Circular Cities: the Rotterdam Strategy
The Netherlands have set themselves rather challenging circular goals where cities play a key role in such transition. Rotterdam, with its port and industries, outlined a pathway up to 2030 that wil...
Metropolis 2052. The future belongs to circular cities
Forced to watch it from balconies and windows, a city, to those who have experienced urban lockdown, appeared as an unknown and largely misunderstood object. In the frenzy of production, a kaleidosc...
World Environment Day: conservation is no longer enough, it’s time for restoration
The year 2021 started with some news that mostly went unnoticed, as, after all, did many other things in a pandemic-dominated year-long news cycle. A study published in Nature estimated that the mas...
WEEE: illegal trade of electronic waste must be stopped to achieve EU goals
Countries in the European Union collect and recover more end-of-life electrical and electronic devices than the rest of the world. This work, however, is still not sufficient to achieve the recyclin...
Turkey like China: stop to the import of plastic waste
It’s Turkey’s turn to be tired of accepting plastic waste from Europe. With an amendment published on May 18th in the Official Gazette, the Turkish Ministry of Commerce has banned the import of ...
Sustainable products for the future with version 4.0 of Cradle to Cradle Certified
Designing and manufacturing sustainable products that will nourish a healthy, equitable and circular tomorrow: that's the goal of Cradle to Cradle Certified, a global standard rooted in the Cradle t...
Predictive maintenance: predicting the future while saving resources
An error, a failure, a sudden malfunction. Imagining the unexpected is the goal of the predictive maintenance system that provides manufacturing companies with a prediction of a future failure of ph...
Remanufacturing: a vast untapped potential for circularity
In recent months, policies and initiatives at the European and global level have emphasised the potential of remanufacturing as the key model for the circular economy, useful in extending the lifesp...
What We Waste: 41 billion bottles and cans are littered every year in Europe
There are over 41 billion plastic and glass bottles and beverage cans that every year, in Europe, escape the recycling circuit and end up in landfills, incinerators or, worse, in rivers and the sea....
Between work automation and ecological transition, data on the future of green jobs
New economy, new jobs. This is the equation that has been in vogue ever since Henry Ford produced the first mass-produced car on an assembly line in Detroit in 1908, a car that sold over 15 million ...
Second-hand IPOs and the Slow Down of Fast Fashion
Buying second-hand is nothing new. From thrift shops to car boot sales, the options for people looking to capitalise on turning possessions into cash are littered throughout history. But second-hand...
To face complexity, we need to rediscover awareness of the limitations
Embracing complexity implies widening one's field of vision and learning to understand and consider the interconnections between phenomena, even those that seem too distant to matter. It also means ...
New Zealand introduces the first law in the world on transparency for sustainable finance
“New Zealand has become the first country to introduce a law that will require banks, insurers and investment managers to report the impacts of climate change on their business.” This was stated...
Clothing recycling: the first automated plant for textile waste is in Sweden
Textile and fashion industry have a huge circular potential that has yet to be developed. One of the main issues currently holding back the application of the circular economy in this sector is sort...
The rise of the corporate circular economy professional
"Circular economy" was the fastest rising skill among all LinkedIn users in 2019, according to GreenBiz’s State of the Profession Report. Although the circular economy’s momentum is undeniable, ...
Performance as a product: the Chemical Leasing business model
How can different companies mutually benefit from each other’s success? Why is paying for the performance of the chemical better than paying for the chemical itself? And how can the Chemical Leasi...
Perspectives and Criticalities of CO2 Capture Techniques
Flexible, scalable and young. CO2 capture techniques promise great results in pollution reduction, from soil carbon storage to synthetic fuel production. But first the issue of costs needs solving w...
Electrification and Digital Networks are Making the Energy Revolution Happen
The next 10 years will be crucial for the planet’s energy and climate future. They will also be decisive for our well-being and prosperity. Europe has set itself the goal of reducing greenhouse ga...
How can we measure sustainability and circularity?
For several years, companies, organisations, and consultancies have been working to determine standards for measuring the level of circularity of products and activities. While some of these metrics...
Call for Innovation still open for the Renewable Materials Conference
The application period for the innovation award Renewable Material of the Year 2021 is still open until March 31. The award, promoted by nova-Institute, will go to the best renewable material, i.e. ...