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Recycling, Environment
From army barrack to eco-village: enhancing the interaction of circular solutions
From army barrack to eco-village: enhancing the interaction of circular solutions
The building sector has a significant impact on the European economy and the environment. It represents about 9% of the EU’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provides 18 million direct jobs.
Circularity for all? "There is a real risk of it becoming a privilege for the rich".
Circularity for all? "There is a real risk of it becoming a privilege for the rich".
“If I just look at my courtyard , three of my neighbors have an electric car" , says Christian Patermann, long-time program director at the European Commission and now internationally known as the “father of the bioeconomy”.
Sustainable fashion: Young people have the power for change
Sustainable fashion: Young people have the power for change
As the COP26 United Nations climate change conference prepares to meet in Glasgow in November, there is an urgency to build on the aims of the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global warming.
How citizens can become co-creators of sustainable food packaging
How citizens can become co-creators of sustainable food packaging
The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating effect on Europe over the last 18 months, with a death toll fast approaching 1 million people and lockdowns that have hit businesses and economies across the region.
Passports to defend the rights of the building materials
Passports to defend the rights of the building materials
What if the house of the future could be built, dissasembled and rebuilt, as if it were made of LEGO? This is one of the solutions that experts in the building sector have imagined in order to fight climate change.
Bioplastics: use and misuse
Bioplastics: use and misuse
When dealing with bioplastics, definitions like “biobased”, “biodegradable” and “compostable” can generate confusion among consumers : this affects the way these materials are dealt with after use, resulting in a problematic waste management process.
High-tech and low-cost solutions to handle urban waste
High-tech and low-cost solutions to handle urban waste
Low-cost interventions, big data analysis and new regulations on landfills are key factors for the smart management of waste in cities.
Preventing “oceans of plastic soup”
Preventing “oceans of plastic soup”
Approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic waste washes off land into the ocean each year. Bottle caps, toothbrushes, tiny plastic fragments, filaments, pellets, film and resin float about in the water columns.
Biomass: a green source of energy?
Biomass: a green source of energy?
Bioenergy represents two-thirds of the energy produced from renewable sources in Europe, though biomass sustainability is not taken for granted.
Ridding the sea and land from toxic plastics fragments
Ridding the sea and land from toxic plastics fragments
Plastic products made of PVC, Polystyrene and other prominent plastics are flooding the market. They are a growing threat to the environment, as they are found in the sea or dumped in land fills .
When urban waste become bioplastics
When urban waste become bioplastics
Each year, the European Union produces three billion tonnes of waste. This equates to six tonnes of solid waste for every EU citizen, according to Eurostat. A major challenge is findings ways to reduce and reuse a large amount of such waste .
Champions of Waste Reduction
Champions of Waste Reduction
Other regions in Europe are motivated by success stories like this one, and are now supported by a team of experts from ECOPOL to implement their new policies.
Edward Soméus – when animal waste provides greener fertilisers
Edward Soméus – when animal waste provides greener fertilisers
The Swedish environmental engineer Edward Soméus invented in the early ’80s a CO 2 free technology, abiding by the 3R principles: Recycle-Reduce-Reuse, to manufacture a natural fertiliser called biochar .
Bitumen roofing can be recycled… but isn’t
Bitumen roofing can be recycled… but isn’t
Bitumen, the sticky, gooey black stuff you sometimes see oozing out of hot road surfaces, is a valuable binding agent. Not only in road building. But also in construction and in the production of roofing materials.
Buildings rising from the ashes
Buildings rising from the ashes
Urban mining is increasingly being taken seriously by industry because it gives access to materials—such as expensive metals used in electronics—that are buried in waste tips and landfills.
When recycling equates with quality raw materials
When recycling equates with quality raw materials
Twenty five years ago, the German chemist Michael Braungart developed a new approach to recycling, now called "Cradle to Cradle" or "C2C" after the book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, which he and the American architect William McDonough published in 2002.
Closing the water cycle
Closing the water cycle
Clean freshwater faces various threats such as increasing demand by population growth, pollution and changes in the hydrological cycle due to climate change.
Screening eco-innovation level
Screening eco-innovation level
Going green is one of the fastest growing trends, particularly in industry. But smaller size companies are often left wondering how best to become more environmentally friendly .
Cleaning up behind the fashion industry
Cleaning up behind the fashion industry
The European fashion industry is a huge consumer of fresh water. Estimates point to 600 million cubic meter of fresh water being consumed yearly in Europe by the textile and clothing industry ; not a negligible amount.
Ralf Otterpohl: a second life for unsuspected nutrient-rich waste
Ralf Otterpohl: a second life for unsuspected nutrient-rich waste
Every day cities in Europe discard a useful nutrient-rich resource that could be used to grow crops. Ironically, we treat and process human wastes while we mine non-renewable phosphate and potassium and we consume fossil fuel to make nitrogen fertiliser.
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