Renewable Matter #21 by Edizioni Ambiente

RENEWABLE MATTER INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE ON THE BIOECONOMY AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY 21 | May-June 2018 Bimonthly Publication Edizioni Ambiente

What if Karl Polanyi Was Right? •• Waste + Information = Resource •• Martin Charter: Re-planning the Future

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Focus The Big Package •• For a Circular Europe •• Alexandre Affre: Circular Equals Business •• The American Way •• The New Directive on Packaging

In Singapore, Where Air Conditioning is a Service •• The Cemetery of Cannibalised Refrigerators •• Bamboo Instead of Steal

Focus: Plastic •• The Plastic Route No Longer Leads East •• The Solution is Circular •• Clean-up Ideas for Our Oceans •• Despite Brussels, the Bioplastics Market Keeps Growing •• PlasticEurope’s Position

COLLECTING WASTE OIL TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT

Combustion engines and industrial plants run with oil.

By regenerating

100kg

Waste oils have to be replaced and disposed properly.

of waste oils it is possible to obtain 65kg new base oil

12kg bitumen 8kg diesel oil

CONOU's supply chain accounts for 74 collection companies located throughout the country and 4 regeneration plants.

ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT OF WASTE OILS MANAGED IN 2016

CARBON FOOTPRINT

LAND FOOTPRINT

WATER FOOTPRINT

MATERIAL FOOTPRINT

40 thousand tonnes of CO2eq avoided

717 hectares of land spared

473 thousand cubic meters of water saved

240 thousand tonnes of mineral and fossil resources spared

equal to the emissions of 24 thousand vehicles

if cultivated, these could produce 2,500 tonnes of grain per year

equal to 190 Olympic-size swimming pools

In order to move this amount 10 thousand ATB would be needed

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Printed by Geca Industrie Grafiche using mineral oil free vegetable-based inks. Geca production system does not produce exhaust and all waste of our manufacture is introduced into a process of collection and recycling. www.gecaonline.it

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Editorial

The Age of Plastic by Emanuele Bompan

Presentation A Plastic Ocean by Craig Leeson, Hong Kong 2016; www.youtube.com/ watch?v=pJpH7BoBc74

Over the last few months common perceptions of plastic have been taking a turn for the worse. Particularly against single-use objects like straws, cotton buds and polystyrene cups. The media is full of Chris Jordan’s famous pictures of seagull carcasses with their stomachs full of bottle caps, tubes and other plastic paraphernalia. Documentaries denouncing the indecent plastic pollution afflicting our planet, like A Plastic Ocean by Craig Leeson, have been watched by millions of viewers. Maps and data on islands of waste floating in the oceans are everywhere on social media, together with dramatic calls to get rid of microplastics from the oceans. The risk of finding considerable amounts of plastic in our stomachs, ingested via the fish we eat, is discussed during meals by people that are usually not that concerned with environmental issues. Oil is out of luck. After coming under fire for its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions it is now being targeted for the impacts of its more noble product: polymers. Every year Europeans produce 25 million tonnes of plastic waste, yet less than 30% is collected for recycling. In the USA almost 91% of plastic ends up in landfills or waste incinerators. Worldwide, plastic represents 85% of the waste found on beaches. Since 1950 we have produced 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic, and according to a study conducted by the University of Georgia and California: if we don’t move on from business as usual practices, we’ll end up producing 34 billion tonnes of plastic before 2050, of which 11 billion tonnes will either end up in landfills or be discarded into the environment. This immense amount of plastic material reaches people’s lungs and tables, thanks to microplastics that can be found in the air, in water and in food; and whose effects on human health are still unknown. Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, and the man responsible for sustainable development, declares that: “If we don’t change the way we produce and use plastic materials, there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050. We have to stop plastic from reaching our water and our food, as well as our organism.

The only long-term solution is to reduce plastic waste by recycling and reusing more.” He was immediately echoed by UNEP director Erik Solheim, who thundered: “Today plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats.” He added that it is an urgent issue worldwide, demonstrating that it occupies a special place in the United Nations agenda. So what else can we do? Plastic is an extremely functional material, so much so that today it cannot be substituted in many fields and cannot be decommissioned easily. Above all, the real problem is our management and behaviour with regards to plastic. As always we need cleverness, foresight, civic participation and design. We have to get rid of all the plastic that isn’t essential. From bags and straws, to cups and superfluous packaging: if we put our mind to it many objects could be replaced before the end of 2020. On the one hand, we need to reduce the use of some objects, and on the other we need to rethink some uses, and work on cultural habits. In some fields, the presence of plastic is so widespread that it becomes difficult to imagine the use of other materials, even when it is possible and convenient. And by convenient we are not only referring to the economic aspect, but also from an environmental point of view. Undoubtedly, a tax on single-use plastic could be an interesting tool. The European Union is discussing this possibility, and it is something that could also be applied in the USA and in various Asian countries like China, the biggest plastic producer in the world. The EU has suggested an 80 cents a kilo “offer,” to mitigate the impact of plastic (and to recover some money to compensate the missing revenue caused by Brexit). Will this cause anger? For sure, like any tax, but it could also help get rid of so much superfluous plastic, and favour its replacement with other materials. At that point the ball would be in the hands of us citizens. In the end it is us as a community that have created this problem, with our passion for comfort and our low awareness of the consequences of a linear economy. Now we know, and we must act. Enjoy the read.

A Fiscal Update: The Winning Strategy by Femke Groothuis

Ex’Tax Project, www.ex-tax.com New era. New plan. Europe., www.neweranewplan.com

Femke Groothuis is the President of The Ex’tax Project, a think tank that focuses on the role of taxation in achieving the Global Goals and inclusive, circular growth. Her collaborative research focuses on opportunities to shift the tax burden from labour to natural resource use and pollution.

Western tax systems put a heavy burden on labour whilst hardly taxing pollution and the use of natural resources. Our tax codes are a major barrier for entrepreneurs that wish to create more jobs and shift to sustainable and circular business models. The Ex’tax Project Foundation, with the help of knowledge partners such as Cambridge Econometrics, Trucost, Deloitte, EY, KPMG Meijburg and PwC, studies the potential of a shift in taxation from labour to natural resources. The latest study by The Ex’tax Project, New era. New Plan. Europe., shows that by implementing the tax shift, the European Union and EU member states would benefit from higher economic growth, more jobs and a cleaner environment. A tax shift would result in a 2% increase in GDP, additional employment for 6.6 million people, and reduce carbon emissions by 8.2%, all of which by 2020 and saving € 27.7 billion on energy import bills over a five-year period.

Meanwhile, governments worldwide even subsidise fossil fuel consumption (and thus, pollution) through tax expenditure and budget transfers. The IEA estimates (2015) fossil-fuel subsidies at € 278 billion per year; double the value of renewable energy subsidies. The polluter doesn’t pay. This is why we are now living in a situation where pollution kills 9 million people per year,1.2 billion people live in areas of water scarcity, and by 2050 oceans are expected to contain more plastics than fish. Talent is the biggest cost For many companies, the biggest cost is talent. In order to reduce costs, entrepreneurs have become very skilled in lowering their head count, using methods like automation, standardisation (as opposed to custom-made production), understaffing, outsourcing and lowering customer service standards. The way we have structured our tax system actually encourages businesses to make people redundant, causing more unemployment.

Growing support for a tax shift

Circular economy on the rise

According to the European Commission, a tax shift from labour to less distortive tax bases such as environmental taxes is “a winning strategy.” “One of the biggest tax policy challenges in Europe is that governments tend to rely on labour taxes far too much. However, overdependence on labour taxes can be a disadvantage when they make it too expensive to employ people. Passing some of the tax burden onto other things, such as pollution, could help accelerate employment and economic growth. Smart taxation is a winning strategy.” The proposal to shift taxes from labour to natural resource use has been around for years. Many institutions have called for such a tax shift. Finally, this proposal is also gaining momentum thanks to the work of the Ex’tax Project Foundation.

Recently, the concept of the circular economy has gained traction. However, circular business models tend to be more labour and knowledge intensive than ‘linear’ models that are focused on simply selling products; which then end up in landfills. When polluters roam free and labour costs are high, it’s an uphill battle to upscale circular activities. Shifting taxes away from labour is a good recipe for inclusive growth based on the qualities of people (manpower, craftsmanship and creativity), instead of the extraction of natural resources. Our broken tax system needs a fundamental update to match the challenges of the 21st century. Is this going to be easy? No. But as Henry Ford once said: “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.” If we are serious about the Sustainable Development Goals and inclusive, circular growth, we have to start aligning fiscal policies with these objectives.

The polluter doesn’t pay Considering current global challenges, such as climate change, water scarcity and geopolitical tensions over fuels and materials, it makes sense to use natural capital prudently. However, the reality is that the use of natural resources is almost entirely tax-free.

R M

21|May-June 2018 Contents

RENEWABLE MATTER INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE ON THE BIOECONOMY AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY www.renewablematter.eu/en ISSN 2385-2240 Reg. Tribunale di Milano n. 351 del 31/10/2014 Editor-in-chief Emanuele Bompan Editorial Director Marco Moro Contributors Mario Bonaccorso, Maurizio Bongiovanni, Rudi Bressa, Elena Comelli, Sergio Ferraris, Femke Groothuis, Joe Iles, Richard Heinberg, Remy Le Moigne, Alex Lemille, Giorgia Marino, Antonio Pergolizzi, Francesco Petrucci, Roberto Rizzo, Antonella Ilaria Totaro, Veronica Ulivieri, Silvia Zamboni Managing Editor Maria Pia Terrosi Editorial Coordinator Paola Cristina Fraschini Editing Francesco Bassetti Paola Cristina Fraschini

Emanuele Bompan

The Age of Plastic

Femke Groothuis

A Fiscal Update: The Winning Strategy

NEWS

Alexandre Lemille

What If Karl Polanyi Was Right?

Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Re-designing the Future Interview with Martin Charter

Rémy Le Moigne

Waste + Information = Resource

Emanuele Bompan

Focus The Big Package For a Circular Europe Interview with Simona Bonafé

Rémy Le Moigne

Focus The Big Package An Important Step Forward Interview with Janez Potočnik

Emanuele Bompan

Focus The Big Package BusinessEurope, Circular Means Business Interview with Alexandre Affre

Roberto Rizzo

Focus The Big Package Circular Economy Package: The Packaging Directive

Giorgia Marino

Focus on Plastic The Plastic Route no Longer Leads East

Michela Lazzaroni, Antonella Ilaria Totaro

In Depth Where Does it Come From

Elena Comelli

Focus on Plastic The Solution is Circular

by the editorial staff

Think Thank

Policy

Design & Art Direction Mauro Panzeri Layout & Infographics Michela Lazzaroni Community manager Antonella Ilaria Totaro Translations Francesco Bassetti, Erminio Cella, Laura Coppo, Franco Lombini, Mario Tadiello

Focus The Big Package The American Way

Executive Coordinator Anna Re

Sergio Ferraris

Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Mario Bonaccorso

Antonio Pergolizzi

Focus on Plastic Plastic Europe Interview with Karl-H Foerster

Antonella Ilaria Totaro

External Relations Manager (Italy) Anna Re

Focus on Plastic Cleaning Our Oceans? No Lack of New Ideas

Press and Media Relations press@renewablematter.eu

Focus on Plastic Despite Brussels, the Market for Bioplastics Keeps Growing

Contact redazione@materiarinnovabile.it Edizioni Ambiente Via Natale Battaglia 10 20127 Milano, Italia t. +39 02 45487277 f. +39 02 45487333

The Cemetery of Cannibalised Refrigerators

Advertising marketing@materiarinnovabile.it

World Veronica Ulivieri

External Relations Manager (International) Federico Manca

Bamboo Makes a Comeback

In Singapore the Air-con Runs as a Service

Silvia Zamboni

Trash 2 Cash

Maurizio Bongiovanni

What is Plogging? Cleaning Whilst Running

72 73 74 75

Growing Bricks from Bacteria with bioMASON W.r.yuma: Spectacles from Plastic Bottles and Dashboards Winnow: Saving Food by Analysing Waste STRATA, the Modular Furniture System

Annual subscription, 6 paper issues Subscribe on-line at www.renewablematter.eu/en/ subscription This magazine is made in Dejavu Pro by Ko Sliggers Published and printed in Italy at GECA S.r.l., San Giuliano Milanese (Mi) Copyright ÂŠEdizioni Ambiente 2018 All rights reserved

Startup Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Columns

Cover Graphic design by Panma Bolec.

Francesco Petrucci

Circular by Law In Europe the Circular Economy Becomes Law

Joe Iles

Circulate Make Fashion Circular

Richard Heinberg

Thinking Resilience Choosing Sides in the Civilisation-Planet Standoff

renewablematter 21. 2018

NEWS

Steel Will

by the editorial staff

Europe further strengthens its steel recycling goals. Italy is at the forefront, recycling as much as 361, 403 tonnes; enough to manufacture 3,600 km of railway tracks. RICREA (the Italian consortium for the collection and recycling of steel packaging), explains that the Italian recovery rate, amounting to 75.3% of the total quantity on the market, represents a success for the whole of Europe. Compared to the previous year, operational indicators show an increase of 1.3% in the quantity of packaging sold, amounting to 479,737 tonnes.

South Africa Changes its Course

Everlasting Neoplastic Is a plastic replacement on its way? The breakthrough comes with a polymer based chemical called Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL), developed by the University of Colorado’s Chemistry Department. It can be recycled (almost) ad infinitum and it doesn’t

pollute. “It has a circular life cycle,” states the inventor Eugene Chen. It can be reused many times and only takes a few minutes to make. Furthermore, there is no need for toxic chemicals or massive energy inputs, as the process is carried out at room temperature.

Mr. Trash Wheel “Mr. Trash Wheel,” a solar-powered boat collecting waste from the river Jones Falls, has been operating in Baltimore (USA) for the past 4 years. In 2018, it achieved a new record, collecting 638,262 plastic

A Spider’s Strength A biomaterial stronger than a spider’s web. The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm claims to have synthesised a bio-based material using a biomimetic method founded on the organisation of cellulose nanofibres

in large scale fabrics. According to the American Chemical Society (ACS Nano) it could become one of the strongest biobased materials in the world. Its strength derives from multi-scale weaving patterns that exploit the mechanical properties of nanofibres.

Ricrea – www.consorzioricrea.org

Invest in the circular economy. This is the mantra of Edna Molewa, the new South African Minister for the Environment. “We must uncouple material and resource efficiency from economic growth, thus changing damaging consumption and production patterns,” declared Molewa during the launch of this strategy in May. The Recycling Enterprise Support Programme (RESP) will support “all black” companies in less developed areas of the country, building Buy-Back centres, circular material recovery centres, and construction and demolition systems. The three-year budget has been allocated: R194 million (€14 million).

bottles and 737,025 polystyrene cups. In May, Baltimore Gas and ElectricCo., the utility that invented Mr. Trash Wheel, launched TED (Trash Elimination Device), a solar-powered device for the collection of waste in smaller waterways.

Mr Thrash Wheel

News Sustainable Cotton

Circular Economy Rolodex

Yokohama

Cotton USA, the American association of cottonproducing companies, has set stringent sustainability targets for the next ten years. Proposed measures with which to reach the targets include: increasing soil carbon sequestration by 30% through the use of cover crops; reducing tillage; improving soil efficiency by using superior genetic varieties of cotton; using more efficient and high-tech irrigation systems; reducing soil erosion by 50%; and cutting water consumption by 18%. Setting the example for the entire biomaterial sector.

A sheet of paper and a standard inkjet printer; this is all you will need to manufacture consumer electronic products in a possible future scenario. According to research carried out by Manchester University, inks containing grapheme (a material consisting of a monoatomic layer of carbon atoms) could open the door to countless applications: from smart labels for industry 4.0, to biomedical devices for analysing biometric signals, and smart anti-forgery methods. And perhaps, in the future, iPhones could be made of paper and glass.

is designed to accelerate the impact of circularity. “It is imperative that the CEC advocates and comes together to clearly document relevant knowledge. This database puts abstract concepts into tangible forms that help generate a clearer picture,” claims CEC founder Anna Tarí in a press release.

The Finnish Innovation Fund SITRA, and the Japanese government are proud to host the new edition of World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) in Yokohama, Japan, on 22-24 October 2018. The competitive advantage of circular companies and the role of the circular economy in reaching the UN Millennium Goals will be addressed. “The development of the circular economy in Asia is crucial,” explains SITRA in a news bulletin. WCEF 2018 will be the first big event in the Asian market, entirely devoted to the circular economy topic.

CEC

World Circular Economy Forum 2018

Wikicommons/S Aziz123

Paper Mobile Phone

In April, a new global database, drawing on information from 60 countries, was launched to support the growth of the circular economy. Compiled by the Circular Economy Club (CEC), on the back of its international Mapping Week project, this open-source database

Trade Barriers for Waste China continues its war on waste imports. This time it is attacking the USA. As of the 15th of May, China Certification and Inspection Group North America – Beijing’s authority in charge of checking cargoes entering the country – has stopped

all containers containing waste. More specifically, it will target highly polluting waste, including low-grade scrap copper (Category 7). A clear signal that the Chinese government is taking the issue of waste seriously.

What If Karl Polanyi Was Right?

Addressing societal needs with material circularity as-a-tool by Alexandre Lemille

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Instead of the economy being embedded in social relations, social relations are embedded in the economic system.â&#x20AC;? With this sentence, Karl Polanyi outlines the idea that, as of the early 1900s, society was forced to conform to the needs of the market mechanism instead of choosing the more logical approach of economics as an instrument for societal needs. Karl Polanyi was a Austro-Hungarian economist in the mid-20th century who, to name just a few of his expertise, specialised in history, anthropology and sociology from an economic

perspective. He is most famous for his book The Great Transformation, where he explains how the market economy has changed our perception of social interactions since the first industrial revolution. Social norms directed by market prices Polanyi pointed out that, prior to the market economy, reciprocity and redistribution existed as means of exchange between people. With the emergence of industrialisation, relationships

Think Tank between humans changed due to the strong influence of centralised institutions promoting the self-regulation of a market economy. In other words, our daily decisions are no longer dictated by our natural social skills – our ability to build personal and communal relationships – but merely by prices. He argues: “To allow the market mechanism to be the sole director of the fate of human beings and their natural environment… would result in the demolition of society.”

1. Global Risks Report 2018, World Economic Forum, Figure II: The RisksTrends Interconnections Map 2018. 2. The term sustainable development was coined in the paper Our Common Future, released by the Brundtland Commission, in October 1987. Sustainable development is the kind of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 3. “Circular Human Flows,” Alexandre Lemille, 2017, www.linkedin.com/pulse/ circular-human-flowsalexandre-lemille

Alexandre Lemille is the founder of Wizeimpact a company that leverages businessas-a-powerful tool with which to find solutions to our ecological and systemic challenges. He has developed a socially inclusive version of the Circular Economy, earning plaudits by the WEF for his leadership and also being recognised by Change Hackers in 2018. wizeimpact.com

Although he recognised the fact that the market economy has led to material prosperity, “he warned against turning people into puppets and playthings of mindless market forces” (J. Bradford DeLong thesis, 1997). Instead, Polanyi suggested that prosperity could be achieved by avoiding poverty, creative destruction and community erosion. These are the same three risks outlined by the World Economic Forum in the “Global Risks Report”1 to explain the causes of top socioeconomic problems, namely: rising income and wealth disparity, increasing polarisation of societies, rising urbanisation, a growing middle class in emerging countries, shifting power and so on. Reciprocity and redistribution Polanyi claimed that “man’s economy, as a rule, is submerged in his social relationships.” He believed that the economy should be embedded in our social, traditional and cultural web of interactions primarily as a tool that leads to wellbeing and not for dictating our individual and collective decisions, as occurs today. He noticed that the pre-modern societies of Indian Empires, Kingdoms of Africa, China and Greece – to name a few – functioned on the principles of reciprocity and redistribution. Land and labour distribution was not determined by market prices, but according to rules of tradition, redistribution and reciprocity: the basis of human nature. The redistributive economy was about a group of people producing for a centralised entity that then redistributed to the community according to the needs of its members. In the economy of reciprocity, the allocation of goods was based on reciprocal exchanges between social entities i.e. a positive action from one group triggers a positive response from another. Lastly, the household economy starts with the family as the unit. The family produces for their own use and consumption. A highly distributive approach, but quite the opposite of our current models, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. Polanyi proposed to use the other meaning of “economics,” focusing on how humans make a living interrelating within their social and natural environment. In fact, this is based

on the original definition of economics, from the Greek oikonomia, meaning “house handling” or “house management.” This designation is a far cry from the neoclassical economists’ inclination to use it as a logic of rational actions and decision-making processes commanding our behaviours. This was quite a statement at the time and still very much in line with the present day concept of ‘sustainable development,’ as defined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987.2 Understandably, decades after our decision to opt for ‘rational actions’ based economics, we find it hard to see the link between our daily life and our social and natural environment. The disconnect and our insensitiveness to these wider interactions is everywhere and constantly perceivable. From an economy of having towards an economy of being At present, we have a window of opportunity to rethink our human relations and how they can be re-aligned with an understanding of how systems work. Why is that? On the one hand, we are in the middle of an unprecedented technological transition that, once again, will change our behavioural patterns radically: from cryptographic means of exchange to machine-led decisions. On the other hand, we have come to comprehend that technology will not be enough to design a safer space for humanity on this planet. Relying on technology exclusively is extremely risky. We have no choice but to rediscover our collaborative patterns, rebuild our interrelating connections, and link back to wider interfaces, i.e. the fading biosphere to start with. In its current form, the circular economy recognises planetary boundaries as a booster for innovation. In a world with a growing population and disappearing environmental functions, we have the opportunity to identify a new baseline and advance wisely from that point: our total stock of resources and flows of energies. From this point of reference, we should draw a line on a clean slate and redesign our economic model with unheard of approaches, such as managing global resources openly and redistributing energy by applying the economic models of reciprocity, redistribution and house-holding where applicable. There are three common stocks of resources on the planet from which many services can be designed: the biosphere (mother nature, our biological stock); the humansphere3 (an abundant stock of humans); and the technosphere (a limited stock of components to manage carefully). The circular economy also seeks to replicate the effectiveness of natural cycles: endless flows of energy. Such renewable flows are available from these three stocks and we should take advantage of them by aligning our economic world with them.

renewablematter 21. 2018 Achieving this might take time. However, it will influence our thinking patterns positively: we will be able to estimate the true value of each of these resources and energy available, and start managing them more wisely i.e. communally and with care.

4. www.glowee.com 5. Bioluminescence is a chemical reaction regulated by a gene, enabling living organisms to produce light naturally. 6. We receive 173,000 terawatts (trillions of watts) of solar energy on Earth continuously. This is 10,000 times the world’s total energy use.

Based on this approach we will no longer produce goods but design services or, even better, experiences. These services will help us access everything we need when we need it, in a more effective approach if compared to our current product-based model. Hence, goods will disappear behind a service or an experience. Services will be designed and grounded on the effectiveness of energy streams. They will also be shareable, adaptable and versatile so that anyone can access them according to their needs. For instance, light-asa-service – where you pay for the light and not for the bulbs – remains quite costly as it is based on bulbs using physical elements, requiring centralised logistics and fossil fuel derived energy. If we project ourselves to a few years from now, imagine a renewable energy based lighting service, accessed instantly and endlessly in a collaborative manner. Costs will become marginal after years of utilisation (in reference to Jeremy Rifkin’s Zero Marginal Cost Society). But, let us look beyond this at what is already available today in the bioeconomy space: Glowee4 replicates marine organism bioluminescence5 to light our urban streets and shops. These natural lights are already lasting a little less than a week as we speak! Light will therefore no longer be a cost to organisations or individuals. These economic barriers will fall, others might rise, but if designed well those plummeting hurdles will enable us to lift more people up into a renewed and evenly distributed economic model. Our world is distributive by nature And this is precisely where we find a window of opportunity: an economic model based on services that enable resources to disappear behind customer experiences, giving us a chance to rethink our basic social patterns! The circular economy is distributive by nature. It recognises that energy is available to all of us on the planet in a constantly renewable way i.e. we know the amount of solar energy the planet receives daily. We also know it is more than enough for our current and future needs.6 This system, based on a distributive approach, is a complete shift in design when compared to our current hierarchical, corporate and social organisations based on a single means of exchange: a centralised financial system. The financial system is driving our existence towards countless instances of scarcity: scarcity in resource access, scarcity caused by dependence on the financial system, scarcity

in terms of diversity, and many others that all bring our communities to scarcity of traditions and social cohesion. As Karl Polanyi had anticipated, with our choice of a rational framework, human behaviour is dictated by the market economy, that has in turn destroyed our social and communal senses. Instead, if we look at a system which is truly distributive in nature, relying on endless access to energy flows and a careful management of resources (i.e. our ‘house handling’ definition), we could rethink the way we design our goods and how we will value their components. These material resources, or technical nutrients as we call them in circular economics, will have to be designed in such a way as to have a specific role to play for numerous experiences. Managing them would mean that all their original features and functions will have to be preserved for the longest amount of time possible. In such an economy, some of these resource prices will increase as they get scarce. Managing resources with the approach of caring for the quality of component stocks, will reduce the risk of being exposed to price volatility and inflation. The more we enter an economy of experiences and the better their design, the lesser our dependence on complex and sizeable volumes of technical nutrients. However, the market economy might adjust prices to higher levels, since scarcity of these resources in a growing population context will drive up prices and/or taxes. Designing for beings Higher resource prices or taxes might become good news. When we have no other choice than facing a surge in price, we always look for alternative solutions. An opportunity to better design our human capital. With this upcoming shift in the way we manage stocks and flows, how about rethinking our roles as humans on this planet? We are about to enter a new economic model that will be more careful with its material resources. A model where maintenance and repair will be at the core of corporate resilience. So far, this model has been imagined with technologically advanced machines. They are the right efficient choice, but are they the right effective choice? They require a lot of rare earth elements that are no longer easily available on the planet. They are already at the origin of fierce competition and tensions between international powers. Building a world economy solely on a machine-based model might become a highly risky option when it comes to managing access to resources. As explained earlier in this article, our relations with our social and natural environment has been misled by our choice of economic model.

Think Tank How about revisiting these relationships and recreating them, and this time, thanks to market economics! In a world of experiences our focus will have to shift to what is available in endless forms. On the one hand, we have renewable energies and natural cyclical environmental functions that we need to rebuild and grow. On the other hand, we have us, human beings. We are numerous (an abundant stock of underutilised resources) and once we have eaten and slept, we can achieve countless tasks and consider ourselves as sources of endless energy and boundless knowledge.

Micro-economic models will emerge thanks to virtuous local loops where individuals, groups of individuals or organisations will decide to use a large diversity of technical or biological economic tools. Coupled with customs-based means of exchange, the natural social interactions of humans can be reborn. Using human based economic models such as reciprocity, redistribution or house-holding would make sense again. Traditions would be revived in a truly diverse and distributive model, in a modern interrelated world, where humans would be fully aligned with their wider spheres.

What about ensuring a fall in costs as a response to higher prices for material components? When a resource is available in high volume, taxes usually drop thus ensuring that we take advantage of the potential of that resource lavishly. Granting access to humans – considered as a new form of endless energy and a growing stock of resources7 – may start with a tax drop on labour. Affordable human energy will lead to countless activities and employment, with the aim of rebuilding our biosphere-asa-safe-space and maintaining the value of our technosphere-as-a-just-space. This is precisely the work that has been done by the Ex’Tax Project,8 proposing a new model for revenue stream to governments, by shifting taxes from labour to scarce resources. This would unleash the creation of jobs and/ or regenerative activities, whilst increasing the value of its stock of scarce resources, therefore being managed with care. In this way, humans could gain more control over the market economy, which will become highly dependent upon them. A service based economy is highly versatile, multi-layered and distributed in nature. Let us take advantage of all of these functions to recover our senses.

Regenerative at all levels

Endless means of exchanges Another factor that could help humans recover their social web is the rise of new forms of exchange between them. Whether you choose to access your experiences using the latest technologies, local bank notes, cryptographic ledgers, barter or even gifts, there is a resurgence in these and new forms of exchange between two entities willing to agree on a defined consent (deal, agreement, etc.). Imagine these forms becoming endless and highly diversified. All these practices being in line with a valuebased system of exchange, preserving local rules and/or customs. And how about embedding them into well-designed crypto-currency ledgers as a guarantee of human value? And why not, since we are thus becoming a key circular component, maintain a material resource-scarce economy?

Our next economy will have to be regenerative and equitable, as a non-negotiable solution to our environmental, societal and economic challenges. The circular economy is considered to be the next economic model. It focuses on the decoupling of our needs for resources versus economic growth. As Kenneth Boulding’s famous quote states – “anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either mad or an economist.” This reminds us that, even in 2018, infinite growth is not possible unless this ‘advancement’ becomes a guarantee of value creation for the planet, for the people and for the economy. Believing that the circular economy will be implemented at scale, without taking into consideration how people perceive the preservation of what they value most, might not lead to the expected outcome. Today, we have the opportunity to evolve from an economy of having to an economy of being, where humans could be revalued by the careful design of circular flows and the management of several stocks, with an economy that is embedded in human relations. Polanyi was probably right all along. It is time to reconnect with both our natural and social environment, and the economy is nothing more than one of the tools at our disposal.

7. Replacing Energy by Countless Jobs or Activities, Alexandre Lemille, 2017, www.linkedin.com/pulse/ endless-jobs-alexandrelemille 8. The Ex’Tax Project or Valued Extracted Tax, www.ex-tax.com

renewablematter 21. 2018

Re-designing

THE FUTURE Interview with Martin Charter Designers, universities and bottom-up initiatives: shaping a new circular world. by Antonella Ilaria Totaro Martin Charter has worked as a manager and trainer on sustainable innovation in the realms of academia, business, consultancy and product sustainability for the past 30 years. He is the founding Director of The Centre for Sustainable Design® and Professor of Innovation & Sustainability at UCA Farnham.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation “A circular economy is one that is restorative and regenerative by design.” The big challenge for innovators and pioneers is to design products, services and businesses that are good for people, the planet and business. Over the past few years some companies have developed a Circular Design Guide. The question is: how can design actually help in the transition to a more circular economy? To better understand this on-going shift in the design and academia world, Renewable Matter interviewed professor Martin Charter, Director of The Centre for Sustainable Design® at UCA, and co-founder of the Farnham Repair Café. Martin, with many years of experience in sustainability you have developed a deep understanding of the sector. Do you see the circular economy transition as a top down or a bottom-up process? “I think it is a complex process that requires both approaches. In Europe, the European Commission developed a Circular Economy

Action Plan in 2015. Also, countries such as Finland, the Netherlands and Spain are developing long term national plans. China is revising the Circular Economy Promotion Law and Japan, that has always been one of the most advanced countries when it comes to resource efficiency and productivity, is hosting the World Circular Economy Forum this year. I see the Japanese entering the discussion through the hosting of the event. So the role of nation states is fundamental, but the bottom-up approach is also relevant. Think about the US. They haven’t participated in the discussion yet. But, the Right to Repair movement is lobbying for changes in legislation. Many bottom-up movements are pushing to give individuals and citizens the right to repair products and to move away from built-in obsolescence.” Do you think companies will play an active role in increasing consumer awareness? “The problem is always that some manufacturers are proactive, but many of them are reactive.

Think Tank

The interest of consumers and companies is increasing. However, do you think the perception of repair and reuse has changed over the last few years? “I have been involved in business sustainability since the late 80s and hence have a deep understanding of the topic. Things have changed a lot in the area. For example, there are now 1530 repair cafés in the world. Think about that on a global scale: each repair café is run once a month and attracts 20 to 30 people. Therefore multiply 1530 by 30 and you end up with a large amount of people visiting repair cafés all around the world. Also, if you take the 63% repair rate that we have at the Farnham Repair Café as an example and bring it to a larger scale, you understand there are quite a lot of products that are repaired through these citizen driven initiatives. The difference is that 5 or 10 years ago these initiatives didn’t exist. That’s a fact. Another interesting thing is that in the UK – and I don’t think of the UK as one of the greenest countries in Europe – there is now a second BBC TV series, with 10 half hour episodes, dedicated to tutorials and tips for the repair of common household objects. For the BBC to broadcast a second series about repair means that the audience has shown an interest.” Do you think this cultural shift is common to all European countries? “It is not happening in the same way everywhere and it is very interesting to see how these changes and citizen driven initiatives develop from a cultural perspective. 80% of the repair cafés are in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and I was very surprised to see that there are hardly any repair cafés in Scandinavia. It was surprising because Sweden, for example, is really green and community focused in many areas. I tried to better understand this lack of repair cafés in Sweden and maybe the explanation is that individuals in Sweden repair products at home, in workshops, or in their basements, or possibly even in maker spaces or other similar realities.” That is from the consumer side. What about the companies?

“When we created the new standard BS2001, the first one on the circular economy, we met many companies and business leaders. The danger with companies is that often – and we saw this quite clearly in a specific case – there is no stakeholder engagement, and no real vision about what the circular economy means for the company. The key element is that it is always useful to involve and bring together people that are not familiar with the subject at least once a year. We do it with Master’s students and also with students that are above 40 or 50. They were the ones challenging me and asking what in the circular economy was new and innovative.” What is new in the circular economy? “For me the big picture is always sustainable development. It is a much broader perspective that has also been defined with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. I see product circularity as one element of that broader picture. I don’t see it as a huge change, although organisations such as the Dutch government are presenting it as such. Rather, it is a small element in the bigger picture. In terms of the transition from linear to circular economy, circularity in businesses is a new concept and a key element even among leaders (they are not as far down the line as you would think). Of course many of these topics like repair, remanufacture, recycle are not new issues.

Centre for Sustainable Design, cfsd.org.uk Farnham Repair Café, repaircafe.org/en/ locations/repair-cafefarnham

Repair Café – Wikicommons/Ilvy Njiokiktjien

Therefore, many companies will lobby to keep things the way they are. No major company likes legislation unless it benefits them. Policy can play an important role in this regard and then some companies will follow. The Circular Economy Action Plan is the start of a European standardisation process with new standards focused on repair, reuse and remanufacturing. These actions will still be voluntary, but companies can use their design and development teams, or their supply chain, to try and increase reparability and dismantlability. In the UK, interest in reparability issues is increasing continuously.”

renewablematter 21. 2018 If users and consumers were more aware and manufacturers contributed to raising awareness, products would have an extended use-life.

Circular Ocean, www.circularocean.eu Global Shapers Survey, www.shaperssurvey2017.org

The role of design is new, as well as bringing all the elements together in a systematic and systemic approach, and thinking about maximising value and extending the use-life of products.” You founded the Farnham Repair Café in the UK. How important is the repair movement in the circular economy transition? “I set up the Farnham Repair Café in the UK as a charity, one year ago. However, we have been operational for three years now. We have recruited volunteers from the local community, some are retired or semi-retired and they want to share their knowledge. The repair café is also part of the sharing economy because it is also about sharing skills. We have avoided nearly two tonnes of weight entering landfills via repair, which represent between ten and fifteen tonnes of carbon. We also saved our town’s community 45 thousand pounds by repairing old products and hence not having to buy new ones.” What is the main lesson you take from this experience? “The key lesson from the Farnham Repair Café actually comes from all the data we have collected over the years. We run the Repair Café as a community initiative, but we also set it up as a living lab with which to collect a lot of data. We welcomed around 1500 people for a total of 500 to 600 products repaired. We have a 63% repair rate within 2 hours. This means that, despite the products not being designed for reparability, with the right skills, products can be repaired easily. We found that many of the issues with broken products are due to poor maintenance by users and consumers. If users and consumers were more aware and manufacturers contributed to raising awareness, products would have an extended use-life.” Where do you think the most value is lost in the value chain? How can we maximise value? “My experience in the Circular Ocean project has led me to think that product circularity is not about end of life. Instead, it is about an extended lifecycle perspective, with a stronger focus on the user phase of products. It is not about waste, but about how you retain value in the system for as long as possible. I’m working on a book on this topic that deals with legislation, business models, design and development and will also contain many case studies.” What is your role in the Circular Ocean project? “As UCA Farnham, we are one of the project’s key partners, in particular focusing on the ecoinnovation of products. We researched what was going on in the port area, reviewed the products being used and through a hackathon tried to find ways of employing disused fishing nets. I am also running a monthly webinar for

companies and SMEs to show how to create products from fishing nets, ropes and other materials.” What role can universities and schools play in the circular economy? “Education has a big role to play in terms of content and curriculum. The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) is only specialised in creative sectors like architecture and design. Many students have a big interest in sustainability, many are dealing with materials or textiles all the time, so waste and circularity are easy for them to understand. On the other hand, sustainability and the circular economy need to be included in the core curriculum so as to get the most attention possible and be easy to access. Therefore, the Academic Board that decides what goes in the curriculum has a key role in putting circular economy and sustainability on the educational path of our students. You need a strong senior level driver. A number of universities are taking sustainability on board, especially after the UN SDGs. This aspect has parallels within universities, governments or companies, if you don’t make sustainability and the circular economy a priority it won’t get the attention it deserves and needs.” Do you see your students gaining interest in the circular economy? “I don’t really understand millennials. They are confusing to me. They are green, but their practices are not. The Global Shapers Annual Survey 2017 conducted by the World Economy Forum, shows that climate change is a really big concern and challenge for them and also that there are many start-ups founded by millennials that put sustainability at the core of their business. On the other hand, I see students interested in what is easiest and not really planning for things. People that come to the repair cafés are, on average, 50+ and the common element is that they really don’t like to waste stuff. If they find an easy mechanism to repair products, they will use it. I don’t know if millennials share these same values because they grew up in an era of fast fashion and fast technology.”

Policy

Waste + Information = Resource by Rémy Le Moigne

Today waste is often left without an identity. The material passport of product components, predictive maintenance and the management of big data, are some of the instruments available for turning waste into a resource.

1. Thomas Rau; turntoo.com/documents/ Madaster-PressRelease.pdf

Circular economy principles rely on a very simple equation, “waste = resource.” However, the reality is somewhat different. For example, converting plastic waste into valuable material is challenging as the plastics composition or the presence of toxic substances is often unknown. Making used equipment “as good as new” is difficult without information regarding its design or its past use. To maintain the value of materials and products in the economy for as long as possible, the circular economy needs to have access not only to waste, but also to information regarding said waste. Factors like the composition of an alloy, the disassembly procedure of equipment or the number of operating hours of an electric engine are all fundamental. Therefore, waste ≠ resource; whereas waste + information does.

2. Delta Development Group; tinyurl.com/ycazmsav

Today, design and usage information are barely recorded during the lifecycle of a product and when they are, they are rarely passed along the value chain. However, there are some solutions emerging, often leveraging new technologies, that make the equation “waste + information = resource” a reality. Material passport Product design information is often lost along the value chain, between the company in charge of manufacturing a product and the one in charge of managing its end of life. Waste often becomes “material without an identity.”1 To be able to capture and share product design information, some industries are using material

passports. A material passport is a record of information regarding the components and materials that a product contains, and how they can be disassembled and recycled at the end of the product’s use life. Several buildings have been built using a material passport. Examples include: the headquarters of Bluewater Energy Services in Hoofddorp, and the building belonging to the energy grid company Liander, in Duiven; both of which are in the Netherlands.2 When these buildings are renovated or demolished, it will be easier to reuse or recycle the materials employed in their construction. The shipping company Maersk Line, is also using material passports for some of its vessels. Currently, steel is recycled on a large scale. However, different types of steel and metals are often mixed in the recycling process, reducing the quality of the recycled steel and hence sustaining the need for new iron ore. To be able to build new ships from older ones, Maersk has set-up a “Cradle-to-Cradle Passport,” together with the Korean shipyard DSME. The passport, documents almost all the materials used to build the Triple-E ships (which are very large container ships with high sustainability standards), and how to disassemble and recycle them. Smart remanufacturing The cost of giving a product a second life by repairing, refurbishing or remanufacturing it, varies according to the condition it is in. Barely used products are much cheaper to recondition than extensively used ones. Unfortunately, the condition of a used product

renewablematter 21. 2018 is sometimes difficult to assess and can require a full, and costly, disassembly. Some manufacturers of heavy assets, such as locomotives, aircraft engines or mining equipment, have chosen to fit their equipment with sensors that track their condition during the use phase and hence facilitate the overhaul process when they reach their end of use.

Predicting failures Condition data for equipment is valuable as goods near their end-of-use phase, and need reconditioning. It is also valuable during use life, so that they can be properly maintained. By analysing condition data, predictive maintenance can forecast equipment failure before it occurs. It leverages algorithms that detect fault patterns by comparing real-time data with pre-identified failure patterns. Recently, machine learning has enabled algorithms to automatically identify new failure patterns through iterative learning from data.

Maersk

In Grove City, GE Transportation remanufactures diesel engines from its locomotives. In the past, the company needed to disassemble engines into their individual parts, searching for what needed repairing and then rebuilding them.

The same process was applied to every engine and every component, regardless of engine conditions. Using locomotive condition data, the plant is now able to identify the wear and tear on individual engine components that come through the factory door. Hence knowing if the engine needs to be remanufactured, needs to be prepared for reuse, or doesn’t need repairing at all.

Maersk

Rémy Le Moigne is the Managing Director of Gate C, a circular economy consultancy firm. He has been a partner of Deloitte where he led projects in Europe and Africa, and is also the author of several award-winning books including: L’economie circulaire. Stratégie pour un monde durable (Dunod, 2018), and Supply chain management. Achat, production, logistique, transport, vente (Dunod, 2017).

Komatsu, the manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, has fitted all standard equipment with sensors that send data to a central platform. The platform is able to log and analyse data on the equipment’s location and condition. This allows Komatsu to quantify the costs and benefits of various reverse logistics options, including reusing, remanufacturing or refurbishing.

Maersk

Google Logo – Earth Day (WWF)

Policy

4. DeepMind; tinyurl.com/k9f6bld

Predictive maintenance is applied to a growing number of assets, from trains to jet engines, from power plants to oil rigs. For example, Siemens continually analyses data collected by hundreds of sensors and control devices in trains, locomotives and rail infrastructure; including the temperature of axle bearings and transformers, the condition of hydraulic oils, vibration of the bogies, dynamic operating data from the traction systems and brakes, operation of the automatic doors, and information about the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. In order to maximise their uptime, some Thyssenkrupp elevators are equipped with sensors that collect machine data such as door movements, trips, power-ups and error codes. The data is then sent to a cloud platform, where algorithms analyse them for patterns and

compute the equipment’s operation and the remaining use-life of components. Diagnostics are then delivered to technicians in real time, indicating where intervention is required. Until now, companies were relying either on preventive or corrective maintenance, neither of which were really efficient. Preventive maintenance, meaning checking on a predetermined schedule driven by mileage or time rather than the actual condition of the equipment, often replaces components unnecessarily or at the wrong time. Corrective maintenance, which repairs equipment only when it breaks down, can be costly when the failure leads to a long downtime. On the other hand, predictive maintenance not only detects machine conditions that will lead to failure, but it also estimates the amount of time before that failure occurs, allowing maintenance to be planned. In the rail sector the efficiency gain through predictive maintenance is expected to reach 25%.3 For example, German cargo rail operator DB Cargo, in collaboration with GE, has reduced the number of failures on 250 locomotives by 25% through predictive maintenance. Improving resource productivity Some products are resource intensive during their production or use phase. They consume large amount of materials when built or a large quantity of energy when used. However, data can help improve the resource efficiency of these products.

ThyssenKrupp Quartier Essen/Wikicommons Arnoldius

3. McKinsey, “The rail sector’s changing manintenace game”; tinyurl.com/ ybvhmsbb

For example, Google has managed to reduce the amount of energy used to cool its data centres by up to 40 %. Each data centre is equipped with thousands of sensors that collect information such as temperatures, power and pump speeds. By applying machine learning to the historical data collected by these sensors, Google has been able to better understand data centre dynamics and to optimise the efficiency of the cooling system.4 Some Michelin mining equipment tyres are also equipped with sensors. These allow mine operators to monitor the temperature

renewablematter 21. 2018

Airline Aircraft

and pressure of each tyre in real time, thus improving their performance and extending their use-life.5

5. Michelin; tinyurl.com/y7f8jsyl 6. Pratt&Whitney; tinyurl.com/yaullyvh

Airline Aircraft

7. Rolls-Royce; tinyurl.com/yat6teet

Airline Aircraft

Managing big data Progressively, businesses will not only have to design and manufacture products, but also to manage their data. To manage data, businesses will need to acquire new capabilities, especially because the amount of data in question is very large. For example, the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engine monitors 5,000 parameters continuously throughout a flight. The Geared Turbofan fleet will be generating more than two petabytes of data annually. That is the equivalent of a new American Library of Congress every year.6 Some industrial firms, such as GE, Siemens and Boeing, have chosen to design and operate their own data analytics platform to store, secure and analyse their data. In collaboration with Palantir Technologies, a provider of big data and advanced data analytics solutions, Airbus has launched an aviation data platform. The platform integrates airlines’ operational, maintenance and aircraft data. It enables Airbus to enhance the design of its aircrafts and equipment. It also helps airlines improve their fleet’s operational performance. Business will also need to implement new tools with which to manage data. For example, in the rail industry Siemens operates a data analytics centre that gathers data scientists, physicists, engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians. The centre thoroughly analyses the diagnostic data being collected from rail vehicles and rail line infrastructure components. Rolls-Royce has opened an Airline Aircraft Availability Centre that monitors thousands of engines across the world. By monitoring the data transmitted from these engines the centre can plan engine operations and maintenance; driving efficiency in an industry where a one per cent reduction in fuel consumption can be worth $250,000 per aircraft per year.7 Today, design and usage data are managed mostly in relation to heavy assets such as aircraft, trains, ships or even bridges. But tomorrow, data should be used for a much broader scope of products, from cars and washing machines, to phones and chairs. An important step towards making our planet circular again.

Focus The Big Package

For a Circular Europe by Emanuele Bompan, from Strasbourg

Interview with Simona Bonafé

“A momentous and revolutionary transition towards a new economic model that will create up to 500,000 new jobs.” Simona Bonafé, rapporteur on the EU Circular Economy Package.

After years of delays, the European Parliament in Strasbourg has approved the Circular Economy (CE) Package. However, things have not yet come full circle. “The way for a new development model has been paved,” states Simona Bonafé, MEP for the Italian Democratic Party and rapporteur for the measures approved on April 18th by an overwhelming majority (580 in favour out of 661). Technically speaking, it is a revision of four directives on waste management. These will have to be adopted by EU member States within two years, in conjunction with other measures put forth by the Commission. Bonafé, in her capacity as rapporteur is one of the most active players, supporting the parliamentary work behind the CE Package. Renewable Matter interviewed her in Strasbourg’s hallways to take stock of the situation. What is the political message of this vote? “It is about strengthening the idea of a European community that is changing its development model. A shift from an economy consuming more materials than the environment can regenerate,

to one where materials can be regenerated by recovering them from waste and putting them back into the productive cycle. It is an important achievement that doesn’t represent the finishing line, but just the beginning. It will create industrial competition, jobs and a solid foundation for a truly European circular economy.” The goals are clear… “According to the new legislation, at least 55% of domestic and commercial urban waste will have to be recycled. This objective will rise to 60% in 2030 and to 65% in 2035, whereas 65% of packaging materials will have to be recycled by 2025 and 70% by 2030. Distinct goals were then set for specific packaging materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic, metal glass and wood. Whilst Italy – my home country – produces 497 kilos of waste per capita (2016 data), of which 27.64% is sent to landfills, 50.55% is recycled or composted and 21.81% incinerated; the EU CE Package limits the amount of urban waste destined for landfills to a maximum of 10% by 2035. I would also like to remind Europeans of the food waste aspect: for the first time we have included in European legislation mandatory measures to reduce food waste. Europe has committed, with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to reduce food waste by 50%. We took advantage of these regulations to introduce mandatory provisions to halve food waste by 2030. Currently, we define food waste as: ‘everything that is thrown away,’ although there is no reliable method to calculate this. When it is properly defined by the Commission and included in regulations, we will have a more precise idea as to what measures to take so as to halve food waste.” While many people were expecting a Zero Waste to Landfill result, a 10% goal by 2035

Policy has been reached. Why was the target watered down? “Nowadays the European landfill scenario is very diverse: in 2014 Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden did not send any waste to landfills. On the other hand, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Latvia and Malta landfilled over three quarters of their urban waste. A total of 12 countries exceeded the 50% of waste to landfills mark. Therefore, we had to take into account the particular situations of those countries that: ‘are willing, but need some flexibility.’” European Parliament, Circular economy: More recycling of household waste, less landfilling, tinyurl.com/y7bq3tda

The CE Package also mentions prevention. “In my opinion this has been one of the cornerstones of the Package, I daresay it is the European Parliament’s main contribution to the Commission’s proposal. The Parliament played a very proactive role, although proposals focused excessively on urban waste, thus being less politically influential. The issue of industrial waste remains to be addressed. This has certainly been a drawback of the legislation since its very inception.” What will the impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) be? “When the CE Package is transposed, manufacturers will be legally required to manage the waste produced. Furthermore, producers will be required to make a financial contribution to this end. In the EU legislation, mandatory EPR measures have been introduced for all packaging.”

The circular economy is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 617 million tonnes, by 2035.

With regards to impacts on the economy and employment: figures vary considerably, are often exaggerated and do not always add up. In order to shed light on the actual impacts of the circular and bio economies Renewable Matter will address these topics in one of its next issues. In your opinion, what would realistic estimates look like? “Let’s use three benchmark studies, performed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the European Commission, and the European Parliament. They are very similar studies that employ different ranges. However, if we had to point out a happy medium we could approximate the creation of 500,000 jobs. Obviously, we are talking about skilled workers in sectors such as innovation, new technologies, IT and material engineering. As for economic growth, some data suggests a 7% increase in GDP could be achieved by 2035. I think this is an exaggeration, but on average we could expect it to rise by 5%. Thanks to waste management and disposal, companies are expected to save around €600 billion per year. With reference to CO2, emissions, by 2035 the circular economy is expected to reduce emissions by 617 million tonnes.” Today, financial investors (looking for equities or shares in companies that have embraced circular models), and consumers (including

Large Retail Organisations ranging from the agricultural to the constructive sector) demand circularity. How is a company’s “circularity” defined and measured? What can the EU do to facilitate this? “At the moment there are plenty of European environmental certifications for this purpose. I for one, have dealt with the issue of how to measure circularity and the efficient use of resources. It is not an easy task because, when we talk about the circular economy, we include a variety of sectors producing different goods with different costs. Recycling plastic implies different costs, including environmental ones, compared to those linked to the production of virgin plastic; taking into consideration that oil prices are decreasing. We asked the Commission to organise a round table on this subject.” In order to start work on the other two pillars of the circular economy, namely Product as a Service (PAAS) and Product Life Extension, the Commission must start tackling the EcoDesign directive. How is this proceeding? “The debate is still underway but it will be even more complex than the CE Package. I believe that Italy, the cradle of design and craftsmanship from time immemorial, will have a major say on this subject. The wood, glass, furniture and fashion industries can become a source of important contributions.” When dealing with eco-design we are faced with the End of Waste (EoW) aspect, i.e. the conditions according to which waste material and products cease to be legally regarded as waste and become a by-product or a secondary raw material. “These two measures of the circular economy help generate less waste. For the EoW to work it is important that competitive distortions are not created: if a product is no longer considered waste in a member State, but is in another, then clearly we have two different economic costs. We envisaged a framework that is as uniform as possible and which can then be implemented by member States.” Will we export the circular economy principles to the US? “After the US decided not to abide by the Paris agreement, they made a clear decision not to invest in the green economy. Essentially, they don’t believe in it, while China truly does. Europe has a competitive advantage in this, which will have to be fully exploited.” Next steps? “The strategy on plastic has just been released. Today, it is a mainstream subject that can be applied to all EU policies. I also expect more effective action on sustainable financing. If investment opportunities for both the private and public sectors are created, a leap forward can occur.”

renewablematter 21. 2018

Focus The Big Package

An Important Step Forward Interview with Janez Potočnik “A paradigm shift and revolutionary step towards a new economic system that can create up to 500,000 new job opportunities.” by Rémy Le Moigne

Adopted by the European Parliament on April 18th 2018 and approved by the European Council on May 21st, the Circular Economy Package has never been so close to becoming a law. How important is this package and what next on the political agenda? We asked the former European Commissioner for the Environment and initiator of the Circular Economy Package back in 2010, Janez Potočnik, these very questions. Could you give us the genesis of the Circular economy package? “Back in 2010 ideas on the environment were split into two areas: one was climate change, the other was the rest of the environment. Although at first glance this split looked quite unnatural, operationally it proved to be quite useful. At the time, climate change was the centre of attention, while the rest of the environment wasn’t addressed as much. This is why, when I started my mandate as European Commissioner of the Environment in 2010, I needed to find a new narrative that would help solve some of the most problematic environmental issues. I chose to highlight the link between the environment and economic activities and then to persuade people that, in essence, if you look at it the right way,

the environment portfolio was probably the strongest economic portfolio of the European Commission. On this basis, we started with an initiative on resource efficiency. We established the ‘resource efficiency roundtable’ and, later on, adopted a ‘resource efficiency roadmap’ which was actually the first step in the direction of the Circular Economy Package. While this initiative was evolving pretty well, during the second part of my mandate we had to review the Waste Legislation Package. We used that moment to try to change the story of waste management, in order to see waste not as a problem but rather as a solution for some economic challenges in Europe, including competitiveness.” What have the main obstacles to the Circular Economy Package been and how were they overcome? “The main obstacle was the misunderstanding that environmental measures have more or less negative consequences on the economy. A misunderstanding that is based on an incorrect assumption. Of course, any environmental measure increases costs, but these costs already exist, and we’ve simply been denying their existence. Somehow,

Policy

Janez Potocnik – Forum for the Future of Agriculture, Brussels 2016

and leading representatives from trade unions and consumer associations at the EU level. So, practically, everybody was sitting at the table. The participants nominated sherpas (personal representatives of heads of state that prepare international summits), worked very hard for some two years, and created a proposal that I translated into legal actions or other political proposals which were included in the Circular Economy Package. Later on, when the new Commission withdrew the Circular Economy Package, it was quite logical that there were some intense protests because all those participants felt ownership of the circular economy and believed in its development in Europe.”

Before becoming European Commissioner for the Environment from 2010 to 2014, Janez Potočnik directed the negotiating team for Slovenia’s entry into the EU and worked as European Commissioner for science and research. Today he is the Co-Chair of the UNEP International Resource Panel and partner of SystemiQ.

these costs are not paid for by the producers and the consumers of goods. They are shifted onto the health system or, which is even more common, to the next generation because the next generation, as you know, cannot complain. Overcoming this obstacle required a lot of hard work, a lot of meetings at all levels. In particular, it required generating a lot of evidence that demonstrates how environmental measures are good, not only for wellbeing and the environment, but also for the economy.” The Circular Economy Package has gained a lot of support from the European Parliament and from various stakeholders. How has such a consensus been achieved? “From the moment the resource efficiency roundtable was established, we worked consistently to build a consensus. We brought together ten or so business leaders, such as Paul Polman from Unilever, already actively involved in the circular economy. I brought some of my colleagues from the Commission, including those dealing with economic issues, and some very active European members of parliament. We also brought researchers from academic circles, representatives of NGOs,

The Circular economy package is ambitious, but is it ambitious enough? “First, we need to understand the essence behind the Circular Economy Package. Our existing economic model has proven to be socially, environmentally and even economically unsustainable. It is responsible for unequal distribution of wealth, biodiversity loss, climate change, and economic crisis. In addition, we are living in a world that is characterised by tightly knit human social-ecological systems on a planetary level. We are more interconnected and interdependent than ever and, for this reason, our individual and collective responsibility has increased enormously. On top of this, we are facing new 21st century challenges, including population growth, increase in per capita consumption, ageing population, digitalisation and robotisation, that we simply cannot ignore. A change in our economic model is necessary and, basically unavoidable. It is important that we understand that the circular economy is a very efficient instrument for the transition to this unavoidable new economic model and it should be embraced by all. Circular economy should also be seen as a solution for European Union competitiveness because the European Union is very import dependant when it comes to various resources. Of course, it is no secret that this package should go faster and would need to be broader but, undoubtedly, it is an important step. It is also clear to me that the next step is needed and that there is no time to lose.” The circular economy will not only save resources but also create jobs. Can job creation become a major driver for the transition towards a circular economy? “Certainly, economic growth that supports job creation could be an important driver. Of course, to be frank, it is easier to prove the existence of a positive correlation of circular economy with economic growth than with employment. However, what is essential is that the development of a new economic model,

renewablematter 21. 2018 today localised in some regions like Europe or China, moves to a more global level. It is essential that we remove some of the barriers, such as market barriers, to avoid the danger of becoming, or being viewed as, another Western model which protects our own interests. It is essential that employment moves to the centre of the circular economy package. As we further develop the circular economy model, we need to implement solutions that employ more people, that create local jobs and jobs that cannot be displaced.”

Circular economy is an important answer, if not the answer, to the competitiveness of the European Union’s economy which [...] is extremely import-dependent. A politician who does not understand this should not be in politics.

What should the Commission’s next priorities be? “First, let’s see what needs to be done, regardless of who should do it, whether it be the Commission or on a more global or local level. We need to enforce the circular economy synergies with the social dimension, with climate change, with bioeconomics (which is also becoming ever more important), and with cities, because we have to be aware that the next wave of urban development will be practically over in the next fifty years. We also need to work on how to retain value in the circular economy because, sometimes, we are focusing far too much on the quantity of waste but not on the value we are retaining, and this value is an important economic driver for the adoption of the circular economy. If you look at it from the point of view of the Commission, I believe that the focus should be on: the implementation of the Plastics Package, which I think is an important package; on the design of products, with the Eco-Design Directive; and on removing the barriers to new business models, such as product as a service and the extended producer responsibility models. The Commission should also work on topics, where it has less power but it should absolutely help, such as market incentives, which have kept us stuck in our existing economic model. The Commission should help to change the signals sent to the market, enforce a better valuation of natural capital, update the tax structure and leverage public procurement. Practically, there is a lot of work still ahead of us and we will have to work systematically all across the board.” Having adopted the Circular economy package, can Europe lead the global economy towards a more circular economy? “I think that not only it can, but basically it should. I would like to explain why. Today there is a serious call for redefining sovereignty because many of our problems, such as the change of our economic model, can only be solved at a global level. An example of redefinition of sovereignty is the Paris Agreement on climate change where we all agreed to introduce solutions in the best possible way to protect our environment.

Why is the European Union important for that? Because, seventy years ago, the European Union redefined sovereignty to achieve one single objective: avoid conflicts and wars on European soil. It encountered quite some problems but, in the end, it achieved its objective. Furthermore, all the challenges that we face today are pretty much the same as those Europe was facing seventy years ago. Basically, I believe that to redesign sovereignty, on top of the three conventions which already exist since 1992, namely the Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), there might be a need for another convention which we could call ‘Natural Resource Management Convention.’ This new convention would basically connect the three existing ones, it would link the stories of biodiversity and climate change with the one of a new economic model, and it would create the required conditions and remove barriers, such as market barriers, which are currently preventing us from moving forward on a global level.” Now that the Circular Economy Package is about to become a law, how can the circular economy remain at the top of the political agenda? “I am absolutely convinced that the circular economy should remain at the top of the political agenda. It is essential for a transition to a more responsible and sustainable economy. It is an extremely important part of the answer to the fight against climate change. It is simply not enough to focus on energy and the supply side. We also need to look at the demand side: production and consumption models, the consumption of other resources like land, water and particular materials which are not appropriately managed. Inefficient resource management could become another CO2 emission driver and we would simply not solve the climate story properly. Finally, circular economy is an important answer, if not the answer, to the competitiveness of the European Union’s economy which, as I already mentioned, is extremely import-dependent. A politician who does not understand this should not be in politics.”

Policy

The American Way In America, the term “circular economy” is seldom used. However, the corporate world is keeping an eye on what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic. Reporting from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Fourth Annual Sustainability and Circular Economy Summit. by Emanuele Bompan, from Washington D.C.

Fourth Sustainability and Circular Economy Summit, www.uschamber foundation.org/ event/fourth-annualsustainability-andcircular-economy-summit

What is the difference in the way Brussels and Washington D.C. see the circular economy? To get an answer one should have attended the Fourth Circular Economy Summit, organised by the powerful US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and simply counted the amount of billion dollar corporations present. Big names such as Coca-Cola, AB-InBev, Lockeed Martin, Veolia, Lexus. The circular economy is a very interesting topic for big business. On the other hand, there were only a sparse number of associations registered, and the presence of public administration and government representatives was almost non-existent, and limited to a handful of people from the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A far cry from the Circular Economy Stakeholder Summit in Brussels, that hosted many research bodies, IGOs, associations, European agencies, chambers of commerce and just a few big business representatives. As early as 8.30 am, those registered crowded around the entrance of the Chamber of Commerce Foundation, near Lafayette square, and literally opposite the White House. Coffee galore and many young people. “For our

company it is very important to carefully observe these new trends,” explains James R. Lee, a sustainability engineer for Lockheed Martin, a global aerospace security colossus. “The circular economy is not a widespread term in the US, but companies, especially in the packaging sector, are learning fast,” says Scott Byrne, a Tetra Pak environment specialist. A delegate of a big Michigan-based company, who prefers to remain anonymous, reveals the political reasons behind the business world’s sudden interest in the circular economy: “In Washington, you better not talk about climate; on the other hand, the circular economy is a politically neutral expression that anyone can use.” Meetings focused on how to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), concentrating on Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production Models) and how to communicate one’s “real circularity and sustainability.” “Communication is crucial,” explains Deborah Philips of the American Chemistry Council who applauds the arrival of the circular economy in the US, “it is a great opportunity for the American chemistry sector and for the packaging industry as a whole.”

Ian Wagreich/©U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Focus The Big Package

renewablematter 21. 2018

Freya Williams, Cheryl Coleman, Cindy Ortega. Ian Wagreich/©U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Scott Mackey, John Kotlarczyk Jr., Laurene Hamilton, Denise Coogan, Alan Barton. Ian Wagreich/©U.S. Chamber of Commerce

U.S. EPA Sustainable Materials Management Program Strategic Plan, www.epa.gov/ sites/production/ files/2016-03/documents/ smm_strategic_plan_ october_2015.pdf

According to Chris Walker, the North American Director of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), “The circular economy concept is still not popular in America because over here we have always talked about the efficient use of materials. Moreover, in Europe this concept entails a long-term environmental vision. In America, it focusses primarily on business opportunities linked to secondary raw materials. Not even five years ago it was still considered a topic for tree-hugging environmentalists. Today, the circular economy implies recognising how waste can be a business opportunity, with a value that must be identified.” The EPA agrees and in an email it reasserts the importance of Sustainable materials management (SMM) through their entire lifecycle. The principles behind this approach are based on the efficient use of materials, emphasising the reduction of toxic elements

used in materials, and resource management in line with current and future industrial requirements. Just by looking at the EPA’s 2017-2022 strategy on SMM, one can see many similarities between SMM and the circular economy. “But, this is not enough,” explains Chris Walker to Renewable Matter, “we need to marry Europe’s unabridged vision of the circular economy.” This is the Chamber of Commerce’s objective and the reason behind organising the most important event on the circular economy in the US to date. Judging from attendance, interest has definitely increased. When asked: “What do you think of the EU Circular Economy Package and its new plastic strategy?” attendees answer cautiously. In America, regulations are not very popular. However, they are discussed. Walker tells us that: “Having a paved playground would help greatly. The patchwork of state laws, all different from one another and often entailing serious economic losses, drives American companies crazy. Moreover, some States and counties do not have any legislation regulating separate waste collection. WBCSD does not usually suggest regulatory interventions, but in this case we need federal leadership.” A position shared by other interviewees. If Europe becomes circular, it will be of paramount importance to harmonise the market for goods, in order to avoid trade barriers. “It will be the same as with vehicle emissions. [In the USA] 49 states had weak standards. On the other hand, California introduced very strict targets. However, given the importance of the Californian automotive market, at federal level, strict emission standards were adopted. Likewise, if Europe has an aggressive market

Ann Amstutz-Hayes, Audrey Lundy, Stacy Okonowsky, Scott Breen. Ian Wagreich/©U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Policy

approach, based on the circular economy, the US business world will follow such strict standards so as not to lose out on this market,” concludes Walker. The EPA is also paying close attention to the model put forward by actors such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This is clear from the fact that the US Operations Director Del Hudson was attending in person. “The intention of substantiating the sustainable management of materials is growing,” explains Cheryl Coleman, EPA’s Resource Conservation Director, from the stage. “Many states have introduced SMM in their programmes. Today, we are moving from an end-of-life waste management vision, towards the management of the entire lifecycle of a product. Particularly, in the paper and

Betsy Hickman, Suzy Friedman, Bernadette Hobson, Megan Weidner. Ian Wagreich/©U.S. Chamber of Commerce

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that more than one third of fruit and vegetables bought by Americans are thrown away.

packaging sectors.” Industries, NPOs and public administration are implementing more and more lifecycle analysis strategies, zero-waste targets, sustainability strategies and SSM initiatives. Moreover, the EPA is always interested in knowing and sharing the most widespread initiatives and practices, especially in the field of Resource Efficiency (RE), as outlined in its SMM Strategic Plan. Cheryl Coleman’s speech paid particular attention to food waste, the number one material destined for American landfills and incinerators. Food waste amounts to 21% of municipal waste. In 2014, only 5.1% of over 38 million tonnes was used to produce energy or compost. The rest was sent to landfills. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that more than one third of fruit and vegetables bought by Americans is thrown away. Reducing food waste alone would cut 20% of the total methane emissions produced by landfills. Not to mention that, in the US, 42 million people are at risk of food insecurity. “The American government aims at halving food waste by 2030,” says Coleman. “If Europe is succeeding, so can we.” In the meantime, Europe is working to set foot in the USA, ready for the circular economy boom. There are droves of Dutch companies with their embassy delegate, Bart de Jong, in tow; representatives of Rabobank Group N.V. (the Utrecht banking colossus, which is very active in the circular economy panorama); and other Orange circular economy companies. “There is a lot of work to do and companies are trying to gain a competitive advantage,” says De Jong. “But, this does not mean the American corporate world might not learn fast. This would foil our competitive edge.”

BusinessEurope, Circular Means Business Interview with Alexandre Affre

The number of European businesses realising that the Circular Economy is not just the latest fashion, but an effective industrial strategy that can strengthen their positions, continues to increase. “Business is fully on board with the circular economy revolution. Not only because it is good business to save resources, but also because of the strong positive impacts for both the job market and sustainability.” The official position of BusinessEurope, as voiced by their director of Industrial

©BUSINESSEUROPE / Photo: Erik Luntang

by Emanuele Bompan, from Brussels

Alexandre Affre is a trained scientist and holds a Master in ecology from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie. As director of BusinessEurope’s Industrial Affairs department, he is responsible for overall policy coordination on energy, climate, industrial policy and research and innovation. Prior to joining BusinessEurope he worked at the WWF and IUCN wildlife trade monitoring networks.

Affairs, Alexandre Affre, gives a crystal clear image of the extent to which European businesses are considering reforms, such as those contained in the Circular Economy Package and future EU directives related to the circular economy (CE). Last year BusinessEurope (which is the short hand name for Confederation of European Business, a lobby group representing enterprises of all sizes in the European Union) launched a new platform called circulary.eu, for the showcasing of circular businesses. They did this at the closing session of the EU Green Jobs Summit 2017, and this year they are pushing their CE agenda even further, lobbying hard to convert the European way of doing business to the CE. Renewable Matter met with Alexandre Affre at the insightful Circular Economy Stakeholders Event, organised by the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. What is BusinessEurope’s outlook

www.circulary.eu

Focus The Big Package

Policy on the CE in Europe? How much is it growing and how fast? “As BusinessEurope we are engaged with the CE because we see more and more of our members and companies either expressing an interest or already doing something related to the CE. For them it is not a buzzword, but an industrial strategy to strengthen their business. It’s coming from the bottom up, from the industrial sector, and step by step transforming the way the European economy, companies and businesses operate. For us this represents a megatrend that we expect to continue to grow in the future. We showcase CE business initiatives to help our members become truly circular or to upgrade their activities in the CE.” Has the Circular Economy Package accelerated the process of bringing companies into the CE? “The Package that has been adopted is a positive step. We expect it to boost this trend. What we like in the Package is the bottom up approach that has helped solve concrete challenges faced by companies.” What is the most important outcome? “For companies to have greater access to recycled materials. Businesses have growing commitments to use more recycled materials in their products. Therefore, the challenge resides in the quantity and quality of materials supplied. It is necessary to reach these goals progressively, committing to intermediate targets whereby, in the next couple of years, a company can achieve the goal of using 30% or 40% recycled material in their productive processes. I think we shouldn’t just create a material flow at a national level, but look for suppliers across the EU. There are some challenges concerning the flow of certain materials. But, I am sure we can overcome them.” In terms of the CE in Europe, which sector do you see developing fastest? “Definitely waste management companies in Western European countries. It is more difficult in the Central and Eastern countries because – and we have to respect and accept this – it is also a cultural issue. However, I think the CE Package takes this into consideration. Things are changing but not all countries are moving at the same speed. That’s why as BusinessEurope we are trying to engage further in those countries where the speed of the change is a little slower. We are planning this year’s events and workshops around these very countries, suggesting possible solutions for businesses and companies.” Are financial institutions interested in the CE? “Investors are looking into this more and more. Sustainable finance is becoming a trend.

This is already happening and is expected to continue to grow.” Do we need more investors or more taxes to boost innovation? “Let’s be careful about policy solutions (including taxes) that can create more problems than they solve.” Are companies interested in labels, certifications or measurement strategies to really assess their circularity and promote circular investment? “I can’t give any figures, but from all the talks and discussions and feedback I have, many companies do their own assessments of how circular they are. It makes a lot of sense for the companies to be more efficient, to use resources more efficiently, to be less dependent on volatile prices. So companies are already measuring their circularity. Maybe they don’t share this data, but they are certainly doing it already.” Should we exclude the idea of a CE label? “At the moment how companies communicate what they are doing to the outside world, whether it be to customers and consumers or policy makers with information on websites or other communication tools, depends on each individual company’s business strategy. Some use labelling, others use IT tools to bring information about the products they put on the market. Therefore, I don’t think there is one solution that fits all cases. We have to be cautious about new labels and be flexible with companies.” Are companies investing in CE incubators? “The World Economic Forum has a project dedicated to this kind of activity. They also exist in coordination with the finance community, and aim to bring together investors so as to obtain the necessary investments for new projects and initiatives.” Is the North American business world paying attention to what is happening in the EU? “As far as I know this is also very topical in the US. However, it may be framed a little differently, as they are a lot more engaged on the topic of resource efficiency. I’m not sure if the CE name is as visible in the US as it is in Europe. However, resource efficiency, material use, and recycling are all receiving a lot of investment. We often have conversations with North American colleagues. The US Chamber of Commerce, which is the BusinessEurope counterpart in the US, is also quite active on this theme. We have discussions with the US Chamber of Commerce on issues of trade, climate, and resource efficiency. I definitely see a lot of potential for collaboration between these two global regions.”

Circular economy industry platform, www.circulary.eu BusinessEurope, www.businesseurope.eu

renewablematter 21. 2018

Focus The Big Package

Circular Economy Package:

The Packaging Directive

Many supply chains in Italy are very close to achieving the waste packaging objectives outlined by the EU. However, in order to reach these goals, the industry working on waste valorisation should continue to improve the quality of materials at their disposal. Giorgio Quagliuolo, head of Conai, offers us his point of view on the new directive. Packaging has found its place in the European Circular Economy Package, approved last April by the European Parliament. It involves a revision a revision of Special Directive 1994/62/CE on packaging waste (member States will have two years’ time to implement the new standards). Some of the main news is that, starting from 2025, each country will have to implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for packaging recycling systems. The Circular Economy Package contains new objectives for recycling, and the issue of reusable packaging has become a focus: the directive offers indications on the measures that member States could implement to stimulate their position on the market. “Overall, Conai’s judgement on this revision is a positive one: this European directive puts down on paper more than 20 years of work and experience, trying to give greater uniformity to the different European systems that have evolved over time and in different ways” says head of Conai (the Italian consortium for packaging waste management) Giorgio Quagliuolo. “The new directive recognises the Systems for recycling and recovery of packaging like Conai, that were set up in accordance with article 7 of the same directive, and have acted as pioneers in the field of EPR schemes. However, the implementation process of the new provisions contained in the ‘Testo Unico in materia ambientale’ will be a delicate matter.”

by Roberto Rizzo

Conai, www.conai.org

The new objectives

Giorgio Quagliuolo

The new objectives for packaging recycling are for 65% by 2025 and 70% by 2030, out of the total weight released for consumption, with relevant sub-objectives for different supply chains (image 1). Italy should be able to reach these results easily, considering 2016 results (image 2): 8.4 million tonnes of waste have been recycled, which corresponds to 67% of the total weight released for consumption. This means that the 2025

objectives have already been achieved for the glass, paper, steel, aluminium and wood supply chains. The 2030 deadline has already been met by the aluminium and wood supply chains. All of which using current methodologies for calculation, which could be modified in the future. In fact, the revision of the directive will define common rules for all member States. In particular it will address the topics of measurement criteria and transparency in reporting, in order to allow a more uniform comparison of each nations performances. “It will be fundamental to clarify the exact measurement criteria for the flows of recycled material, that in our view should either take into account the inflow to recycling plants, or the outflow from waste handling plants, with criteria that can codify the quality of materials,” says Quagliuolo. The challenge of plastic The plastic supply chain is the furthest away from the 2025 objectives, and therefore it will be crucial to identify tools and structural measures that could generate progress. In this regard, last January the diversified contribution on plastic packaging came into force. Its objective is to: clarify which kinds of packaging are currently being sorted and recycled, facilitating their valorisation by businesses through recycling or recovery; and which kinds of packaging instead raise more recycling issues, in order to adopt specific R&S promotion initiatives like ecodesign and design for recycling. “In order to to close the loop – says Quagliuolo – it’s essential that the valorisation industry gets incoming materials of an increasingly high quality, and that’s the reason why we promote the increase in separated waste collection, accompanied by rigorous standards in the systems of collection, that can guarantee proper quality standards for recycling. In this regard the recent publication of the technical rule UNI 11686 Waste

Policy Image 1 | Objectives for 2025 and 2030 for the recycling of packaging, in total and for individual supply chains (in weight) Source: Conai.

PLASTIC

WOOD

ALUMINIUM

FERROUS MATERIALS

GLASS

PAPER AND CARDBOARD

TOT

2025

2030

Image 2 | Packaging recycling in Italy between 2014 and 2016, in total and for individual supply chains Source: Conai.

2014 %, kt

2015 %, kt

2016 %, kt

PLASTIC

WOOD

ALUMINIUM

790 kt

1,553 kt

47 kt

867 kt

1,641 kt

47 kt

894 kt

1,705 kt

49 kt

visual elements has the objective of promoting and harmonising separate collection, in Italy and beyond.” Italian recycling of packaging: a European example of excellence “As a consortium that has worked by enacting shared responsibility between the different actors in the supply chain, involving first of all packaging producers and users, we believe we can still make an important contribution” continues Giorgio Quagliuolo. “Even more so, if we consider that the new directive makes the creation of packaging waste management systems similar to ours (EPR) mandatory, on the basis of the positive results we have achieved. In the past 20 years, even thanks to Conai’s contribution, Italy has made notable progress, and become one of the European examples of excellence in recycling, especially for the recycling of waste packaging. Some of the

STEEL

72.5 336 kt

73.4 348 kt

77 .5 360 kt

GLASS

PAPER

TOT

1,615 kt

3,482 kt

7,822 kt

3,653 kt

8,216 kt

3,752 kt

8,448 kt

70.9 1,661 kt

71 .4 1,688 kt

main factors that have allowed for this success are: a clear regulatory environment, with equal rules for all players; the fact that Conai is a private and entrepreneurial body, and is therefore able to pursue its recycling and recovery objectives independently; and its non profit nature, that allows Conai to affect the whole supply chain with prevention measures.” However, Italy will have to continue investing to increase the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the areas that are still far from reaching the legally binding objectives, especially in Central and Southern Italy, where the percentages of recycling are even lower than the European average, in spite of the fact that even in these areas of the Country, good practices are continuing to increase. Bari, Catanzaro and Potenza are just some of the municipalities Conai has been cooperating with for some years, and positive results have already been reached, especially in the short-medium term.

Roberto Rizzo, scientific journalist, CEM (Certified Energy Manager) and EU Commission expert for the UN programme “Sustainable Energy for ALL” (SE4ALL) in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Plastic Route no Longer Leads East

Focus on Plastic

by Giorgia Marino

Beijing imposes restrictions on the import of recyclable waste by changing the rules of the game, both for Chinese industry and for the global waste disposal and recycling system, especially with regards to plastic waste. If on the one hand the world will have to speed up the transition towards a circular economy, on the other the plastic routes are already changing, heading towards alternative markets. A little girl plays among heaps of packaging and plastic waste coming from every corner of the world. She “fishes” for dead fish in a polluted stream, whilst sheep graze on bubblewrap in the fields. She lights a fire with bits of nylon, cooks her supper and then goes to sleep in her room, which is covered with candy wrappings and American stickers she collected from the landfill. We are in the Chinese North-Eastern

province of Shandong. Yi-Jie’s home is a small family run factory for plastic recycling, in a district that is entirely devoted to this activity; as often happens in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that divides entire areas by sectors. Yi-Jie is the main character of the documentary “Plastic China,” by the director and environmental Journalist Wang Jiuliang. Released in the autumn of 2016, after three years of work and research,

Policy the film has toured the world collecting prizes and international awards (in Italy it won first prize at the CinemAmbiente Festival 2017). It has been particularly successful in China, where it caused public indignation, and was subsequently censored by the government, as Wang himself claims. The film highlights a practice that over the years has become a true environmental and social scourge for the PRC: the import of foreign recycling waste.

In 2016 the numbers reached 50 million tonnes of imported recoverable materials, including paper, iron, steel and other metals. 7.3 million tonnes of this is plastic, almost half of which come from Europe and the rest from the United States, Korea and Japan. “To date, China has welcomed around 56% of the plastic that has been thrown away by the rest of the world,” points out Liu Hua, a Chinese activist for Greenpeace East Asia.

“Plastic China,” Wang Jiuliang, www.youtube.com/ watch?v=v0Kif9cugQ0

Graduated from the University of Turin in Communications, Giorgia Marino – freelance journalist web/social editor – writes about culture, innovation and environment. She was the director of Greenews.info and now writes for various magazines, including La Stampa.

renewablematter 21. 2018 After becoming the planet’s factory, China has now quite quickly turned into its landfill. However, China no longer wants to play this part. The image of little girls running on mountains of imported rubbish doesn’t go down well with President Xi Jinping’s glossy green New Deal. After all, as Greenpeace itself confirms, the issue of plastic pollution has been a priority in Beijing’s political

agenda for a while. “The country – explains Liu Hua – must already deal with the growing amount of waste produced at home, 3,5 million tonnes of which are thrown into the sea every year. A number that will continue to increase, considering that the pro capita consumption of plastic in China has skyrocketed in the last years, thanks to the growth of consumption powered by the Middle Class, and to the expansion of food and drink home delivery services.”

The Sword of the Nation and the New Standard Therefore, it took only a few months to approve new regulatory measures that put stringent limits on the import of waste materials from abroad through stricter standards. The restrictions, that have been communicated to the World Trade Organization, include 24 of the most polluting types of solid waste, including domestic plastic products, non-differentiated or mixed paper, textile waste and various other types of waste. At the end of April, the Beijing Ministry of the Environment announced that new restrictions will be added in December 2018 and December 2019, in the context of a progressive plan to “clean” the flows of waste reaching Chinese soil. The ban on household and municipal waste came into force on January 1st 2018, whereas the new standards for impurities in industrial waste were implemented on March 1st. “Actually, the main problem – adds Liu – especially for what concerns plastic, is that imported materials were often low quality and of little value”: highly “impure,” and therefore more polluting. In other cases, the real problem lies in the intrinsic characteristics of the materials. Such is the case of pvc, that releases dioxin into the environment. Then there is the problem of composite waste, including bonded paper, plastic and aluminium materials, that are very difficult to recycle; especially when taking into consideration the low level of technologcy in family run plants like the one that is portrayed in Wang Jiuliang’s film. It must be stressed that for decades international quality standards (those already in force) have not been a main concern of the Chinese market, especially when importing waste from abroad; and of course the same can be said of the Countries exporting that very waste. Rapid industrial growth in the PRC required raw materials and there was no time to split hairs. When production increased, China found itself with a bigger domestic stock of materials to be recycled. At the same time it had to face growing pressure from public opinion on the issue of industrial pollution. Two aspects that, already at the beginning of 2017, brought Beijing to introduce more stringent rules on containers carrying waste from foreign countries, that were then carefully (and theatrically) inspected, making use of x-ray technologies to guarantee compliance with quality standards.

The National Sword, as the control campaign has been named with the usual rhetorical aplomb, struck international exports. Within a few months this developed into the far more stringent restrictions that were then announced to the WTO. Therefore, China put itself first, and as usual it did so without wasting time: from one day to the next, wrong-footing the international community and the global system of disposal and recycling, that has always (and excessively) relied on the possibility of sending its waste to the Far East. “The new thresholds on the levels of impurity are so low that they often act as an actual import ban” declared Arnaud Brunet, general manager of the Bureau of International Recycling (the international federation for the recycling industries based in Brussels), a few months ago. When interviewed by Renewable Matter in February, Brunet explained that: “Initially, China wanted to set the threshold at 0,3%, but then agreed to increase it to 0,5% for almost all materials.” BIR had also asked for a 5-year transition period to allow a gradual adjustment of the international system “but this request hasn’t been taken into account at all.” First consequences What will happen now? The first foregone consequence is a decrease in the import of waste

Precious Plastic: is the future of recycling open source? Plastic is precious. This is not an obvious thing to state, since its market value (that made it the disposable material par excellence) does not reflect its extraordinary characteristics of resistance, durability and versatility, as well as its environmental costs that make it openly unsustainable. Therefore, the 30 year old Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, named his ambitious project to encourage do-it-yourself recycling of the worlds most wasted and misused material: “Precious Plastic.” His mission is to give everyone access to tools for recovering waste plastic and creating various objects to sell (tableware, pots, tiles and even climbing holds). This idea was born in 2013 and has its roots in the makers’ world, feeding on the culture of bottomup sharing and innovation that is characteristic of digital artisans. However, if 3D printers, considered the hallmark object of the makers’ global community, need special and often expansive raw materials; Hakkens’ machines are created from a circular economy perspective, making use of what is already available. In less than 30 square meters, the small “Precious Plastic” workshops contain the entire recovery and processing system, and can be installed anywhere. Moreover, they have an

educational and narrative function: they summarise and show the whole recycling process, which is usually confined in structures that are not accessible to the public, and in this way normalise the process and make it available to everybody. There are basically three kinds of machines: shredders, that grind plastic waste; machines that warm up the material, turning it into a malleable paste; and extruders that are used to create shapes with a constant section, an example of which could be a pipe. All the schemes and tutorials to build these machines are open source and available on the project’s website. There’s also a forum to ask for help and advice, and an on-line platform that shows products or parts of machines that have already been built. Finally, it offers an interactive map that localises the members of the community all over the world. Having started in Holland, there are now hundreds of members coming from countries such as South Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Kenya and Thailand. A prèt-à-porter technology, low cost and potentially replicable by everybody. Hakkens’ vision, if adopted in developing countries, could become an important element for the future of recycling.

preciousplastic.com

renewablematter 21. 2018

materials (or exports, depending on the point of view). In December, Brunet announced an expected 80% decrease in plastic waste export to the PRC. However, what initially seemed like a catastrophic prediction is proving to be an optimistic one, considering the data published by Beijing in April. If during the first three months of 2018 a shy and strictly monitored flow of plastic waste was still crossing Chinese borders (about 10.000 tonnes, according to the Ministry of the Environment), after the entry into force of the new standards in March the government has triumphantly announced that plastic waste import has been reduced to zero. First of all, this will impact the Chinese recycling industry. Liu Hua explains that “It’s likely that the whole sector will face an increase in the cost of waste, and at the same time it will have to deal with a shortage of raw materials. Small, family run plants will suffer the most from the stress caused by this change.” The same stress will hit small and medium enterprises worldwide (and not only them) if, as Brunet fears, “a solution isn’t found quickly.” Alternative routes For some the solution lies in the search for alternative markets. The plastic route is already changing, heading towards South-East Asia, where the Chinese manufacturing industry is relocating. BIR’s most recent estimates, published in January by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, seem to confirm this trend. For example, annual imports of plastic waste in Malaysia skyrocketed from 288,000 tonnes in 2016 to 450-500,000 tonnes in 2017. During the same period imports have grown by 62% in Vietnam, by 65% in Indonesia and by 117% in Thailand. Brunet confirms that “In fact, these countries are expected to absorb at least part of the volume of waste materials that were once destined to China, but in any case they are very far off its capacity.” The question remains as to whether they are sufficiently equipped

Policy

“In any case – says Liu Hua – relocating the problem is not going to solve it. Moving waste to another part of the world can’t conceal the fact that we are producing much more plastic than the planet can cope with. The Chinese ban could be a good starting point to reorganise our model of consumption towards a decrease in waste of resources.” Speed up circularity Europe aims to rethink the entire production and consumption system in an increasingly circular perspective. At least this is the intention, that has been reaffirmed in the recent “Strategy for plastic in the circular economy,” where, willing or not, the Commission had to take Chinese decisions into account. Every year 26 million tonnes of plastic waste

are generated in the European Union, and at the present time less than 30% is collected for recycling. More or less half of this 30% (around 7,7 million tonnes) is sent abroad, mostly to China, where 85% of European exported plastic waste ends. Now, the situation will have to change and as the authors of the EU document write, with a certain dose of optimism, “this could create opportunities for the European recycling industry.” The problem, which is not an irrelevant one, is the low demand for recycled plastic by European industry. The Directive states that: “The use of recycled materials in new products is low, and often limited to low-value or niche applications. The uncertainty over market opportunities and profitability keeps investments at a distance. Yet these investments are essential for the growth of Europe recycling capacities, and to promote innovation.” However, “the shrinking of the export routes for recyclable waste will make the development of a European market for recycled plastic even more urgent.” The Dragon’s fast moves could force the Old Continent into a change of pace.

to control and manage the plastic waste flux (some illegal) that presumably will flood these countries. Some are already fearing similar if not worst problems than those that have been experienced by China.

Relocating the problem is not going to solve it. Moving waste to another part of the world can’t conceal the fact that we are producing much more plastic than the planet can cope with.

GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF

PLASTIC (year, million tonnes)

In Depth

infographics by Michela Lazzaroni, text by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

2013 299 WHO PRODUCES THE MOST (%, 2013)

2005 230

66 11

22 77 55

.1%

1. China 24.8% 2. Europe (EU27+CH+NO) 20% 3. NAFTA 19.4% 4. Rest of Asia 16.4% 5. Middle East, Africa 7.3% 6. Japan 4.4% 7. Latin America 4.8% 8. CIS 2.9%

37.3%

EU28+NO/CH

by country

WASTE TREATMENT OF POST-CONSUMER PLASTICS (2016)

12.9

in ten years

11.3

+ 61%

8.4

+ 79% - 43%

(mt)

Recycling Energy recovery Landfill

7.0

4.7

7.4

In Depth

2014 311

2016 335

2015 322

DEMAND FOR PLASTIC IN EUROPE (%, 2013) Germany 25.4%

Italy

14.3%

ESTIMATED YEARS FOR BIODEGRADATION Styrofoam cups

Aluminium cans

France 9.7%

7.6%

Spain

All others

7.5%

35.5%

Plastic bottles

450

200 Timeline Nappies

450

Switzerland Austria Germany Netherlands Sweden Denmark Luxembourg Belgium Norway Finland Ireland Estonia Slovenia UK France Portugal Italy Czechia Poland Slovakia Spain Lithuania Hungary Romania Latvia Croatia Bulgaria Cyprus Greece Malta

Countries with landfill restrictions

Fishing lines

600

Where Does it Come From Europe hosts at least half a million landfills, where our consumer society sweeps plastic â&#x20AC;&#x153;under the carpet.â&#x20AC;? Although many of these are managed flawlessly, many others will become a deposit for waste materials and represent a high risk of pollution, that will take hundreds of years to degrade. These sites, that occupy 6,000 square kilometres of land, keep being filled with non-biodegradable materials: 37% of European waste plastic ends up there. But the situation is changing, and the percentage of sorted waste is growing. In the rest of the world the percentage of plastic destined for landfills is on average above 60%. In many countries this is still an alternative to dispersion in the environment, which is widespread where there are no waste management systems. Sources: PlasticsEurope (PEMRG), 2016 and 2017 Report; NOAA / Woods Hole Sea Grant.

renewablematter 21. 2018

Focus on Plastic

The Solution is Circular

ecoBirdy ©Luca Piras

by Elena Comelli

In the next 10 years the production of plastic is set to grow by 40%, making plastic an increasingly global issue. In the meantime, the EU is introducing the new Strategy for a more circular management of plastics, bolstering recycling and encouraging the growth of bioplastics.

Elena Comelli is a business reporter specialising in energy and clean technology. She collaborates with various Italian newspapers, including Il Corriere della Sera and Il Sole 24 Ore.

When Daniel Webb opened his storage room, where for a whole year he had collected his plastic waste, a mountain of 4.490 bags, packaging, wrappings, containers, bottles, cups, cutlery, toothbrushes and other objects came pouring onto him. From then on, at the beginning of 2018, he started classifying all his waste, and discovered that 93% of it consisted of disposable containers, of which 63% was food packaging. Only 8 pieces in his collection were made of recycled plastic. He sorted and took pictures of this mountain of waste. The picture was then displayed as a mural where it remained as a warning against the decline of civilisation until May 21st in Margate, a lovely sea side resort in Kent. In the meantime, the British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has decided to deal with a “worrying” trend, whereby Millennials eat ever less meat because they don’t like touching it. They therefore invented a special type of plastic packaging, that allows consumers to cook the meat by sliding it directly onto a pan without having to touch it. The next step will be a skinless banana wrapped in transparent film, to avoid having to peal it. Daniel’s project, called Everyday Plastic, further confirms that we live in the age of plastic. If plastic has certainly improved our daily life

in all kinds of ways, at the same time it has imprisoned us in a sea of waste and micropollution. According to a recent study by the American universities of California and Georgia, 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 50s, when plastic became a massproduct. Researchers estimate that this mountain will grow to 34 billion tonnes by 2050. In the last five years the main petrochemical corporations have invested 159 billion euros in 318 new facilities that will lead to a 40% increase in the production of plastic from fossil fuels within the next decade. Of this enormous amount of plastic only 9% has been recycled so far, and 12% has been burnt in waste-to-energy plants, whereas 97% contributed to polluting the environment through dumping in landfills or in the sea. This study – without a doubt one of the most complete in the history of the material – estimates that half of these 340 million tonnes of plastic produced every year, turn into waste after less than 4 years of use, whilst plastic bags are used on average for only 20 minutes. Furthermore, this will continue to be the status quo, considering that growth in production is spearheaded by disposable containers and bottles. Comparing this data to those on other ubiquitous materials like steel or concrete is depressing: “More than half of all the steel that is produced is employed in construction,

Plastic waste produced and mismanaged Norway Canada EU 27 plus Norway

United Kingdom

Ireland United States

Denmark Sweden

Belgium France

Cuba Haiti Dominican Republic Puerto Rico Guatemala Honduras Trinidad and Tobago Nicaragua El Salvador Venezuela Costa Rica Guyana Panama Colombia Ecuador

Netherlands Germany Poland Croatia

Russia

Ukraine

North Korea

Turkey China Japan Syria Iran South Lebanon Cyprus Pakistan Korea Tunisia Israel Hong India Morocco Kuwait UAE Kong Taiwan Algeria Libya Saudi Arabia Egypt Bangladesh Myanmar Oman Vietnam Philippines Yemen Senegal Thailand Ghana Malaysia Nigeria Sri Lanka Cote d'Ivoire Somalia Singapore Spain

Portugal

Mexico

Finland

Italy

Greece

Papua New Guinea

Indonesia

Angola

Peru

Brazil Mauritius Chile

Uruguay Argentina

Australia

South Africa

New Zealand

Coastal population Plastic waste production Million people Thousand tonnes per day, 2010 Less than 1 37 1 to 2 Total plastic waste produced 2 to 10 10 10 to 50 50 to 263 1 Portion of plastic Land locked country 0.2 mismanaged

Mural by the Sea, www.muralbythesea.co.uk

Source: Jambeck, J., R., et al., Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean, Science, 2015; Neumann B., et. al., Future Coastal Population Growth and Exposure to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Flooding – A Global Assessment. PLoS ONE, 2015.

and is therefore used for decades. With plastic it’s the other way around,” states the author of this study, Roland Geyer from the University of California in Santa Barbara, “More than half of all plastic materials become waste after a very short time, from 2 days to 4 years.” The marine ecosystem is the most badly affected. In a previous study the same team calculated that 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the sea each year. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, by 2050 seas will contain more plastic than fish. And experts are warning that plastic is already making its way through the human food chain, starting with tap water. The highest contamination rate for water (94%) has been found in the United States, according to a study by Sherri Mason, a microplastics expert from the State University of New York in Fredonia. Basically all the water that comes out of American taps is polluted with plastic fibres. India is next in line. In Europe the situation is slightly better, but the percentage of polluted

water is still as high as 72%. It’s not clear how all this plastic ends up in drinking water. However, according to researchers the most likely explanation is that microplatics are suspended in the atmosphere due to the daily wear and tear of synthetic materials, and are then carried by rain water where they end up in lakes and rivers. Another 2016 study, performed by the University of Paris-Est in Créteil, discovered that 3 to 10 tonnes of microplastic fall over Paris every year, polluting the city’s air and water. “We believe that lakes and rivers have been contaminated by weather inputs” says Johnny Gasperi who conducted the study, “What we have observed in Paris demonstrates that a huge amount of fibres are present in the atmosphere.” Furthermore, research by the University of Plymouth has shown that almost a third of fish caught in the United Kingdom are contaminated with microplastic. Those who eat fish regularly ingest up to 11.000 plastic fragments a year, according

renewablematter 21. 2018 Images in this article show Ecobirdy recycled plastic objects designed by Joris Vanbriel and Vanessa Yuan. A project that was co-funded by the European program COSME, that combines the creation of furnishing objects for children with specific activities and educational supports. We will talk more extensively about this in one of the next issues. www.ecobirdy.com

1. As anticipated, on January 16th 2018 during the presentation of the European Strategy on Plastic, on May 28th 2018 the European Commission announced a Proposal for a singleuse plastics directive. The directive aims at reducing the use of some kinds of disposable plastic, forbids certain plastic products in the EU (like cotton buds, forks, knives, spoons, sticks, plates and straws), and promotes the design of plastic products with a lower environmental impact.

to the conclusions of a study by the University of Grand. The European Authority for Food Safety has drawn attention to the need for a study on the effects of microplastics on the human organism (which remain highly speculative), especially when â&#x20AC;&#x153;considering the potential of pollution due to microplastic in commercial fish.â&#x20AC;? What are the alternatives? On the one hand, increasing the recycling of existing nonbiodegradable plastic as much as possible, in order to get rid of the need to produce more of it. On the other hand, substituting traditional plastic derived from petrol with bioplastic derived from renewable raw materials, that today represents only 1% of the annual world production of plastic: only 4 million tonnes of the 340 million tonnes of plastic produced. In Europe, the strategy adopted by the EU Commission at the beginning of this year aims at recycling all plastic packaging by 2030: an ambitious goal if we consider that of the 26 million tonnes of plastic waste produced

annually in the EU, only 30% is now recycled. Moreover, a significant part of this percentage is exported to external markets like China (that has recently announced a crackdown on the import of plastic waste), and only 6% is used in the production of new plastic in Europe. This value loss represents a cost for the European Union Economy amounting to 100 billion euros. The urgency to create a market for reclaimed material is therefore apparent. Nowadays, the market is highly constrained by a series of limitations that the new EU directives are trying to overcome. At the end of March, the European Parliament Committee on the Environment published a draft resolution, that will form the basis for the European directives on the matter.1 The rapporteur, the Belgian Conservative MEP Mark Demesmaeker, thinks of the document that has been published in Brussels in January as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a step forward towards the transition to a sustainable management of plastic,

Policy

2. On May 2nd 2018, the European Commission introduced the new multi-annual budget draft for 2021-27. A new way to finance the European Union will take the form of a fee on non-recycled plastic that, according to some estimates, could bring 2 billion euros to the Union’s coffers, and discourage the production of non recyclable plastic.

and towards a circular economy,” but he is worried that “voluntary actions might not be enough” to encourage the industry to use recycled plastic. Therefore, the Parliament is thinking of introducing “compulsory rules on the percentage of recycled content for specific products” and lowering VAT for companies who use more recycled plastic then others.2 “The Chinese ban on the import of plastic waste offers the EU a huge opportunity for accelerating the process. We must make use of this momentum to invest and innovate” says Demesmaeker, who identifies three important obstacles that need to be overcome. “It’s clear that raising the quality standards will be essential to stimulate the market of secondary plastic materials. At the moment there is a discrepancy between the quality of recycled plastic materials and the quality needed for the functionality of certain products” says Demesmaeker. Even the new rules on the extended producer responsibility, established in the revised legislation on waste, could play an important role: “To really push the market in a given direction, we need a clear commitment from the major players in the sector, like in the case of Danone’s commitment to reach 100% recycled plastic bottles for Evian water by 2025. It will be very interesting to see how the big players will start matching their company’s image with a sustainable and circular business

model,” foresees Demesmaeker. Procurement and design for circularity are a third important building block to develop the market of recycled plastics. Demesmaeker points out that, “A Green Deal on circular public contracts is now in force in Flanders. It was launched with the establishment of the platform Circular Flanders, and inspired by a previous case in The Netherlands. This successful example shows the importance of public and private procurements to stimulate innovation in business models.” The European parliamentarians’ recommendations, focus on designing products according to circular economy principles, creating a European market for recycled plastic materials, curbing and preventing plastic waste production, and promoting bioplastics. To support a transition towards the circular economy, the European Parliament “considers that civil society should be able to oblige companies to assume their own responsibility.” The Commission should “make ‘circularity above all’ a general principle, even for plastic objects that are not packaging,” suggests the European Parliament. The draft outlined at the end of March asks for this notion to be incorporated in the New Deal for Consumers, which is currently in preparation. It’s the first step in the direction of a direct involvement of the European production system in the fight against plastic pollution.

renewablematter 21. 2018

Focus on Plastic

Plastic Europe Interview with Karl-H Foerster

Marine litter, excessive and useless plastic packaging, difficulties in recycling, and over-consumption of resources are all aspects that put plastic in a bad light. We talked about these issues with Karl-H Foerster, Executive Director of PlasticsEurope. by Sergio Ferraris

What is the role of plastics today? “If they did not exist, modern society would have to invent them to ensure a sustainable future. The reason plastics are the go to material in so many different areas, is that they combine high performance with an efficient use of resources. From a purely economic point of view – plastics save costs. In terms of versatility and capacity for innovation – plastics are best placed to respond to a wide range of emerging technological needs. From a sustainability perspective, plastic applications provide significant environmental benefits in a variety of different areas, such as: packaging, the automotive industry, electric and electronic equipment, building and construction, household goods, leisure and sports equipment, and in agriculture.” Only advantages? “However, with these numerous benefits come

substantial challenges. Furthermore, with these challenges come responsibilities, particularly for us in the plastics industry. These responsibilities range from ensuring reliability in our products, to driving innovative solutions for plastic waste. At PlasticsEurope, we promote the sustainable use of plastics on behalf of our members. In doing so, we work together with different stakeholders to identify how plastics can best respond to major societal and policy challenges.” Plastic is currently under attack. We are confronted with marine litter, excessive use of packaging, and low rates of recycling; all of which disturb public opinion. What is your answer? “We believe that the unique characteristics of plastics mean that they have a major role to play on the road to a more sustainable and resourceefficient future. First and foremost, waste

Policy

Sergio Ferraris, director of QualEnergia.

containing plastic must be recovered to avoid it ending up in landfills unnecessarily or, worse still, littering the environment. PlasticsEurope’s objective is to contribute to the goal of reaching zero plastics in landfills. This can be achieved by thinking about the entire lifecycle of plastics and emphasising circular economy solutions. It requires collaborative and concerted efforts, by all stakeholders, to improve waste collection, pre-treatment, sorting, recycling and energy recovery. The European Commission’s Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, presented by the European Commission in January 2018, is an ambitious effort to ‘make recycling profitable for business, curb plastic waste, stop sea littering, drive investment and innovation,

Karl-H. Foerster has over 30 years’ experience working in the chemical and plastics industry, holding various executive management positions including Vice President at Polymer latex and CEO of Neochimiki Group. He is currently the Executive Director of PlasticsEurope.

PlasticsEurope, www.plasticseurope.org/ en Plastics 2030 Voluntary Commitment, tinyurl.com/yc6hbhy3

and spur change around the world.’ Also, in January 2018 PlasticsEurope published the ‘Plastics 2030 Voluntary Commitment,’ which sets out a series of ambitious targets to be met by 2030 and outlines future initiatives that will be undertaken by the industry in partnership with others. It focuses on three key areas: increasing re-use and recycling, preventing plastic leakage into the environment, and accelerating resource efficiency. Plastics need to be responsibly managed throughout their lifecycle. We must prevent them from escaping into the environment by enforcing proper waste management, mindful product design and responsible behaviour. While most of the plastics that litter the environment are post-consumption, some of this litter is industrial, such as resin pellets that pollute rivers and oceans. In general, pellet loss containment is part of any company’s environmental management system.

However, to give additional priority to this topic and engage with the value chain, PlasticsEurope and its members have been actively promoting good plastics stewardship practices through the Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS) initiative, since 2011.” What results has this initiative achieved? “Currently, nearly 70% of PlasticsEurope members to whom OCS is applicable have signed the OCS pledge, including the largest plastics producers and all Steering Board members. By volume, this covers the vast majority of plastic production in Europe.” In this framework what does the plastic industry do about innovation and R&D? “PlasticsEurope has committed to work towards a more sustainable, circular and resource efficient economy and believes that innovation is the key to achieving this. For instance, a competitive industry will strengthen investment in innovation, thus promoting and developing new recycling technologies in their broadest sense (including sorting), putting in place proper waste management infrastructures in Europe, and promoting responsible consumer behaviour.” How does this relate to European industry in advanced recycling and bioplastics? “On top of producing materials which enable things like significant energy savings, plastics producers continuously pursue resource efficiency objectives in their own operations. This is obtained through high quality installations and environmental management systems. Plastics producers also endeavour to increase energy efficiency in production and to use lower carbon emitting energy and feedstock where competitively available and sustainable. Renewable and natural gas are possible examples of feedstock which can be used as a lower carbon emission raw material. In the long run, innovation for the use of alternatives to carbon sources, be it CO2 as a feedstock, plastic waste or renewable raw materials, will effectively contribute to improving the resource efficiency of plastics raw material production. We also commit to conducting a study on plastics in the circular economy, focusing on the increase in use of alternative feedstock by 2019. Based on the outcome of this study, appropriate recommendations for action will be formulated, aiming at minimising environmental impacts.”

Cleaning Our Oceans? No Lack of New Ideas by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Institutions, political bodies, partnerships and ordinary citizens are all developing programmes to clean up seas and rivers, thus protecting the ocean ecosystem and community wellbeing, whilst also ascribing economic value to marine litter.

1. European Commission, Our Oceans, Seas and Coasts.

Over the past few years, a trending environmental issues has been that of marine litter. It is a problem affecting many countries around the world. Contrary to what usually occurs, marine litter is not caused directly by industrialised countries, but rather by industrialising ones. According to The New Plastics Economy report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, only 2% of marine litter stems from Europe and the United States.

2. Jambeck et al. ‘Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean.’ Marine Pollution. 3. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics.

Reducing the total amount of marine litter meets several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): in particular Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and Goal 14 (Life Below Water). According to the European Commission, 80% of plastic in the oceans comes from land, whereas only 20% originates from water-related activities.1 Dispersion of plastic and other materials into the sea is often caused by lack of infrastructure. Hence, it is imperative that the relevant facilities for waste management be developed and made

accessible, especially in South East Asia and China. Recent research suggests that Asian countries are responsible for 80% of ocean litter.2 Therefore, improving infrastructure and waste collection facilities in countries most responsible for marine litter is the best solution. However, while infrastructure is being improved and positive practices are being defined, we need to reduce the current amount of marine litter. Not an easy feat, especially when considering estimates that suggest that the sea will contain a greater mass of plastic than fish, by 2050.3 Currently, many programmes to help us change course are being implemented. These range from the UN Global Partnership on Marine Litter, to Marine Litter Watch (MLW). The latter involves a model – which includes a mobile app – developed by the European Environment Agency, combining citizens’ participation with modern technologies so as to narrow the information gap on marine litter found on beaches: an important aspect for

The Ocean Cleanup

Focus on Plastic

Policy

The Ocean Cleanup

Photo by Matthew Chauvin – The Ocean Cleanup

EEA, “Marine LitterWatch in a nutshell,” 2015; tinyurl.com/ybsze67f

Boyan Slat –The Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup, www.theocean cleanup.com

Rendering – The Ocean Cleanup

Plastic Samples – The Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup One of the first people to engage in a large scale clean-up of the ocean was the Dutch 23-yearold Boyan Slat. When he was barely 19 he gave up his studies in engineering so as to embrace The Ocean Cleanup, an initiative that focuses on developing the necessary technology to clean up the ocean. After years of research and millions of dollars spent (since 2013 The Ocean Cleanup foundation has collected a staggering 27 million euros) there is now a network of long floating barriers that behave like a man-made coast, and allow natural ocean currents to concentrate plastic, thus simplifying collection. Following the first prototype in June 2016, by mid-2018 the first fully operational system in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (the largest ocean waste island: a stockpile of debris made up almost entirely

UN, Global partnership on Marine Litter; tinyurl.com/yboxvndt

Photo by Matthew Chauvin – The Ocean Cleanup

the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Separately from actions by institutions and political bodies (including local political entities, foundations and international organisation), there are countless initiatives by ordinary citizens, European partnerships and multinational corporations that all share the common goal of keeping plastic out of our oceans and seas. The survival of the ocean’s ecosystem, the health of marine species and the wellbeing of seaside communities that rely on seas and oceans are not the only aspects at stake. In actual fact, all of mankind is put at risk by marine litter. Recovering and turning marine litter into environmental and economic value is the next step that companies and projects around the world are taking to solve the problem. Of course, it is a longterm solution. As many activities have only just started, the actual results will only be noticeable in the long run.

renewablematter 21. 2018 4. Schmidt, Krauth, Wagner ‘Export of Plastic Debris by Rivers into the Sea,’ Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017. pubs.acs.org/doi/ abs/10.1021/acs. est.7b02368

of plastic waste, and located between Hawaii and California, author’s note) will be launched. A full scale deployment of The Ocean Cleanup system, could clean up to 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years.

5. Our Ocean took place on 5th and 6th October 2017 in Malta and #BlueInvest of last 17th May 2018 in Brussels.

Next Wave was created with the aim of intercepting plastics on key ocean-bound waterways. In fact, it is estimated that 88-95% of plastic in oceans comes from only 10 rivers.4 Next Wave also aims to create the first crossindustry commercial-scale global ocean-bound plastics supply chain, by processing materials collected from river and coastal areas and making them available for use in the products and packaging of partner companies.

Next Wave

©Interface

©Dell

©Interface

The Ocean Cleanup

6. EuropeanCommission, Strategy for Plastics.

Next Wave, www.nextwaveplastics.org

The companies that contributed to creating Next Wave – an initiative that is now managed by the American incubator Lonely Whale – include multinational corporations such as Dell Interface, General Motors and Herman Miller; all of which have operated within the circular economy for a number of years. The companies involved benefit both socially and economically, since supply chain security is accompanied by high social and environmental standards. Last December, the first product stemming from the project was presented: an ergonomic office chair manufactured with almost two kilos of recovered plastic and devised by the founding partners Bureo and Humanscale. In the next 5 years, the consortium intends to intercept over 1.5 million kilos of plastic and nylon fishing gear, the equivalent of 66 million bottles of water, that would otherwise end up in our oceans.

The research scientist and project partner of the department of Ocean Operations and Civil Engineering at the Norwegian University, Dina Margrethe Aspen, claims: “Even though a great deal has been done to eliminate the problem of ghost nets, a lot can still be achieved through enhanced collaboration amongst industrial players, governmental agencies and research institutes. We believe that interaction amongst stakeholders is key to establishing such collaboration. What is lacking at the moment is an action plan leading to efficient management of resources in fishing gear. Such plans should prioritise a variety of actions aimed at eliminating, reducing or reverting the flows of equipment being abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded; thus ensuring the recovery of as much material as possible.”

Ghost Fishing Greece – Healthy Seas

Many institutions are involved in the transnational project, including: The Environmental Research

Institute, North Highland College UHI (Scotland), Macroom E (Ireland), The Centre for Sustainable Design, University for the Creative Arts (England), Arctic Technology Centre (Greenland), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway).

Circular Ocean, www.circularocean.eu

Healthy Seas Healthy Seas has been operational for a few years now and has had a noticeable impact on the market. It also deals with the issue of ocean waste as a menace to marine biodiversity. Healthy Seas was created through a European joint venture of fishing companies, NGOs, governments, companies and communities involved in recycling, production and recovery. It collaborates with fishermen and local communities to prevent waste generation and increase sustainability in the sector. At the moment, there are three pilot projects in the North Sea, the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, all of which are very important regions for tourism and biodiversity, whilst being massively over-exploited for fishing. Fishing nets which are left unused are recovered, cleaned and turned into secondary materials. These are then used by the Italian company Aquafil to create Econyl®, a nylon yarn made with 100% regenerated waste materials used for swimwear, sportswear, underwear and even carpets.

Healthy Seas, healthyseas.org

Healthy Seas

The European Union is also taking a closer look at the problem of waste in oceans and seas. Recent conferences on the issue5 and the Strategy for Plastic adopted last January6 are proof of it. EU-funded projects pursuing innovative and sustainable solutions for plastic marine litter include the Circular Ocean project. Developed in the Northern Periphery and Arctic Region (NPA), the project encourages companies and entrepreneurs to develop new products and experiment eco-innovative solutions, generating income by recovering materials that are discarded by the fishing industry. Furthermore, Circular Ocean aims at quantifying the environmental impacts of lost or abandoned fishing nets in the area.

Circular Ocean

renewablematter 21. 2018

Focus on Plastic

Despite Brussels, the Market for Bioplastics Keeps Growing by Mario Bonaccorso

Mario Bonaccorso is a journalist and creator of the Bioeconomista blog.

Today only 1% of the plastic produced worldwide is of organic origin. However, the market is growing and it covers many sectors: from packaging to electronics, cars, textiles and agriculture. The big players in the chemical industry and companies that focus on biobased products want a share of the pie. We can already find it in shopping bags, in many vehicle components, in toys and in food packaging. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bioplastic. Plastic that is not derived from oil but, in different percentages, from organic sources. According to a survey conducted by the European association of bioplastic producers, nova-Institute for European Bioplastic, its market is going to experience a 20% increase over the next five years. The German research centre estimates that the total yearly production of bioplastic will increase from 2,05 million tonnes in 2017 to 2,44 million tonnes in 2022. Today, less than 1% of the 320 million tonnes of plastic produced every year worldwide is of organic origin, but demand is destined to grow thanks to the development of increasingly sophisticated and innovative biopolymers. These are mostly PLA (polylactic acid) and PHAs (Polyhydroxyalkanoates), but also biopolymers that make use of corn-starch like Mater-Bi or Bioplast, with which biobased and biodegradable plastics are produced. The largest portion of this growing pie is being disputed between big chemical companies like Basf, Braskem and Total-Corbion. However, there are also companies getting involved that are totally focused on bioplastic, like the Italians Novamont and Bio-on, the American

NatureWorks, the German Biotec, the British Biome Bioplastic and the Dutch Avantium, that have created a joint-venture called Synvina with BASF. The dissemination of bioplastic involves many different sectors, including: packaging (in 2017 60% of the total production of bioplastic, around 1.2 million tonnes, was employed in this sector), catering, consumer electronics, the automotive industry, agriculture, toy industry and textiles. The new biobased polymers Bioplastic growth is driven mainly by PLA and PHAs. The former, whose production capacity should see a 50% growth by 2022, is a very versatile material, suitable for many different applications, from packaging to fibres. According to experts its very high performance specifications make it an excellent substitute for polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) for more demanding uses. For example, ABS is the kind of plastic used to produce the popular LEGO bricks, yet the Danish toy manufacturer has announced that by 2030 it will produce its toys using bioplastics only. On the other hand, PHAs are an important family of polymers that have entered the market more

Policy

recently, and whose production capacity has the potential to triple in the next five years. These polyesters are 100% biobased, biodegradable and have a wide range of physical and mechanical properties. Today 56% of the world’s bioplastic production capacity (1.17 million tonnes) consists of biobased plastic that is non-biodegradable, including the so-called drop-in solutions like biobased polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyamides (PA). The nova-Institute survey estimates that the production of biobased polyethylene will continue to grow as new facilities with a higher productive capacity become available in Europe. Instead, investments will shift from PET to PEF (polyethylene furanoate), a new polymer that should enter the market in 2020. PEF is similar to PET but it’s 100% biobased and shows higher thermal and barrier properties, making it the ideal material for drink and food packaging. It is no coincidence that in 2011 the Dutch company Avantium, responsible for developing PEF, singed a commercial partnership with Coca-Cola. Another material that will enter the market before 2020 is biobased polypropylene (PP). PP has a high growth potential thanks to its wide range of potential applications in different sectors. Finally, there is biobased polyurethane (PUR): an important group of polymers with huge

What are biopolymers Biopolymers are polymers prepared through biological processes that guarantee a highly biodegradable final product. They can be extracted from renewable materials of plant origin, like starch and starch mixtures, or they can be produced through chemical synthesis, using biological and renewable monomers such as polylactic acid (PLA) or polyester. On the other hand, Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are reserve polymers synthesized by bacteria to store carbon and energy. They can be found inside bacterial cells, accumulated in the form of granules.

Mater-Bi shares some characteristics and properties with traditional plastics, but at the same time it’s biodegradable and compostable, under European rules.

production capacities and a consolidated market that, thanks to its versatility, should grow faster than conventional PUR. The big players One of the biggest producers of biopolymers in the world is the Brazilian group Braskem, whose product portfolio includes polyethylene resins (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), as well as basic petrochemicals like ethylene, propylene, butadiene, chlorine, benzene, toluene etc. As of 2010 this South American company has become a world leader in the bioplastic market, thanks to the development of a product called “I’m Green.” This is polyethylene produced from renewable sources (derived from sugar cane), and is the result of cooperation between Campinas State University (Unicamp) and the São Paulo State Research Foundation (Fapesp) for the promotion of research on biopolymers and polymers from renewable resources, which started in 2008. Another company operating in the USA is NatureWorks, a joint venture between the US corporation Cargill and the Thai company PTT Global Chemical. NartureWorks has its headquarters in Minnesota, and markets monomers and biopolymers called Ingeo; these are derived from 100% natural renewable resources. They claim that: “In the production of Ingeo (a PLA polymer) we save 60% of greenhouse gas emissions and use 50% less non-renewable energy compared to traditional polymers such as PET or polystyrene.” Ingeo’s main uses include filaments for 3D printing, durable items, films, paper coatings, cups and food packaging, fabrics, wet wipes, disposable materials and base materials for many chemical compounds. In Europe the PLA market involves a joint-venture between the French oil giant Total and the Dutch chemical company Corbion. Total Corbion PLA is building a polymerisation plant in Thailand, with an annual capacity of 75,000 tons. The opening is scheduled for the second half of 2018, and the plant will produce an entire range of clean PLA resins under the brand Luminy: ranging from standard PLA to specific heat-resistant PLA. “In the fast-growing bioplastic market – says Stéphane Dion, CEO at Total Corbion PLA –

renewablematter 21. 2018 Bioplastic in the circular economy According to the European Commission, every year citizens in the Old Continent generate 25 million tonnes of plastic waste, of which less than 30% is collected for recycling. Only 5% of the value of plastic used for packaging stays in the economic cycle, whereas the rest is lost after a very short first-use life. This means that every year the bill amounts from 70 to 105 billion euros. Last December, this enormous amount of waste pushed the European Commission to introduce its own strategy for plastic in the circular economy, establishing clear objectives to reduce plastic waste, increase resource efficiency and generate employment in Europe. However, European Bioplastics complains about the lack of a unified and global approach on the issue of plastic, pointing out that all the attention is focused on mechanical recycling. According to the bioplastic producers’ association “concrete steps towards the reduction of our dependency on fossil fuels,

European Bioplastics, www.europeanbioplastics.org

by connecting the circular economy with the bioeconomy and supporting innovative solutions based on biobased plastics, have been further delayed: the contribution of biodegradable plastic to the circular economy has been recognised, but real measures are still missing.” “Plastics obtained from renewable resources are a sustainable alternative to many plastic products” claims François de Bie, president of European Bioplastic. “If on the one hand, increasing the content of recycled plastic is important to reduce that of virgin raw materials, on the other the use of alternative sustainable raw materials, such as biological raw materials, must be encouraged in order to free the economy of fossil fuel derived plastic.” Therefore, the European bioplastic discourse is ongoing. The next step is for the European Commission to introduce a new strategy on the bioeconomy before next October, as an update to the one that was launched in February 2012.

our new company is committed to offering an innovative and versatile material, that will be biobased and biodegradable, and will guarantee added value to customers and contribute to a more sustainable world, for us and for future generations.” The German corporation from Ludwigshafen, Basf, has also been looking into this market with interest. They are engaged in research and manufacturing of compostable biopolymers from renewable resources, and have already launched the bioplastic Ecovio. Ecovio is certified compostable according to international standards and at the end of its use life can be sent to industrial composting plants. Basf declares that “When subjected to the characteristic conditions of composting plants, Ecovio undergoes a process of biodegradation thanks to microorganisms, and in a few weeks it becomes compost and can be used to improve soil fertility.” The main areas of use, for this made in Germany bioplastic, are bags for the collection of organic waste and shopping bags. Moreover, since it meets EU requirements for materials in direct contact with food, it can have many other uses such as paper and cardboard coating, disposable cups, plates, or even food containers and plastic films used for “mulching” in agriculture. Further proof of Basf’s interest in bioplastic is Synvinia, the joint venture created in 2016 with Avantium to produce and market furandicarboxylics acid (FDCA) from renewable resources (fructose derived from plants), and polyethylene furanoate (PEF), whose constituent element is precisely FDCA, and has better barrier

properties (for retaining gasses like carbon dioxide and oxygen) than conventional plastic materials. Its use can therefore guarantee a longer durability of packaged products, and hence is ideal for the production of food and beverage packaging, for example plastic films and bottles. Moreover, PEF can be recycled after use. Bio companies Alongside the chemical based corporations participating in the multifaceted world of bioplastics, there are a few companies that can be defined as genuinely biobased realities, such as Novamont and Bio-on, Biome Bioplastics and Bioplastic. Novamont has its roots in the Montedison School of Materials Science. In the 80s this school created the Fertec research centre, with the aim of integrating chemistry and agriculture, and contributed to Novamont becoming a leading industrial reality in the field. The bioplastic developed by Novamont, under Catia Bastioli’s leadership, is marketed under the brand name Mater-Bi. Mater-Bi is derived from OGM free corn starch and plant based oils that are grown using traditional farming techniques in Europe. Mater-Bi has characteristics and properties of use that are similar to traditional plastics, whilst remaining biodegradable and compostable according to European regulations. The Italian based company from Novara, underlines that this “allows for an optimisation of the management

Policy of bio-waste and reduces its environmental impact, contributing to the development of virtuous systems with relevant advantages along the whole production-consumption-disposal cycle.â&#x20AC;? Another Italian based company, this time coming out of Bologna, is Bio-on. Since its beginnings in 2007 Bi-on has been extremely dynamic. It operates in the sector of biotechnologies applied to commonly used materials, creating products and solutions that are either derived from 100% renewable resources, or obtained from agricultural waste. The company led by Marco Astorri, develops a bioplastic that is based on PHAs biopolymers and can have multiple industrial applications: from plain packaging to food packaging, to design objects, clothing and vehicles, as well as cosmetic and biomedical uses. Bio-on, which started purely as a technology provider, announced the construction of a production plant in Castel San Pietro Terme, near Bologna, just last year. This new facility will produce special 100% natural and biodegradable PHAs polymers, that will be used mainly in the cosmetic industry.

the stomach of termites, and that can break down lignin in a way that allows for the production of sustainable plastic polymers. In contrast, Biotec was born in the far-off 1992. Beginning as a Research and Development company it has now become one of the main players in the bioplastics market. This German company, from Emmerich am Rhein, owns more than 200 patents and deals with the development and production of sustainable bioplastics from renewable plant sources. Their bioplastics, which are of both flexible and hard varieties, can be applied to a series of products, from garbage and shopping bags to medicinal capsules, blister packaging for the food industry or cosmetic packaging. Currently Biotec produces a new generation of customised thermoplastic materials with various functional properties and 100% biodegradability, under the brand name Bioplast.

Novamont, www.novamont.com Bio-on, www.bio-on.it/index.php Biome Bioplastics, biomebioplastics.com Biotec, en.biotec.de

Biome Bioplastics was born in 2007 thanks to a British Biome Technologies initiative. The Southampton based company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and managed by Paul Mines. Under his leadership they have created and marketed a new bioplastic made from the lignin contained in the waste pulp produced by paper mills. This new ecological plastic is extremely resistant to high temperatures, biodegradable and compostable. It makes use of a specific substance (synthesised in laboratories) that can be found in

Interview

by M. B.

We Need to Identify a Coherent and Integrated Path Giulia Gregori, strategic planning and institutional communication manager at Novamont S.p.A.

What are the possible applications of Novamont Mater-Bi and what will its next developments be? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mater-Bi is a family of bioplastics obtained with plant based raw materials that are totally biodegradable and compostable. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s used in a wide variety of applications where, thanks to its characteristics, it can contribute to solve specific environmental problems such as pollution and the consequent disposal of organic waste in landfills. These include: bags for separate organic waste collection, bags for take-away and for fruit and vegetables, food packaging, cutlery for big events and canteens. Another sector in which bioplastics

play a fundamental role is agriculture, due to the fact that they biodegrade in the soil without releasing toxic substances and compromising fertility. There are also other specific applications where the risk of accidental release in the environment is very high, like in fishing gear. Over the course of time we have dedicated our research to the progressive increase in renewable raw materials content in Mater-Bi, with a logic of integration at the base of our technologies. We continue to work in this direction. We also work towards constantly improving the technical and environmental performance of our products,

renewablematter 21. 2018 and widening the range of possible solutions, aiming especially at applications that are related to food packaging.” How does bioplastic fit in the circular bioeconomy paradigm? “Mater-Bi bioplastics fit in the circular bioeconomy paradigm because they contribute to increasing the quantity and quality of organic waste collected, which then becomes compost for fertilising soil, hence closing the carbon cycle. Moreover, circularity is not applied exclusively to the product, but to the whole development model that is based on the concept of territorial regeneration. In fact, we promote the use of plant based raw materials that require a low input, are grown on marginalised land and that can be used up entirely, minimising waste. We apply our proprietary technologies in the re-industrialisation of former productive sites, contributing to the creation of new value and employment, as well as the regeneration of entire areas from the economic, social and environmental point of view.”

forward in the direction of a more efficient and sustainable use of resources and towards a shift from a linear economic model to a circular one that is free from waste. However, in order for this strategy to contribute efficiently to the achievement of these ambitious targets, a coherent and integrated path for bioplastics has to be identified, acting on aspects like: the definition of the sectors bioplastics can bring advantages to, identifying tools that can improve market conditions, and enhancing the dissemination of biodegradable and compostable food packaging.”

What is your assessment of the Strategy on plastic in the circular economy introduced by the European Commission? What do you think should be modified or integrated? “The Strategy on plastic could represent a step

Interview

by M. B.

The EU Must Acknowledge the Value of Bioplastics Mariagiovanna Vetere, Global Public Affairs Manager at NatureWorks

www.natureworksllc.com

What makes PLA different from other kinds of bioplastics today? What developments are you working on? “Ingeo, the PLA (polylactic acid) we produce, is a fully biobased and compostable polymer. It is different from other polymers because of its extreme versatility, and therefore has several potential areas of application, from fibres and packaging, to filaments for 3D printing. We are also working on the development of fibres with a high absorption capacity that when used in diapers (in the top layer that is in contact with the skin), lower the risk of allergic reactions and irritations significantly.” How does bioplastic fit into the circular bioeconomy paradigm? “Bioplastic, thanks to its adaptability to multiple end of life solutions, from recycling to composting and anaerobic digestion, is perfectly compatible with circular economy principles. One example is the life cycle guaranteed by composting, where

the use of bioplastics fosters the separate collection of organic waste, increasing the production of compost and improving soil fertility. I can’t think of a better circularity than that of carbon when it’s captured by plants, transformed into bioplastic and finally returned to the soil and the atmosphere to nourish new plants.” What is your assessment of the Strategy on plastic in the circular economy introduced by the European Commission? What do you think should be modified or integrated? “The Strategy on plastic is an ambitious proposal: it deals with the subject from different angles and offers many interesting solutions. However, it only focuses on traditional plastic recycling, neglecting the importance of composting in the circular economy. Lastly, once again there’s no clear connection between bioeconomy and circular economy, and therefore no acknowledgement of the value of plastics from renewable sources.”

Policy Interview

by M. B.

PHAs: High Performance Biopolymers Marco Astorri, Co-founder and CEO of Bio-on

What are PHAs, and what makes them different from other bioplastics? “Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biopolymers with thermo-mechanic, physical and rheological properties that are superior to those of other bioplastics, and enable high performances and new applications. They represent a wide class of thermoplastic polyesters that include more than 100 polymers produced from different starting monomers, with a very wide range of properties. We are therefore talking about an easily processable technological platform that guarantees properties comparable to those of conventional plastics; both those derived from petrol, such as polypropylene (PP), and from gas, like polyethylene and others. PHAs are derived entirely from natural sources through fermentation processes using waste (residuals and other by-products from different agro-industrial sectors), as raw matter and not food like other biopolymers; guaranteeing not only compostability, but also a complete and natural biodegradability in water and soil. Moreover, their great advantage is that they are biocompatible and bioabsorbable by the human and animal body, and this opens them up to a massive and interesting variety of fields of application.” What are the applications you are working on? “With Minerv BioCosmetics we are developing a program aimed at substituting polymers in cosmetic

formulations, an extremely promising sector where PHAs can take a leading role. Recently, we have also presented a project for fertiliser coating (U-COAT), that contributes to: the development of biopolymers for the production of glasses; the Minerv Supertoy program for new formulas for toys; BioRemediation to clean hydrocarbon from the sea; and MinervBiomeds that aim to substitute contrast dye and aid the development of theranostics. Many other applications are reaching the final stage of development, and in the next few months we will illustrate their new and revolutionary uses.” What is your prediction for the bioplastics market and what are your next steps going to be? “In general we think that the polymers market will grow significantly. Demand is constantly increasing, and the recent controversy over oil derived plastic has fuelled demand even further. Bio-on is always more devoted to developing the market for special applications, that has very promising numbers and characteristics, and requires high quality performances that PHAs can guarantee.”

renewablematter 21. 2018

The Cemetery of Cannibalised Refrigerators In Europe, and even worse in Italy, most waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) ends up on the black market, which in turn is highly influenced by the price of raw materials such as iron and copper. The brunt of environmental and social costs caused by illegal disposal are carried by all citizens. by Antonio Pergolizzi

Antonio Pergolizzi, PhD, is a journalist and expert on environmental issues. Since 2006 he has coordinated the writing of the report Ecomafia, Legambiente.

Legambiente, “I pirati dei Raee” (WEEE Pirates); www.legambiente.it/ sites/default/files/docs/ raee_dossier_i_pirati_dei_ raee_02.pdf

The picture of a cemetery for refrigerators – cannibalised and discarded in an abandoned industrial site just outside Rome, a stone’s throw from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli – perfectly describes the effect of today’s circular economy black market piranhas. They feast on anything valuable (compressors and metals) and spit out the rest (the polyurethane body and refrigeration gases), wherever they find room. In 2013 alone, Rome’s Municipal police discovered around thirty sites like this. And, its not just Rome: in other areas of Italy – such as Modena – more than fifty were identified. In this orgy of waste traffickers, WEEE is undoubtedly one of the most desirable types of waste. Why? It has a high intrinsic value, legal systems for its management struggle to intercept it due to the countless channels through which it passes, and because of the impressive and increasing quantities we continue to produce. According to the most reliable estimates, in Europe we produce between 9 to 10 million tonnes of WEEE per year. In contrast, according to the WEEE Forum (the international association that unites Europe’s main e-waste producer responsibility organisations), only 3.5 million tonnes are collected per year. The rest ends up on the black market. In Italy, things are even worse: WEEE going through informal channels exceeds 65%. According to Lega Ambiente’s dossier “Pirati dei Raee” (WEEE Pirates), published in collaboration with Centro di coordinamento Raee in 2014 (Centre for the coordination of WEEE), in Italy, about 74% of WEEE ends up in illegal markets and between 2009 and 2013, nearly 300 illegal WEEE dumping sites were discovered. Striking data that unfortunately seems to be confirmed by other figures. For example, the surprising coincidence between 2016 figures for WEEE seized by police at Italian border controls (due to illegal exporting), and the quantity of WEEE collected by the Italian municipality network in the same

period (Ispra 2017). Incredibly, the two figures match perfectly and amount to approximately 235 million tonnes. This does not mean that all WEEE collected by Italian municipalities ends up being exported illegally, but rather that there is a black market, equalling the official one and swarming with WEEE piranhas. Furthermore, this doesn’t even take into account the amount of WEEE circulating in distribution supply chains, which is actually the majority. In addition, the figures for 2017 do not add up and WEEE amounted to over 38% of waste seized by the Italian border protection agency. The drain continues. Perhaps, in order to understand how the black market operates, we must briefly describe how the legal system works in Italy. The chosen model of governance is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) where manufacturers/retailers are directly responsible for collecting end of life products. To comply with this requirement, manufacturers usually create consortiums (private law entities) which then become the main actors in ensuring the proper functioning of the legal mechanism. In the WEEE sector, as many as 15 consortiums were set up, thus making it necessary to create a WEEE Coordination Centre (Cdc Raee), which is mainly in charge of coordinating the individual entities, while becoming a point of reference for the entire network. Who funds the EPR system? The famous eco-contribution paid by consumers when they buy a new product. Since there is no legal requirement for municipalities or dealers to give WEEE to collective Systems, this has practically led to the creation of at least two markets: one managed by Cdc Raee and one managed privately, where only market rules apply. This is because both municipalities and retailers can sell their WEEE to the highest bidder (as long as they have a WEEE treatment authorisation). While the Cdc Raee System (despite its many bottle necks along the supply chain) can offer some degree of supply chain traceability

Policy and an annual census on collected and treated quantities, the same cannot be said for channels operating outside this system, which, in all likelihood, represent the largest market share. As Giorgio Arienti (Ecodom DG and Cdc Raee President) explains, “When consumers buy a new fridge, 9 times out of 10, they throw the old one away – it is a replacement market – but Collective schemes, members of Cdc Raee, only receive 5. The same is true for washing machines, where only 3 out of 9 are intercepted. Which begs the question, where do these home appliances end up, and above all, in whose hands?” The truth is that in this sector there are too many famished sharks, both on the supply and demand side, trying to systematically hide the costs of treatment processes. If on the one hand, WEEE sent on by businesses and Municipalities to be handled by the Cdc Raee System is regulated by public national programme agreements stating, for instance, that for each tonne of Category 1 waste (large household appliances cold and non cold) handed over to collective systems by waste municipalities and retailers, they receive €50, and €100 for each tonne of Category 2 (Small household appliances); on the other, it is very difficult to know the economic agreements and extent of compliance with environmental regulations, guaranteed by those operating outside this system. One thing is for sure, the illegal market thrives in the loop-holes of legal models and it is heavily influenced by raw material price trends on the international market. For instance, when the price of iron or copper increases, flows to Cdc Raee (and vice versa) decrease in accordance, while those on the free (and also illegal) market increase.

Steel: comparison between the amount collected and price fluctuations Source: Ecodom, 2017. 6,000

350

Quantity collected (left) Iron price (wright)

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As Italian customs officers and police know only too well. One last observation on municipalities’ waste collection systems. They are often the victims of raids, on their communal recycling centres and depots, that are carried out to feed illegal markets. In fact, it is not rare to see groups of people loitering outside communal recycling centres to spot potential customers even before they enter the site. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that companies operating legally experience shortages of materials to process. And, what about the eco-contributions paid by citizens and consumers? Collected by businesses, they are then paid to manufacturers and then passed on to collective systems to fund the share of WEEE they manage. Whereas remediation activities and social and environmental degradation caused by illegal disposal, are paid by all citizens, with no exception Probably, a shortfall in the general system of governance is down to the lack of synergy between the management of Municipalities and distribution systems. They do not communicate with each other and each of them goes their own way, even passing the blame onto each other. This has led some European countries to understand that this is where the problem lies. Thus, thanks to particularly willing administrations, some network initiatives have been put in place to intercept as much WEEE as possible (especially small items that are difficult to catch) and meet the EU’s ambitious collection targets (65% by 2019). In Germany, in the Saxony-Anhalt Region, and more precisely in Halle (Saale), they have attempted a mixed waste collection system, integrating traditional collecting centres (consignment model) with mobile units for the collection of hazardous waste (collection model) and 34 depots for containers to intercept very small WEEE items (consignment model). Together with the extension of operating hours for consignment in collection centres (open 80 hours per week, when the average in Germany is about 60), this synergy has boosted the collection performance. Similarly, in the Swedish town of Gävle, roughly 200 km north of Stockholm, they have “seen the light” enlarging collection points in all shops and signing agreements with the Coop network. Good communication with citizens, more frequent emptying of containers, and guaranteed fast and efficient collection from retailers, by paying a small contribution (about €20), has done the trick. Public and private sectors teamed up: in 2013, over 1 tonne of small electrical and electronic devices ended up in the Municipality’s virtuous network, preventing them from finding their way into informal channels. Small examples of strategic forward thinking serving the community and a win-win situation thanks to networking; that leaves only waste thieves behind. While in Italy they continue to thrive.

Bamboo Makes a Comeback

It grows fast, adapts to different climates, and is good for the environment and soil where it grows. A versatile, light and resistant material, bamboo can be used in construction and design as an alternative to scarce and costly raw materials.

by Veronica Ulivieri

Bamboo is a giant grass species that belongs to the Gramineae family. It shares the family characteristic of rapid growth rates, growing even faster than trees.

The Anjan Bridge in China is one of the oldest in the world and up until a few decades ago was entirely made of bamboo. Only at the end of last century were the bamboo canes replaced with steel cables. However, this practice is destined to become a trend of the past. Thanks to its rapid growth in different climates, its low input farming requirements and positive effects on the environment, bamboo is considered by many to be the new “green gold.” In a world of industry that is undergoing a biobased transition, bamboo is a perfect alternative to other scarce and costly raw materials that make up productive cycles. Bamboo also represents a valuable development opportunity for emerging tropical countries, as these have some of the most suitable climates for its growth. In Africa and in Latin America bamboo is often considered the “wood of the poor,” but things are slowly changing. According to Michael F. Ashby, a scientist at Cambridge University and author of Materials and the Environment, in the next 25 years demand for raw materials will grow by nearly 3% annually. At the same time, many of these very materials

will become ever more scarce: such is the case with exploitable deposits of metals such as lead, copper, and zinc which won’t last more than another 25 years. Increasingly, production cycles will have to be fed by renewable materials that are also capable of capturing CO2, rather than generating huge amounts of emissions during extraction and use. In fact, in order to honour the commitments taken on at the Paris Climate Change Conference, industry will have to be at the forefront in cutting emissions. “Within the contest of an emerging biobased economy, alternative plants, especially those with rapid growth such as bamboo, hemp, flax, algae, miscanthus, cork, but also different species of algae and fungi (i.e. mycelium) will have an increasingly important role to play.” These are the words of Pablo Van der Lugt, a Dutch engineer and one of Europe’s top experts on the new green gold, and author of the book Booming Bamboo. The (re)discovery of a sustainable material with endless possibilities. According to McKinsey, in Europe alone a circular economy model could cut total raw material consumption levels for 2015 by one third by 2030, and halve them by 2050.

World Bamboo is a giant grass species. It belongs to the Gramineae family and like its relatives its growth rate is even higher than that of trees. In less than 3 years, bamboo canes lignify and can be harvested after just 5 years from the sowing of the seeds. Hence, in very little time the canes are ready, and can be used in various sectors where rigidity and sturdiness are paramount: first amongst these the construction sector. “Bamboo doesn’t need herbicides or pesticides, it is a low-cost crop,” explains Omar Pandoli, who has been studying bamboo cane engineering for several years as a researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University in Brazil. Its fast growth rate guarantees a good rate of return without the risk of deforestation. In fact, in a sustainably managed plantation 1/4 of bamboo canes can be harvested each year, without compromising the survival of the entire forest. Moreover, in many cases bamboo is used to reforest degraded areas in China and India due to its network of roots which have the characteristic of revitalising soil. “Despite the fact that commercial plantations can use pesticides and fertilisers to increase production, their use is not required and it is not a common practice (unlike wood tree plantations),” continues Van der Lugt. Bamboo’s carbon performance is also noteworthy thanks to its negative CO2 footprint. “In applications where it can replace high CO2 emission materials (metals, plastic, tropical

wood from unsustainable sources), bamboo can drastically reduce CO2 emissions. If this replacement effect were included in future climate agreements, it would become a further incentive to adopt durable bamboo and other biobased products in the construction sector.” Moreover, on top of absorbing huge quantities of CO2, bamboo can restore productivity in degraded soil and increase the yield of land used for other crops, bringing considerable economic benefits for developing countries. While in China and India bamboo has been used for millennia and represents a well-established and widespread tradition, in other countries its potential has been appreciated only recently and much more slowly. Brazil is a case in point, where the story of the rediscovery of bamboo intertwines with that of Khosrow Ghavami, an Iranian Professor in Engineering who joined the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro where he studied bamboo’s potential. “He was a pioneer and was able to demonstrate that bamboo could replace steel in combination with concrete. Back then, this was a heretical idea,” explains Professor Pandoli, at the Chemistry Department of the Brazilian university. Pandoli arrived in Brazil in 2012 after studying in China. At the university, he “reunited” with bamboo and decided to go and see Ghavani. “This is how my research on what Ghavani

Veronica Ulivieri, journalist, mainly deals with economics and enquiries on environmental issues. She writes for, amongst others, Repubblica Affari & Finanza, La Stampa and Il Fatto quotidiano. it. In 2015 she won UGIS prize – Union of Italian scientific journalists.

renewablematter 21. 2018 calls super nano bamboo started: engineering bamboo canes so as to fill the tiny cavities with nanoparticles, improving performance and resistance to biological attacks.” Another line of research that is catching on in Brazil is that of improving traditional concrete performance by adding vegetable fibres, including bamboo-derived cellulose. Meanwhile, a centre for the promotion of bamboo has been created in the State of Minas Gerais. In fact, in Brazil bamboo is also rallying through design. For instance, Alexandre Montenegro and Henrique Gomma

(Fubbá Smart Objects) have created a round table made entirely from bamboo. It is one of the objects carried around the world by Apex (Brazilian Export Agency) to promote Brazil’s creative industry. The two designers claim that: “We decided to use bamboo because it is a renewable and ecological raw material, very resistant, and last but not least, easy to clean. Bamboo is 30% lighter than wood but it is much more flexible and versatile. It is water resistant, pleasant to the touch and its use doesn’t harm the environment.” Montenegro and Gomma are winning one of the most complex challenges in the employment of bamboo: that of finding high added-value uses that are economically rewarding for those employing it. In 1984, in his The Book of Bamboo, David Farrely explored over 1,500 uses for this material, from medicinal extracts to flooring, and from aircraft panels to paper. The Chinese model is the winning one, whereby every part of the plant is used; reducing waste to a minimum. In the past, bamboo handicraft items were sold all over the world very cheaply and this did not help its status as a material for design objects. However, while on the Anjan Bridge bamboo was being replaced with steel trestles, thanks to “green gold,” degraded Chinese lands are made productive once again and Brazil embarks on its rediscovery. A new story has already begun.

Vegetal Steel Bamboo can become the new steel. Khosrow Ghavami, Iranian engineer and professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, has demonstrated this since the 1970s with his studies. Colombian architect Simón Vélez also agrees. He designs buildings, mainly in rural areas, and often employs this multifaceted material. Velez’s guiding principle has been that of “vegetarian architecture.” He claims that: “There is an overdose of mineral based materials in the construction industry, especially in Third World countries.” In contrast the transition to renewable materials could cut costs and increase environmental sustainability as well as creating more resistant buildings. Over three decades ago, Vélez discovered a technique with which to transform bamboo into a sort of “vegetal steel,” making it stronger than metal by injecting concrete into the bamboo

canes’ cavities at structural joints. The Colombian architect has already designed over 200 buildings in Europe, the USA, South America and Asia. Many of them employ bamboo. Green gold has convinced many designers around the world, especially since the spread of high temperature treatments that make this material suitable for outdoor use in facades and flooring. This includes the patented treatment called Bamboo X-treme. In Oslo (Norway), the Bo-og retirement home was one of the first buildings where heattreated bamboo was used for a facade on a large scale. In Beer Sheva (Israel) bamboo was used to pave and cover a 180-metre-long bridge, connecting the university to the area beyond the train station. In Leipzig’s zoo (Germany), thousands of bamboo canes were used for the facade of the new garage, combining sustainability with a touch of exoticism.

Bamboo is 30% lighter than wood but it is much more flexible and versatile.

World

IN SINGAPORE the Air-con Runs as a Service

Over the last few decades increased affluence, urbanisation and a rise in global temperatures have all led to air conditioning becoming an essential commodity. Kaer, a Singapore based company, has reacted to this trend and pioneered the â&#x20AC;&#x153;air-con as a serviceâ&#x20AC;? model (ACaaS) where you gain access to air conditioning and a cool environment, without having to deal with the problems inherent in ownership. by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Everything started around eight years ago when Kaerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO, Justin Taylor, sat down with the chairman and senior directors to begin a conversation on how to innovate the company and generate added value for its customers. Kaer, founded in 1993, had more than thirty different product lines on the market, all of which related to air-cooling, green buildings and energy efficiency. The objective of this conversation was not to simply create cheaper alternatives or gain a larger market share, but to address key issues the company was facing. In fact, what they realised was that: while building owners work in collaboration with consultants, contractors, and suppliers, they are the only ones responsible for the air-conditioning in their buildings. However, the priority of building owners and their clients is not to own airconditioners, but rather to have fresh air. From this simple realisation AcaaS was born. In the years that followed the company went through a complete restructuring and created

an entirely new division, called asset management. This new and revolutionary division, where today more than 50% of Kaer employees work, is in charge of looking after customers and making sure they have working air-con at all times. Researchers and engineers work to establish ways with which to provide better air distribution, better comfort, and better indoor air quality. In turn, the asset management division endeavours to truly improve the lived experience of its customers, the clients of the customers, and of all the end users of the buildings for which they provide ACaaS. In the last few years Kaer has installed its ACaaS in data centres, food processing plants, educational facilities, offices, and even shopping malls. They have reached over 25 thousand RT (refrigerator ton, the unit of power to measure air-con consumption), cooling more than 5 million square feet of space. While the company is active in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and India,

renewablematter 21. 2018 the ACaaS service is currently offered only in Singapore and India. The building owners who choose ACaaS are given the environment they want and the temperature they choose. However, as the provider of the service, Kaer takes full responsibility for supplying and maintaining the air conditioning system; and thus a comfortable office space. While there are some companies that use the service model to sell chilled water, Kaer is the only one that provides air conditioning as a service, revolutionising the sector. Utilising the product as a service model, Kaer has shifted the responsibility of reducing energy consumption away from building operators and owners and taken on the task of optimising air-conditioning systems. With this business model building owners pay for a cool, comfortable space with no upfront costs and are simply charged a fixed monthly fee or a pay-as-you use $/RTH rate (dollar per refrigerant ton hour). In this way, Kaer is faced with the apparent

paradox of applying a business model that lowers demand for the very product it sells, which they solve ingeniously by using a price structure where savings made are shared with the customer. Therefore, paying a fixed monthly fee or per RT used to get a comfortable environment, also makes sense for building owners as they can outsource to Kaer all the operative tasks and maintenance, including electricity, and repair bills. A true win-win circular solution.

Utilising the “product as a service” model, Kaer has shifted the responsibility of reducing energy consumption away from building operators and owners, and taken on the task of optimising airconditioning systems.

Although, it makes even more sense in countries like Singapore and India, where air conditioning is used all year round, and considering the fact that in many countries in Southeast Asia buildings are the biggest energy consumers; the product as a service model could be a global solution to the increased energy demands dictated by the rise of air-con as an essential commodity. In the interview with Dave Mackerness we address some of these issues.

Interview

by A. I. T.

A Model that Unites Business with the Environment Dave Mackerness, Business Development Director at Kaer Pte Ltd

How did customers react to the shift towards air-con as a service? “In the beginning, they thought we were absolutely insane because we were doing something that nobody had done before. There was a long gestation period before we got some traction. The clients were sceptical about trying a new model, even though the engineering side was the same, we used the same air conditioning equipment, and the same way of running the system. The business model was completely different. We are moving towards a world where building owners don’t own the equipment anymore. This is a big step, because they need to trust and rely on a company that runs the service. There is a real need for a change in mind-set. Many people were not very receptive. So, instead of going to customers that would benefit more from the model (which is what companies would usually do), we looked for people who wanted to do things differently, people who believe in the same things we believe: like outsourcing and doing things differently. The traction came from the people with a different mind-set. After we got the first 5, 10, 15 customers we started to get noticed

by the big real estate developers and now even by the big fund managers.” Why should building owners shift to air-con as a service? “We believe we run our air conditioning systems better than anybody else. This means building owners get less complaints from their tenants for being too hot or too cold and also less breakdowns. We track our deliverables every second of every day and the tenants are getting a better level of service. Reliability is fundamental for data centres and manufacturing facilities. Also, there are levels of improvement in the service that are inherent within the business model. Air-con as a service covers and provides huge benefits for the building owners: like not having to put CAPEX (Capital Expenditures) in a non-core activity or not taking a business risk. This is a massive benefit.” What was – and still is – the main challenge in the shift from ownership to service? “The most difficult thing was the mind-set. It is a no-brainer model, product as a service is a great model and gives the customers a better performance. I spoke with many people. Everybody liked the model, but everybody was scared to

World every morning our CEO gets an update on how much energy we are saving or using and how we can improve. Our business is completely linked to how much energy we save. We even developed an artificial intelligence platform, which is the only one in the world that can autonomously optimise air conditioning systems.”

Kaer, www.kaer.com

move to a place where they didn’t own their equipment. The challenge is having the customers on board and the rest will follow. I can understand the fear. I had the same fear, as a music lover, when I switched to Spotify it completely changed my experience, but the shift wasn’t easy. It took me 3 or 4 years. But when I eventually changed, I was blown away by the experience. It totally changed the way I listened to music. With Kaer Air we are providing that same transformational change with the same ‘product as a service’ model. We are transforming the way building owners create experiences for their customers.” The companies that offer Air-con as a service carry a huge responsibility as this service also runs on high energy consumption levels. How do you deal with this? “The other winner of this model is the environment. You don’t need to convince building owners of the business sense behind saving the environment. With this business model nobody has to care about the energy consumption apart from Kaer. Because 40% of the cost of delivering air-con is energy, every second of every day we have a strong financial incentive to make the system more efficient. Whether you care about the environment or not is irrelevant, it is a business decision. Everybody cares about the environment, but many won’t spend money on saving it, or won’t compromise their lifestyles to help it. The beauty of this business model is that Kaer makes more money if it saves the environment. The business’ profits and positive environmental impacts are directly linked. Having recognised this, we now have a performance director and

Therefore, the future lies in service and not ownership? “Absolutely, yes! Like Spotify and other companies are showing, people don’t care to own the music, they just want to listen to it. There are many examples currently demonstrating the power of the product as a service (PaaS) business model. Another fantastic aspect of PaaS is the democratisation of best. Usually, for every product 5% of the market goes for a cheap price and a poor product. On the other hand, 5% of the market goes for an expensive price and a brilliant product. But most people choose what sits in the middle. Therefore, only 5% of the market is actually getting the best available product, knowledge and performance. With Kaer Air we deliver the same service to every single one of our customers. As a testament to this model the most energy efficient and high performing system in Kaer’s portfolio is a shopping centre which currently runs on one of the most efficient systems in the world. It is even more efficient than our government or iconic projects. Lighting as a service, solar as a service, and air conditioning as a service will allow the other 95% of buildings to access the best technology, design thinking and know how for the exact same price. I think that a shift to PaaS in Singapore will allow us to make 70-80% of buildings ‘green,’ very quickly.” What do companies need in order to adopt a PaaS business model? “First of all, you need to have the confidence and ability to deliver the service. You need the capital and you need to be able to build the best systems. We invest a lot of time and money in people and tools to run the system efficiently. When you sign a 15 year contract you need to be really sure that you will run the system efficiently, otherwise it can have a massive impact on your profits. For us this represents the main challenge. We are also in the right place at the right time because in Singapore air conditioning is used 12 months a year. Convincing our board and team to pursue this new model was easy because it was better for our customers. We didn’t try to invent something that allowed us to sell more products. We listened to what our customers were telling us and the business model was the obvious solution.”

renewablematter 21. 2018

Trash 2 Cash In Europe, over 3 million tonnes of textile fibres are thrown away each year. To put a stop to such waste the EU Trash-2-Cash project zeroes in on regeneration, recycling and new materials. by Silvia Zamboni

Every year the European Unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 28 member States discard over three million tonnes of textile fibres. A serious instance of waste that damages both the environment and the pockets of consumers. To reverse this trend, the EU has launched

World

Trash-2-Cash, www.trash2cash project.eu RISE – Research Institutes of Sweden, www.ri.se/en

Silvia Zamboni is a journalist specialised in energy and environmental issues. She has authored books on good practices of the green economy, mobility and development.

the “Trash-2-Cash” project. The EU has allocated almost €8 million – out of a total budget that is just short of €9 million – and involved eighteen partners from ten different countries: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey; including professional partners such as researchers, eco-designers, and representatives of companies supplying raw materials and manufactured textile goods. The project aims to steer the textile industry towards the sustainability model provided by the circular economy, through solutions offered by eco-design and development of recycling methods for textiles, so as to enable the creation of new fibres with a high environmental and economic performance. “Clothes that we dispose of and raw materials that are lost in production processes are precious resources that we cannot afford to waste,” highlights Emma Östmark from RISE, the Research Institutes of Sweden. “Trash-2-Cash gives us the opportunity to put a stop to such waste.” The research focuses on two types of fibre: polyester (both 100% pure or mixed with cotton) and cellulose (contained in cotton, in polylaminates or manufactured). The study focuses on the properties of materials and the establishment of environmentally-efficient processes of regeneration for cotton, as well as recycling techniques for polyester fibres. Furthermore, new sustainable textile materials are being created for haute couture, interior design and the car industry, so that they can be tested in a context of real production processes. At the core of the team effort is the production of new regenerated fibres from waste. However, no less important is the initiative to improve R&D methods, by exploiting the innovative potential of eco-design; namely “Design-Driven Materials Innovation.” A sort of design legacy so that other eco-designers may follow in the footsteps of Trash2-Cash, bringing together scientific research and industry into a productive dialogue. If collaboration is the buzzword dictating relations amongst partners, “consumer needs” are a beacon guiding them towards their final goal: developing recycling techniques that produce new textile fibres which can meet the needs of consumers. “The new fabrics created within Trash-2-Cash – explains Rebecca Earley from the University of the Arts in London – will be obtained from waste and designed to be used extensively and appropriately before being recycled.” In November 2018, after a 42-month voyage, Trash-2-Cash will reach its destination. Only then will we be able to evaluate the effectiveness of this pioneering adventure, that aims to give a sustainable future to many textile protagonists in our everyday lives. Of particular interest will be how Trash-2-Cash influences the clothing industry, where compulsive and rampant purchases fuelled by the buying habits of consumers in Western and emerging countries, are having an ever greater impact on our future.

renewablematter 21. 2018

What is Plogging?

Cleaning Whilst Running

When running is good for both your body and the environment: that’s when you are plogging. This activity, that is already very popular in Sweden and has been practised for the past four years in Italy, is now spreading across Europe. by Maurizio Bongiovanni

2018 will be the year of plogging. In fact, it is only this year that the term has been adopted internationally to indicate the practice of collecting waste whilst jogging. The word “plogging” comes from the Swedish verb “plockaapp,” that means to pick up. It has been used in Sweden since 2016 to describe runners armed with gloves and bags

that clean roads and parks from abandoned waste, combining physical exercise with respect for the environment. Plogging has become popular thanks to Instagram. In the last two years more that 4.000 pictures have been posted with the hashtag #plogging, hand in hand with an increasing

World number of campaigns worldwide focusing on the prevention of marine litter. Plogging is attractive because it’s easy: all you need is your running gear and a plastic bag. Running and squatting to pick-up rubbish from the ground makes one feel fit and useful for the environment at the same time.

Clean Marathon. The format is the same as the Italian run: two eco-athletes, Albert Bosch and Nicole Ribera, run a marathon a day for 7 days with the objective of collecting as much waste as possible. Both the Italian and the Spanish initiative are part of Let’s Clean Up Europe, a European Community campaign to involve local citizens in clean up actions.

In Italy Roberto Cavallo, environmental activist and expert on waste, cottoned on to this idea and started the “Keep Clean and Run” initiative. Covering three regions in Northern Italy, he ran more than a marathon a day collecting litter and meeting people in schools and local councils, from high up in the mountains to down by the sea. “The idea was to focus people’s attention on the phenomena of littering, focusing on mountain and sea ecosystems, raising awareness on the fact that 70% of sea pollution originates inland,” explains Cavallo. After three editions of the run in Italy, and a documentary on the subject by the Italian film-maker Mimmo Calopresti, in 2018, “Keep Clean and Run” became “Keep Clean and Ride,” where Cavallo rode his bicycle for 1000 kilometres, collecting litter from Bari to Padova, along the Adriatic coast and inland.

With regards to Northern Europe, plogging is spreading to Sweden’s neighbouring countries: Denmark and Finland. Already popular for his “higgy,” meaning the pursuit of happiness through simple daily actions, Denmark has promptly adopted this initiative. For example, in the city of Næstved the local running club organises weekly runs in the forest to collect litter. “We use social media to coordinate and to report the presence of waste, and then every Tuesday we organise a run to collect it,” says one of the organisers, Klaus Christian, to the local television ØST. Today more than 2500 Danes have joined the Facebook group TrailSkrald: “We noticed there was a lot of rubbish where we run” explained the group co-founder Kenneth Andersen. “Instead of blaming other people we decided to use our hands and actually to do something about it.”

2015, Roberto Cavallo with Luca Mercalli at Avigliana

His initiative inspired Spanish environmentalists, especially Catalans, who organised the Ultra

Etna

Roberto Cavallo, illegal landfill, in the area of Catania

Envi.info, www.envi.info

Maurizio Bongiovanni is a freelance journalist and project manager at AICA – International Association for Environmental Communication. He has worked with many different national newspapers, has authored several documentaries, is a campaigner for soil protection and editor-inchief of Envi.info.

renewablematter 21. 2018

Startup

Name: Plus: Sector: Characteristics:

Growing Bricks from Bacteria with bioMASON bioMASON Construction materials grown from bacteria at room temperature New Materials bioMASON employs natural microorganisms for the production of industrial materials used in the construction sector, which reduce CO2 emissions and reliance on fossil fuels and water resources

by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Photo courtesy of bioMASON, Inc

biomason.com

World Bank, Introducing energyefficient clean technologies in the brick sector of Bangladesh, 2011, Washington, DC.

bioLITHâ&#x201E;˘ thin masonry unit product, which was launched last year

In 2012, US architect Ginger Krieg Dosier founded bioMASON, a startup that aims to grow construction materials from organic matter. Dosier draws inspiration from a study of coral structure: a very hard cementitious material created naturally in the sea with very little energy and material input. Just as occurs with corals, bioMASON employs natural microorganisms to grow a durable cement at room temperature. The presence of bacteria in the bricks allows for hardening and the formation of biologically controlled cement, thus eliminating the baking phase. In this way, CO2 emissions and reliance on fossil fuels are reduced and materials can be produced on site. In the process created by bioMASON, sand is mixed into a mould with bacteria, which are fed with a water solution and calcium ions. This enables the bricks to harden without using kilns (where they are normally kept for 3 to 5 days). There is a widespread brick production in Asia, especially in India and Bangladesh, which is a traditionally small scale and informally managed industry. In Bangladesh, furnaces for bricks are responsible for 30-50% of particulate emissions, which cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and even death. A single furnace can emit up to 48,000 kg of carbon monoxide (CO) in just one season. According to a study by the World Bank, in Bangladesh brick production is second only to traffic as a source of pollution. From an energy perspective, brick production is a very costly business both in terms of the extraction and transport of raw materials, as well as for fuelling kilns. Furthermore, it generates air pollutants, particulate matter (PM), CO and Co2.

Startup

Name: Plus: Sector:

W.r.yuma: Spectacles from Plastic Bottles and Dashboards W.r.yuma Products from recycled materials First ever 3D printed sunglasses from plastic waste

Characteristics:

Old car dashboards, plastic bottles and fridge doors are cleaned, shredded and turned into ink for 3D printers by Belgian and Dutch partners, only for W.r.yuma to then manufacture high-quality spectacles out of them

by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

“Our spectacles will not change the world, but the people wearing them will,” claims Sebastiaan de Neubourg, founder of W.r.yuma: the first company in the world to launch sunglasses with 3D printed frames using ink produced by recycling local plastic. Drawing inspiration from Yuma (Arizona, USA) – the sunniest place on earth – this

www.wryuma.com

Belgian startup designs and manufactures glasses with sustainability, modularity and style in mind. All this thanks to partners both in Belgium and the Netherlands. Old car dashboards, plastic bottles and fridge doors are cleaned, shredded and transformed into new inks for the Rotterdam-based Better Future Factory’s 3D printer, while the Brusselsbased startup Tridea produces ink for 3D printers from plastic bottles. From different types of waste different coloured frames can be obtained. Black from car dashboards, and semi-transparent colours from recycled PET, whereas fridges enable printing the text on the glasses’ frames and temples. Sunglasses are hand-designed and assembled in Antwerp, using high quality Italian lenses with 100% UV protection. Assembly, packaging and shipping is performed by Flexpack, a social enterprise. The project’s founder, a 33-year-old engineer, also takes into account the glasses’ EOL: they are designed to be disassembled. Customers will be able to exchange their sunglasses with a new model at a reduced price, whereas old frames will be recycled once returned. An important advantage of 3D printing consists in the ability to offer limited editions, and personalised frames that are easily recyclable after use. The first W.r.yuma sunglasses, shipped around the world in early 2018, were funded on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, whose campaign funding target was achieved within 24 hours. In the summer of 2018, W.r.yuma – totally devoted to style and aimed at young people – will take part in musical festivals all over Europe where it will print sunglasses using recycled cups. “The future is about manufacturing sunglasses from the plastic cup where you just had your beer.”

renewablematter 21. 2018

Startup

Name: Plus: Sector:

Winnow: Saving Food by Analysing Waste Winnow Technology for tracing and reducing food waste by monitoring rubbish bins Technology

Characteristics:

Winnow identifies different categories of binned food and analyses waste thanks to a smart device connected to rubbish bins. This allows the user to establish key opportunities for saving food by modifying waste habits in commercial kitchens

by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Since food waste is becoming an increasingly crucial issue, Winnow wants to be the technology that enables chefs to reduce food waste. London-based Winnow prevents food waste by analysing and recording all food ending up in commercial kitchens’ rubbish bins. Collected data enables cooks to receive daily, real time reports to improve production processes and halve food waste; which also implies cutting costs and reducing their environmental footprint. Winnow is a term borrowed from agriculture. Winnowing wheat means separating the grain from the chaff. Using the same idea,

www.winnow solutions.com

1. www.wrap.org.uk/ content/less-foodwaste-saves-money 2. See also “Circulating Capital,” interview with Jamie Butterworth by Antonella Ilaria Totaro, Renewable Matter n. 19, December 2017-January 2018; www.renewablematter. eu/en/art/761/ Circulating_Capital

Winnow intends to separate what can be useful in food currently being thrown away from that which cannot be put to use. According to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the British hospitality industry bins 600,000 tonnes of food per year1, while the distribution sector (including supermarkets) throws away 400,000 tonnes. Consumers are increasingly worried about food waste, especially bearing in mind that hotels, pubs and restaurants could cut waste by 2/3. Thanks to a simple and instant technology, Winnow can trace food waste, record different categories of binned food, and analyse daily waste so as to identify key opportunities for saving food and modifying kitchen habits. This is an economic opportunity that must not be underestimated, bearing in mind that clients such as Ikea, Costa and Accor Hotels are saving between 3 and 8% of their food costs by adopting this technology, thus recovering the investment within a few months. Winnow was the first company to get a Circularity Capital investment back in October 2017,2 as well as having been nominated as the 2016 Startup of the Year by the Guardian Sustainable Business.

Startup

Name:

STRATA, the Modular Furniture System STRATA

Plus:

Modular furniture system for landlords

Sector:

Circular business model – New design

Characteristics:

A new modular furniture system for landlords and a new opportunity for tenants to personalise their rented flat

by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

www.stratalayer.com

Strata, a system that aims to offer a flexible and modular “layered” furniture system, created by the ex-leader of Circular Ikea (within Inter Ikea Systems), and two designers from the Royal College of Art. As an answer to people’s ever changing tastes, and the problem of finding the right furniture when renting a house, STRATA has developed a model for flexible and modular furniture. From chairs and sofas, to shelves and tables, their furniture is designed and created in separated “layers,” that can be disassembled and personalised. The Base Layer of each of these items of furniture is made of heavier and longer lasting materials, thus ensuring durability. The Skin Layers, an example of which could be sofa coverings, can be removed, renewed and adapted to each individual’s taste. STRATA offers the furniture’s Base Layer as a service to landlords. Therefore, landlords pay a monthly fee with no up-front investments, no repair costs and no bulky waste to have to deal with. The Base Layer is standard for any kind of chair or shelf, and has a longer life expectancy than the other layers. Furthermore, the metal these Base Layers are made of will increase in value over time and can be considered a “material bank.” On the other hand, the Skin Layers can be personalised by tenants that choose their own design, colour and textile; without having to replace the entire piece of furniture. These Skin Layers can be found in shops, bought from local producers or personalised in fablabs. STRATA has also added an important third layer: that of data. Special sensors capture data so that landlords can have an updated inventory of their Base Layers, which helps them offer their tenants a healthier and more sustainable environment. STRATA is now a prototype. The designers Matthieu Leroy, Victor Strimfors e Katrine Hesseldahl are aiming at supplying 500 student apartments within the next three years, with different tariffs according to the needs of landlords, and the objective of offering complete 3 to 5 years’ service contracts.

renewablematter 21. 2018

Columns Circular by Law

In Europe the Circular Economy Becomes Law Francesco Petrucci,* environmental law expert and a member of Edizioni Ambiente’s legal editorial staff.

*In cooperation with the Magazine Rifiuti – Bollettino di informazione normativa (“Waste – Bulletin of regulatory information”) and Osservatorio di normativa ambientale (“Environmental law observatory”) on www.reteambiente.it

The circular economy has become a piece of European legislation that is ready to have a considerable effect on the materials market. On the May 22nd 2018, the EU Council approved the “Circular Economy Package” (already passed by the EU Parliament on the 18th of April 2018) with proposals for a directive on waste, landfills, packaging, vehicles, and electrical and electronic waste equipment and batteries. The measures included in the Circular Economy Package will reward the most innovative companies that are able to manufacture low environmental impact, sustainable, repairable and recyclable products. The measures (directives 849/2018/EU, 850/2018/ EU, 851/2018/EU and 852/2018/EU) published on the Official Journal of the European Union on June the 14th 2018 are effective as of July 4th 2018. Meanwhile, the European Commission has started campaigning against polluting and non-recyclable plastics. As heralded in January 2018 during the presentation of the European strategy on plastic, on the 28th of May 2018 the European Commission introduced the proposal for a directive on singleuse plastics that will have a tremendous impact on the sector. The directive aims at curtailing the impact of plastic on the environment, in particular in terms of marine litter, by acting in several domains: prevention, with appropriate measures to reduce consumption of some single-use plastics; bans on plastic circulation, forcing certain plastic products out of the market (including cotton buds, forks, knives, spoons, chopsticks, plates and straws); and design requirements, promoting low environmental impact product designs followed by mandatory labelling of some products to warn consumers of their environmental impact. The 2021-2027 EU Financial Framework could also help reduce non-recyclable plastic. According to a draft presented on the 2nd of May 2018, the new resources financing it will include a contribution for non-recycled plastic that, according to some estimates, could bring €2 billion to the Union coffers and discourage the production of non-recyclable plastic. Good news for efficiency in the construction sector, with the final go-ahead of the proposed amendment of Directive 2010/31/EU. The EU Parliament’s vote occurred on the 17th of April and that of the EU Council on the 14th of May 2018. The new regulations aim at decarbonising EU buildings by 2050. Crucial steps have also been taken over greenhouse gas emissions. On April 8th 2018 the revision of the greenhouse gas emission trading

scheme (Emissions Trading System) came into force. Directive 2018/410/EU modified Directive 2003/87/EC, thus making the mechanism more effective, whereby the deadline for member States to transpose the changes has been set for October 9th 2019. At the same time, final approval of the regulations setting the objectives of GHG reduction for the agriculture, transport, construction and waste sectors from 2021 to 2030 has been achieved. The EU Parliament’s vote occurred on April 17th and the Council’s on May 14th 2018. Lastly, there will also be a final vote on May 14th 2018 for the proposal on regulating the accounting and absorption of GHG emissions by soil use, change in soil use and forestry that contributes to reducing emissions. With regard to European certification, there are further changes to Ecolabel with the Decision 2018/680/EU approving ecological criteria to obtain the EU Ecolabel for interior cleaning services (an unprecedented achievement), while Decision 2018/666/EU postpones to December 31st 2022 the already existing ecological criteria to obtain Ecolabels for interior and exterior paints. The area regulated by the REACH Regulation 1907/2006/EC is still being updated. REACH addresses issues regarding authorisation and registration of chemical substances, which is of paramount importance for all companies working with substances or blends, with many consequences for several productive sectors, including the plastics sector since many chemicals are used as additives in plastic materials. One of the first changes regards Regulation 2018/675/EU that, as of December 1st 2018, will update the REACH classification with regards to carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic substances for reproduction. The second action on the REACH regulation, with Regulation 2018/589/ EU, was about new limits as of May 9th 2018 to trading of windscreen washing or defrosting liquids containing methanol, and restrictions for the production, use and marketing of 1-Methil-2Pyrollidone (applicable from May 9th 2020). Lastly – although not in force yet – the proposal that will modify a number of annexes of the REACH Regulation 1907/2006/EC has made some progress. On April 26th 2018, the member States reached an agreement on the text. The changes will clarify the REACH registration requirements, with reference to nanomaterials which are being used increasingly but are not regulated effectively, with the aim of protecting wellbeing and the environment.

Columns

Circulate

Make Fashion Circular Joe Iles is Editor in Chief of Circulate at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, helping to deliver leading commentary, news and case studies on the circular economy.

vigga.us/order-vigga A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future, www.ellenmacarthur foundation.org/ programmes/systemicinitiatives/make-fashioncircular

What type of careless customer only keeps clothes for a few weeks before throwing them out? You’ve guessed: babies. Even though the negative impacts of the fashion industry are becoming increasingly well understood, babies, toddlers and children of all ages just won’t budge. They buy new stuff, wear it a few times and then decide they’ve had enough. An entirely new wardrobe is required. You’ve probably guessed by now that this isn’t really a fair interpretation. But, the underlying principle still holds water. As children grow, their needs and sizes change frequently. It’s estimated that the average baby grows eight sizes in its first two years of life. The result is a continual need for new clothes, at the expense and inconvenience of parents, driving a constant demand for resources and energy to make garments, and the inevitable need to dispose of clothes that no longer fit. However, would you say that the users of those clothes, or even the parents that buy them are themselves inherently wasteful? Of course not. It’s all down to the system that underpins the way that we design, make, buy, use and dispose of clothes. It’s the same linear, take-makedispose system that most industries are founded on, from food to phones to homes. In Denmark there is a company that is looking at baby clothes from a completely different angle. Vigga produces high quality garments using organic materials. They look good, are well-designed and made to last. However, this pushes up the price. So, instead of just selling these items – which would reduce the number of people able to use them – the startup provides their clothes with a subscription model. For a monthly fee, Vigga sends customers the right clothes in the right sizes for their babies. When they grow, they get the new collection in the post, and the outgrown clothes are sent back and washed in a professional laundry, ready to be used by another child. Founder Vigga Svensson, says that getting clothes in this way saves time and money for parents, whilst delivering a higher quality product. Furthermore, unlike businesses that sell clothes in the traditional way, designing clothes that last actually helps Vigga too: high quality

garments can be circulated more times, between more customers, increasing the businesses profits. Hence creating an incentive to produce something that never ends up as waste. Why stop at baby clothes? Why can’t more customers satisfy their fashion and clothing needs this way? Worldwide, the average number of times a garment is worn before it is thrown out has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago. This is a big waste of money: customers are missing out on 400 billion euros in value each year by throwing away clothes that they could continue to wear; and it is even estimated that some garments are discarded after just seven to ten wears. The report A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future states that “for garments where practical needs change over time, for example children’s clothes or those for oneoff occasions, rental services would increase utilisation by keeping garments in frequent use rather than in people’s closets.” Along with better resale models, these sorts of activities could help break the pattern of increasingly disposable clothes. This is one of three main areas of innovation needed to create a fashion industry that can thrive in the future. Along with developing business models that keep clothes in use, we need to increase demand for materials that are renewable and safe, and join forces across the industry to turn used clothes into new opportunities. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular Initiative, is now bringing together actors from across the fashion industry to make this vision a reality. Together with Core Partners Burberry, Gap, H&M, HSBC, Nike and Stella McCartney, and made possible by C&A Foundation and Walmart Foundation, the initiative will deliver the solutions needed to meet the changing demands and expectations of society, and address the issues that have seen fashion become one of the most polluting and wasteful industries operating today.

renewablematter 21. 2018

Thinking Resilience

Choosing Sides in the Civilisation-Planet Standoff Journalist and educator Richard Heinberg, writes about energy, the environment and ecology. He is the author of 13 books and is currently the Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. He is considered one of the major exponents of ending our dependence on fossil fuels.

To halt climate change, respond to the crisis of biodiversity, and minimise the depletion of natural resources, we must tackle the global extract-deplete-and-pollute economy. However, since we all depend on that economy for sustenance, we should do this in a way that’s fair and just for everyone. Financial and policy elites don’t want to hear any of this. Economic growth is the central article of faith in our modern world. Whatever the problem, growth is the solution; every politician promises more growth, not less. The economy is a vehicle with no reverse gear, and we regard the planet as merely a means to our glorious or ignominious end. An irresistible force (our demand for endless growth) has met an immovable object (a planet with limited resources and capacity to absorb waste). This civilisation-versus-planet contest appears to be a standoff. Meanwhile archaeologists have learned than civilisations are unstable, temporary affairs. So, in our contest, we can be fairly sure that it’s the planet that will ultimately prevail – though likely in a condition so weakened and destabilised that it can no longer support civilisation. Can we resolve this standoff before humanity locks itself in an irreversible trajectory? Perhaps technology could play a role. We could switch to energy technologies like solar panels and wind turbines that don’t vent carbon into the atmosphere. But, if human society continues to grow, and if we continue to use energy for further resource extraction that destroys natural ecosystems, then even solar and wind power generators will at best only postpone civilisation’s demise. If we want to preserve civilisation over the long run, our only real hope is to transform it. We must begin to think of the human economy as a dependent subset of the global ecosystem. We must aim for a desirable steady state rather than perpetual growth. Furthermore, our economy must be circular so that it doesn’t deplete or degrade natural resources and generates no toxic waste. We must restore ecosystems – build soils, expand forests, remove pollution from the oceans, and rein in fishing. As we do these things, we can minimise disruptive impacts in the social sphere by promoting cooperative worker ownership of businesses, the sharing economy, and a universal basic income.

However, in order for these kinds of shifts to prevail, a deeper change of heart and mind will be required. Instead of seeing the natural world as a pile of resources to be plundered, we must begin to see it (as our indigenous ancestors once did) as the source of our being and the guide for our actions. In every age a worldview arises that helps people make sense of their lives and their surroundings. During the brief fossil-fuelled industrial era, humanity adopted a worldview centred on worship of technology and the goal of economic growth. But today the seeds of a new and different worldview are germinating, invisible to most. The ecological worldview is the inevitable human response to climate change, and it represents a moral and ethical revolution. The ecological mind looks for systemic links between phenomena. It has planetary scope but is locally rooted and adapted. As it branches out and unfurls its leaves, the nature-centred way of thinking throws into doubt a host of culturally reinforced assumptions. Quite simply, in the civilisation-planet contest, more and more of us are switching sides. And the motivation for doing so is incontestable: who wants to be on the losing side? It’s understandable that politicians and economists obstruct this revolution. Their power derives from defence of the current paradigm. Therefore, the revolution can’t begin in boardrooms or parliaments – not even in climate conferences. It begins instead in hearts and minds. True, most of us wouldn’t be able to survive for even a month without civilisation. But, our dependency on civilisation doesn’t change the fact that the way we are living now has no future. As we put more effort into developing an economy that doesn’t undermine its own basis for existence, a potential truce beckons. Yet until the terms of that truce can be outlined and adopted, it is the planet that deserves our allegiance. As grow-and-deplete civilisation fails, the only realistic response is to withdraw support for it – to put down our smart phone and get out of our box. As we pay more attention to birds and insects, and less to screens and advertising messages, we gradually come to our senses. Welcome to the winning team.

27-28 SEPTEMBER TURIN (ITALY) Organized by

JOIN US TO SHAPE THE WORLD CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY Info and Registration: https://ifib2018.b2match.io Venue: Cavallerizza Reale, via Verdi 9

Among the speakers: Jennifer Holmgren (LanzaTech), Tony Duncan (Circa Group), Philippe Mengal (BBI JU), Liesbet Gooverts (EIB), Sandy Marshall (Bioindustrial Innovation Canada), Bernardo Silva (ABBI Brazil), Elisabetta Balzi (EU Commission), Mathieu Flamini (GFBiochemicals), Alit Fasce Pollicelli (Ministry of Economy, Argentina), Paolo Corvo (Clariant), Niklas von Weymarn (Metsä Spring), Henri Colens (BraskemBio), Giulia Gregori (Novamont), Andrea Pipino and Vito Guido Lambertini (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), Mieke De Schoenmakere (EEA), Jean-Marie Chauvet (Foundation Jacques de Bohan), Vander Tumiatti (SEA Marconi), Susanne Braun (University of Hohenheim), Luca Cocolin (University of Turin), Mauro Fontana (Ferrero Group), Veerle Rijckaert (Flanders’ Food), Simão Soares (SilicoLife), Christian Hübsch (UPM Biochemicals)