GREENCYCLE Introducing circular economy system to Alpine Space
to achieve low-carbon targets
ASP 452 - Priority 2 Low Carbon Alpine Space
Deliverable D.T1.1.1
Circular Economy E-factsheets April 2017 by project partner E-zavod, final version for internal use (factsheets in .pdf for public use)
Program priority: SO2.1 - Establish transnationally integrated low carbon policy instruments
Work package: T1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge platform
Activity: A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
Deliverable: D.T1.1.1 – Circular Economy E-factsheets
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 2 of 43
Content
1 INTRODUCTION 3
2 FACTSHEETS THEMES 4
3 CONTENT AND LAYOUT 7
4 TOPICS OF FACTSHEETS 8
4.1 General information, smart product design and food supply chains 8
1 Circular Economy 8
2 Smart product design 8
3 Smart product design for ICT products 8
4 Life Cycle Assessment 8
5 Bio-based Products 8
6 Food Supply Chain 8
7 Spatial planning 8
4.2 Waste management 9
8 Waste Management 9
9 Recycling 9
10 Packaging Waste 9
11 Plastic 9
12 Textile waste 9
13 Electronic Waste 9
14 Construction and Demolition Waste 9
15 Food Waste 9
16 Zero Waste 9
4.3 From waste to resources 10
17 Energy & Environment 10
18 Waste Heat Recovery 10
19 Water Reuse 10
20 Secondary Raw Materials 10
21 Innovative Organic & Waste-based Fertilizers 10
22 Critical Raw Materials 10
23 Platinum, Germanium & Chromium 10
4.4 New business models, opportunities and consumers 11
24 Small & Medium Enterprises 11
25 Collaborative economy 11
26 Consumers 11
27 Illusions & Obstacles 11
5 FACTSHEETS 12
6 LITERATURE 39
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 3 of 43
1 INTRODUCTION
The aim of the Deliverable D.T 1.1.1 (Circular economy E-factsheets) is to provide at least 20 factsheets on different
crucial circular economy topics covering the whole circular economy life cycle and cutting through policy levels.
Based on the research, many different topics on waste management emerged. But because the Circular Economy concept
is not only about waste and recycling, we decided to include also other maybe neglected topics such as food supply chain
and collaborative economy. The bundle of factsheets is rounded with the one, describing the illusions and obstacles of
circular economy.
Because of the large span of circular economy across the globe, we decided to stick to the European level. This was
decided based on several reasons. Firstly, it is hard to compare the statistical data if the methodologies are not aligned, it
could even happen that data for some continents or countries are not available. Secondly, there are differences in policies
and strategies among countries, so it made sense to research and present the European Union’s concept because it
provides a basis for European Countries. We also included some general information so that the factsheets can be a good
foundation for worldwide research if someone would be interested.
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 4 of 43
2 FACTSHEETS THEMES
The Deliverable D.T 1.1.1 consists out of 26 different factsheets on diverse topics, from smart design to critical raw
materials. The topics are divided into 4 colour distinguished themes that are consistent in the design.
Factsheets for different themes are divided by colour:
Blue - General information, smart product design and food supply chains
Turquoise -
1 Spatial planning
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 5 of 43
Waste management
Orange - From waste to resources
Purple -
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 6 of 43
New business models, opportunities and consumers
In the theme of General information, smart product design and food supply chains, there are 7 factsheets (topics 1-7) and
are focused on product design and assessments.
The theme of Waste management covers the majority of factsheets, 9 of them (topics 8-16). They deal with the
production of waste, the recyclability and possible solutions. The predictions are that over time, the focus on topics of
recycling will be transferred to reducing the waste in the first place which is now a marginal topic, so we included
presentation of Zero Waste concept.
For the theme From waste to resources 7 topics were chosen (topics 17-23) and this is the most versatile group from
water reuse to critical raw materials. For this theme, the emphasis was on the reuse and recycling.
The last theme covered New business models, opportunities and consumers (topics 24-27). This is also an important part
of circular economy, because the real drivers are actually businesses and consumers and not strategies.
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 7 of 43
The list below summarizes all topics of factsheets:
1 Spatial planning
1 Circular Economy
2 Smart product design
3 Smart product design for ICT products
4 Life Cycle Assessment
5 Bio-based Products
6 Food Supply Chain
7 Spatial planning
8 Waste Management
9 Recycling
10 Packaging Waste
11 Plastic
12 Textile waste
13 Electronic Waste
14 Construction and Demolition Waste
15 Food Waste
16 Zero Waste
17 Energy & Environment
18 Waste Heat Recovery
19 Water Reuse
20 Secondary Raw Materials
21 Innovative Organic & Waste-based Fertilizers
22 Critical Raw Materials
23 Platinum, Germanium & Chromium
24 Small & Medium Enterprises
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 8 of 43
25 Collaborative economy
26 Consumers
27 Illusions & Obstacles
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 9 of 43
The main sources of research and the basis for creating 26 factsheets are two documents:
An EU action plan for the Circular Economy with the title COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE
REGIONS Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy [1]
and
The Report on the implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan was released on 26th
of January 2017 (REPORT
FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan) [2].
One of the key sources was also the Ellen MacArthur Foundation [3].
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 10 of 43
3 CONTENT AND LAYOUT
Content:
The factsheets try to cover all main aspects among different shareholders:
basics,
current legislation,
problems and challenges (production/retail/use),
opportunities (for companies, public authorities),
role of households,
benefits for stakeholders,
etc.
Layout:
There is a general template, but adjusted depending on the topic’s focus and amount of text.
Each factsheet is in A4 format, usually with added graphics.
Sources of data are listed in footnotes of factsheets.
In the next chapter (Topics of factsheets) sources listed were a basis for research and are not necessarily the
same as the sources listed in factsheets.
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 11 of 43
4 TOPICS OF FACTSHEETS
Here are listed topics of factsheets with some additional literature sources. Created factsheets are available in the next
chapter.
4.1 General information, smart product design and food supply chains
1 Circular Economy
Ellen MacArthur Foundation [4], European Commission [5].Napaka! Vira sklicevanja ni bilo mogoče najti.
2 Smart product design
Topics on how to create products with high reparability, durability, recyclability, ease of reuse and easy end-of-life
sorting.
Circular Economy Factsheet on production (EU) [5]
3 Smart product design for ICT products
E.g. smart phones - Circularity for mobile phones [7]
4 Life Cycle Assessment
5 Bio-based Products
Bio-based products [20] help building up a net carbon negative economy.
6 Food Supply Chain
Topics of local food value chains, food’s carbon footprint, food self-sufficiency.
7 Spatial planning
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 12 of 43
4.2 Waste management
What to do with waste, how to reuse and reduce it.
Circular Economy Factsheet on Waste Management [6].
8 Waste Management
Collection and sorting
9 Recycling
10 Packaging Waste
11 Plastic
The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics [9]
12 Textile waste
13 Electronic Waste
14 Construction and Demolition Waste
Construction [21], EU Construction and Demolition Waste Protocol [22]
15 Food Waste
EU Fusions report 39[12], Households food waste - Wrap – The food we waste [13].
16 Zero Waste
Zero Waste Europe [11]
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 13 of 43
4.3 From waste to resources
17 Energy & Environment
Defining the role of renewable energy in energy production. Without 100% reliance on renewable energy circular
economy cannot be 100 % achieved.
Turning waste into energy can fuel the circular economy [10].
18 Waste Heat Recovery
19 Water Reuse
Water reuse actions [14]
20 Secondary Raw Materials
Strategy for SRM [16]
21 Innovative Organic & Waste-based Fertilizers
Circular economy: New Regulation to boost the use of organic and waste-based fertilizers [15]
22 Critical Raw Materials
Critical raw materials [17], the list of critical raw materials [18], study on critical raw materials on EU level [19].
23 Platinum, Germanium & Chromium
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 14 of 43
4.4 New business models, opportunities and consumers
24 Small & Medium Enterprises
Green Action Plan for SMEs [23], sustainable training in companies [25].
25 Collaborative economy
Collaborative economy [24]
26 Consumers
27 Illusions & Obstacles
The limits of efficiency and of C2C / circular resource flows in practice. On the limits of the circular economy: there is a
definite final physical limit on how much the material loss in C2C loss can avoided.
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 15 of 43
5 FACTSHEETS
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 42 of 43
6 LITERATURE
[1] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0614
[2] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/implementation_report.pdf
[3] https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy
[4] https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/overview/concept
[5] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/
[6] https://ec.europa.eu/priorities/sites/beta-political/files/circular-economy-factsheet-production_en.pdf
[7] http://www.closingtheloop.eu/
[8] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/publications/clear-targets-and-tools-better-waste-management_en
[9] https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/the-new-plastics-economy-rethinking-the-future-of-plastics
[10] https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/turning-waste-energy-fuel-circular-economy
[11] https://www.zerowasteeurope.eu/
[12] https://www.eu-fusions.org/index.php/publications/266-establishing-reliable-data-on-food-waste-and-harmonising-
quantification-methods
[13] http://www.ifr.ac.uk/waste/Reports/WRAP%20The%20Food%20We%20Waste.pdf
[14] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/reuse-actions.htm
[15] http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-827_en.htm
[16] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-new-boost-for-jobs-growth-and-investment/file-strategy-
for-secondary-raw-materials
[17] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/raw-materials/specific-interest/critical_en
[18] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52014DC0297
[19] http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/5605/attachments/1/translations
[20] http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/biotechnology/bio-based-products_en
[21] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/construction_en
[22] http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8983
[23] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/green-action-plan_en
ASP 452 GREENCYCLE A.T1.1 – Building the Circular Economy knowledge base
PP 02 Page 43 of 43
[24] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/strategy/collaborative-economy_en
[25] https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2013/04/29/why-getting-serious-about-sustainability-needs-start-training