years, to run until March 2023. She has been an EESC memb...
Carlo Petrini and Franco Fassio: This is The Future of the Circular Economy for Food
If the agri-food industry wants to contribute to achieving SDGs it must embrace circularity, cut waste and value social and natural capital. It must also favour local scale while paying attention to...
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlè named the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year
Coca-Cola has conquered, for the third year in a row, the unenviable podium of the top plastic polluter in the world. This was stated in the latest report by the Break Free From Plastic coalition, w...
RenewAfrica, the public-private partnership for renewable energy in Africa
The Agenda 2030 makes it clear: in order to achieve a fair and sustainable development, it is necessary to build alliances that see public and private stakeholders collaborating towards the pursuit ...
Contaminated Earth. FAO: no more pristine soil on the planet
Food security, water, monitoring the greenhouse gas cycle, maintaining biodiversity: all these ecosystem services depend on the health of the soil. And yet, there is no land on the planet today that...
Europe: another step toward the right to repair
The war is not yet won, but there has been another successful battle. With a vote in the European Parliament on 25th November, the campaign for the right to repair scored an important victory. Overc...
Is remote working really better for the environment?
The Future of Jobs 2020, a report drafted by the World Economic Forum, highlights a number of ongoing trends, including the expansion of remote working, the acceleration of digitalisation , and auto...
The Pros and Cons of Reducing Transport Emissions Using LNG
Heavy haul transport has to understand which path to choose. Better to fully push toward electrification, with technology that is not yet mature, or to go through a gas-powered transition phase? We ...
Good as new: boom in the refurbished tech market (with a push from Covid)
Every year, towards the end of November, our screens are filled with promotions and advertising for Black Friday deals. A feature that is likely to distinguish this autumn from previous years, aside...
Going Full Throttle with Biofuels
Along with the construction and manufacturing sectors, transport is still a top priority for decarbonisation strategies. According to the World Resource institute’s data for 2020, cars (including ...
Jocelyn Bleriot: Rethinking Cities as Production Centres for Food
The Covid-19 pandemic has unveiled the dysfunctions in the current global agricultural and food systems, exposing many to insecurity and hunger. At the same time, it has also revealed certain commun...