RM#26

RENEWABLE MATTER INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE ON THE BIOECONOMY AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY 26 | March-April 2019 Bimonthly Publication Edizioni Ambiente

Obsolescence and the Right to Repair

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•• Joe Iles: The Designer’s Secret Weapon •• Material Matters, the Importance of Materials •• Re-use: How to Navigate a Complex Sector

How to Decommission Ships: A Pending Issue •• Nørrona, Outdoor Fashion Changes Clothes •• The Circular Potential of Seaweed •• Turning Cork Ethical

In Depth: A Look Towards Glaciers •• From Plastics to Oil •• The Circular Economy Club: A “Glocal” Project

Dossier Australia: A Full Boost Bioeconomy •• The Australian Way to Decarbonisation

THE GREEN TECHNOLOGY EXPO

From new circular economy development models to technological solutions for resource management and protection: an international platform to foster the growth of an innovative entrepreneurial ecosystem and create a more sustainable future.

5 - 8 NOVEMBER 2019 RIMINI EXPO CENTRE - ITALY Organized by

Simultaneously with

THE RENEWABLE ENERGY EXPO

ecomondo.com

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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Editorial

by Emanuele Bompan

Europe on the Edge Europe is facing an important challenge with the upcoming elections on 23rd-26th May. It will involve reforms in the Parliament and the European Commission according to the political vision of European citizens, thus giving the Union a new form. Polls in early March told a story of ultra-nationalist, sovereigntist and even openly neo-fascist parties gathering widespread political support.

From the Visegràd Group to Lega Nord in Italy, from Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice party to Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (formerly Front National), there is a cross-European axis of those who are against immigration, innovation, circular economy, gender equality and environmental sustainability, and it is gaining support.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, a new political campaign launched by the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats, alongside newly elected congresswoman AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), and based around a Green New Deal, was able to consolidate Democratic consensus on the left, paving the way for the debate going into the 2020 Presidential Election. At the heart of the proposal is the decarbonisation of the economy, aiming for 100% of energy from renewable sources, the promotion of increased efficiency and circular economy, heavy investment in public infrastructure for transport, as well as generating new jobs and a better system of labour protections (which are currently lacking).

How will this transition be financed? Firstly, by taxing the super-rich, with a 70% rate on income above 10 million dollars. In other words, a mix of

liberal market action, consolidated environmental policies and openly and proudly socialist politics, resurgent in the current US social context.

Could the Green New Deal be the last chance for salvation from the advance of a less united, less eco-friendly, less interconnected Europe?

Renewable Matter, from its own vantage point, believes that this could indeed be the case.

A European Green New Deal, uniting democrats, Greens parties, left-wing forces of the GUE/NGL, the emerging pan-European party Volt, and even the moderate liberal population that understands the urgent, absolute and fundamental need to address climate change and social issues in Europe during the next decade. The risk is that Europe is left in the hands of a legion of Trump clones, equally idiotic (imagine Geert Wilders on the Labour Commission) and potentially dangerous. The first Trump presidency has slowed the global decarbonisation process.

We cannot afford another setback.

What can be done, therefore, to enact a European Green New Deal that unites all forces in the EU that are animated by an environmentalist and socially equitable spirit, by human rights and by innovative labour policies that would advance the Union as a pioneer of green jobs, decarbonisation, social inclusion, environmental and infrastructural security, regenerative agricultural policies, sustainable mobility, research and education?

What could the recipe be? A solid, detailed plan needs to be defined, one that is founded on intellectual debate. The necessary funds will have to be raised, perhaps by creating a formidable grassroots funding machine, supported by the world of NGOs and associations.

The campaign and conventions need to be organised in smaller, local realities, rather than exclusively in capitals and large cities. A solid media campaign, accompanied by strong social media presence, is essential to circumvent the wilful disregard for environmental issues by mainstream media.

A programme worthy of the name has to back up this campaign, supported by adequate economic resources. In Europe, there is no consensus-building apparatus that is comparable to the one created by the Sunrise Movement in the United States. The moment has come to build one.

Repairing the Economy

by Gay Gordon-Byrne

Gay Gordon-Byrne is Executive Director of The Repair Association.

She focuses on promoting repair-friendly policies in legislation through regulators and standards organisations.

Based in the USA, The Repair Association has also been helping with related efforts in the EU, Canada, and elsewhere.

The Repair Association, https://repair.org

I am the bearer of uncomfortable news.

Recycling is not the key to a circular economy – the key is repair. Diagrams showing a clean circle, where recycled goods turn into fresh products, ignore the ugly truth that recycling of electronics is not part of the circle. While it is true that manufacturers buy some raw materials from recycled sources, they don’t harvest used parts and install them in new products. All the labour that went into making these salvageable components is wasted.

Here is why: Manufacturers in general do not design products to be reused, repaired, or culled for valuable parts at their end of life.

This isn’t nefarious – it is the result of decades of business models focused on selling new products in a highly competitive market.

Manufacturers and their executives are rewarded for new sales both in terms of profits and increases in stock value. They don’t earn any additional money when you fix your own stuff. In fact – every item repaired is one less sold. Apple admitted to this problem in their latest guidance to investors – and promptly lost stock value. Repair is not a good thing for manufacturers.

Nor are electronic products designed to be easy to disassemble, repair or reuse.

Manufacturers plan for in-warranty repair parts, but not beyond.

This creates enormous challenges in closing the circle. Parts are not consistent from one model to the next and often vary within a model run. In fact, recyclers receive a bewildering variety of products in random order. Just sorting and identifying which products or parts are valuable and which are not is labour intensive. Locating schematic diagrams to find specific parts or hazards to remove is labour intensive. It takes labour to disassemble and remove parts for reuse and resale. It is no surprise that recovery rates of electronic parts and products hovers at around 14% of even the most carefully curated streams.

Then there is the problem of raw material value. The most valuable parts of most consumer products are often the metal and plastic housings, which are easily separated

and sold as raw materials. Screws have value but not circuit boards. Boards require specialty smelting to recover the tiny bits of precious metals and the rest of the board is still landfilled. In fact, truckers end up making more money hauling the stuff around than most municipalities recover in value from recovered parts.

On top of these challenges, manufacturers have actively thwarted consumers from repairing and continuing to use their purchased products. They make products that are designed to fail. They include batteries which have a finite life – then use glue to secure the battery making it impossible to replace. Many companies refuse to provide the documentation, parts and tools to make repairs practical. Some even push damaging software updates to degrade performance in sync with new product releases.

Incentivising repair has enormous untapped potential to restore the vision of the circle.

Consumers want to keep using the things they buy because they like them. It is our experience that almost everyone shops for repair first, and only buys replacements when repairs are impractical. Repair is the activity that supports extended use and particularly the value of used equipment. The cost of repair is critical to retaining equipment value.

If repairs are widely available, then there is a market for parts to be harvested for resale by re-users, repair techs and recyclers.

Repair businesses will respond rapidly to the opportunity to grow, creating more demand for harvested parts. In turn, this reduces the volume of scrap that needs processing whilst simultaneously extending the use life of our possessions.

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R M 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 Irene Baños Ruiz, Francesco Bassetti, Karin Bolin, Emanuele Bompan, Mario Bonaccorso, Rudi Bressa, Emanuele Del Rosso (cartoon page 5), Gay GordonByrne, Joe Iles, Richard Heinberg, Giorgia Marino, Pietro Luppi, Francesco Petrucci, Katie Pyzyk, Alessandro Speccher, Alessandro Strada, Antonella Ilaria Totaro, Fabiano Ventura

26|March-April 2019 Contents

Emanuele Bompan

5

Europe on the Edge

Gay Gordon-Byrne

7

Repairing the Economy

10

NEWS

Joe Iles

12

Policy: The Circular Designer’s Secret Weapon

Alessandro Speccher

14

Recognising Resources Are Limited

by Granting Them an Identity

Editorial Staff

16

The Circular Economy Club: A “Glocal” Project Interview with Anna Tarí

Irene Baños Ruiz

18

Sustainable Shipbreaking: A Pending Issue

Editorial Staff

24

In Depth Keeping Track of Ice

Francesco Bassetti

32

Circular Seaweed

Mario Bonaccorso

37

Dossier Australia A Full Boost Bioeconomy

Giorgia Marino

44

The Right to Repair

Editorial Staff

Think Thank

Managing Editor Maria Pia Terrosi Editorial Coordinator Paola Cristina Fraschini Editing Francesco Bassetti Paola Cristina Fraschini Design & Art Direction Mauro Panzeri Layout & Infographics Michela Lazzaroni Community manager Antonella Ilaria Totaro Translations Patrick Bracelli, Erminio Cella, Laura Coppo, Franco Lombini, Mario Tadiello

Policy

9

Executive Coordinator Anna Re

World Pietro Luppi, Alessandro Strada, Karin Bolin

External Relations Manager (International) Federico Manca

48

Reuse and New European Directives: Basic Guidelines

Katie Pyzyk

52

From Plastics to Oil

Rudi Bressa

54

Turning Cork Ethical

Emanuele Bompan

56

Nørrona: Outdoor Fashion Changes Clothes

External Relations Manager (Italy) Anna Re Press and Media Relations press@renewablematter.eu Contact info@renewablematter.eu Edizioni Ambiente Via Natale Battaglia 10 20127 Milano, Italia t. +39 02 45487277 f. +39 02 45487333 Advertising marketing@materiarinnovabile.it Annual subscription 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)

Startup

Copyright ŠEdizioni Ambiente 2019 All rights reserved

58

Cruz Foam: Making Packaging from Shellfish

59

Ioniqa: Virgin PET from Non-recyclable Packaging

60

Yescapa: Private Campervan Hire

61

Subscription Electronics with Grover

Richard William Heinberg

62

Thinking Resilience What a Waste

Francesco Petrucci

63

Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Columns

Circular by Law The Circular Economy Makes Progress, Climate Actions Stall

Cover photo by joakant@pixabay/ CreativeCommons CC0

renewablematter 26. 2019

NEWS

by the Editorial Staff

African mimetic butterflies, 1910s

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Paper March Happy days for paper!

Nowadays, more and more throwaway objects are made of paper which can be correctly disposed of. Comieco, the Italian National Consortium for the Recovery and Recycling of Cellulose-based Packaging, launched Paper and Cardboard Recycling Month: a series of initiatives for anyone – citizens, schools, institutions, associations and companies – wishing to highlight the importance of separate collection and the role of paper as an example of circularity.

“Italy currently recycles 80% of cellulose packaging, amounting to 10 tonnes per minute,” affirms Carlo Montalbetti, Comieco’s General Manager. “Moreover, the opening of three new paper mills in Italy, with a recycling capacity of about 1.2 million tonnes, will enable us to manage the increased demand for pulping.”

From Ash to Neo-Materials Were you to die in the State of Washington (USA), you could come back to “life” as compost, biogas or nutrients for insects.

Democratic Senator Jamie Pederson is legalising the use of human remains in a composter geared for rapid decomposition.

Technical name?

Human recomposition.

According to Recompose, an American composting company, recomposition is less expensive and more environmentally friendly than burying – which releases harmful toxins in the surrounding soil and water tables – and cremation, which releases about 245 kg of CO2 per body. The Catholic church is strongly opposed to

this initiative as they see separating body parts as theologically problematic.

However, Pederson is optimistic: according to the senator, the law will come into force on 1st May 2020. This will radically change the concept of resurrection.

WCEF 2019

world. This year, after the Japanese edition in 2018, the forum returns to its home.

According to organisers the event will focus mainly on the next era of the circular economy, betting strongly on innovation and processes.

An international meeting that Renewable Matter will not miss.

Brexit, Waste and Chaos British government officials are getting ready to deal with the waste emergency following a no-deal Brexit, according to some documents leaked to The Guardian.

For the UK, leaving the EU with no deal means invalidating licences to export millions of tonnes of waste. Moreover, the livestock export stop will skyrocket the number of animals in farms causing a health and environmental emergency.

To deal with every eventuality, May’s government has launched a plan to activate, if need be, 24/7 crisis centres.

Sitra, the Finnish innovation fund, will host the 3rd World Circular Economy Forum in Helsinki between 3rd and 5th June 2019. WCEF 2019 will gather around 2,000 key thinkers and professionals of the circular economy from all over the

News Designing for the Circular Economy

IKEA at your Service!

From today, Billy, Poäng, Lack and Klippan can be hired. The furniture colossus IKEA, has launched a product-as-a-service project in Switzerland, whereby furniture can be hired and then returned once the lease is over. Thus, the company will maintain its product’s value, creating a furniture regeneration system so that products can be placed back on the market.

Hiring Solar Panels Another announcement in the product-as-a-service sector. Green Genius, a Lithuanian company, has launched a new business model for those wishing to make their home more efficient and sustainable but cannot or do not want

This is the first of a series of initiatives that the company will introduce to develop a “subscription” model to various furniture items. The first pieces of furniture available for hiring will be office chairs and desks, soon followed by kitchen components.

to pay for photovoltaic panel installation. Panel leasing does not require an initial investment and enables users to halve their electricity tariff, reducing their annual electricity bill by 20%. “We are proud to bring solar panels into the circular economy,” states Lina Galatiltė, CEO of Green Genius Global.

Martin Charter has authored and edited a new book, Designing for the Circular Economy, where he describes how rethinking design can be a pillar of the circular economy.

Designing for the Circular Economy highlights and explores state of the art research and industrial practices, pointing out how the circular economy can become a source of new business opportunities, radical business changes, breakthrough innovation, social change and new consumer behaviour.

34 chapters published

by Routledge, providing

a comprehensive overview of product circularity issues from policies to planning and development.

ECHA Cornered “The EU must speed up its investment in new chemicals if it intends to support the transition towards a circular economy,” declares Bjørn Hansen, ECHA’s (European Chemicals Agency) Executive Director; adding that circularity will undoubtedly lead to linking EU legislation on chemicals with waste legislation, and that the ECHA is perfectly placed to take part in this transition.

An announcement for

the relaunch of the Helsinki-based agency’s role, especially as it could be facing drastic cuts in the 2020-2027 budget, coinciding with a key period for the relaunch of European green chemistry.

While many chemicals used in a real circular economy are still to be invented, Hansen claims that, due to the lack of a EU waste agency (despite ratifying a law on it), the ECHA will be able to contribute “to the good of EC in the coming years.”

11

Policy: The Circular Designer’s Secret Weapon Smart policy can inspire better material choices, innovative business models and the continual circulation of value.

by Joe Iles

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.

Since its inception in 2010, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has placed design as crucial to achieving a circular economy.

In fact, the very first initiative from the Foundation was Project ReDesign, which invited thousands of students to rethink products and systems for a circular economy.

Discussions around the circular economy in intervening years often served to remind us of the importance of design, namely that the circular economy is a model for an economy that is regenerative by design.

Why is this? If you look at many of the shortcomings of today’s take, make, dispose, linear economy, eventual negative impacts are set in motion at the design stage. The decisions made during this process influence what will happen downstream – how a product is made, used, and disposed of, whether it will end up in an incinerator, landfill, ocean or left unused in someone’s garage. These choices could also set an item on the path to being shared, repaired, recovered, remanufactured, or composted. Ultimately, is the creation fit for a circular economy? Does it reinforce the status quo of extraction and consumption, or aspire to circulation and regeneration; putting back more than we take out? This is only made possible upstream, at the design phase. As materials expert Alysia Garmulewicz once quipped, “you can’t unscramble an omelette.”

Such design choices could include the type and variety of materials a product is made of,

whether it’s assembled using glues or screws, and if it can be upgraded or improved in the future. Extending beyond the product itself, decisions relating to the business model also play a crucial role. For example, is a detergent sold in tiny sachets, disposable bottles or a refillable system? For some products, sales and ownership are no longer the only option, and new methods like rental, sharing and incentivised return are all possible.

The impacts set in motion at this design stage can be profound. Dealing with the symptoms of a linear economy “end of pipe” and cleaning up downstream is often more costly, less effective and at times not possible at all. We can see this clearly today with the near-irreversible symptoms of the way we make and use plastic.

Once it has arrived in landfills and oceans, it is difficult to clean up.

On the other hand, building in circularity from the start can unlock safer or improved products and services, better relationships with customers, and resource and energy savings that benefit the bottom line. It’s through design that we can address the cause of today’s economic, social, and environmental challenges, rather than just treating the symptoms.

It should be clear by now that this has relevance far beyond the realm of the classical industrial designer. IDEO CEO Tim Brown has long maintained that “design is everywhere, inevitably everyone is a designer.” So this phase is crucial

Think Tank

Concept, www.ellenmacarthur foundation.org/circulareconomy/concept Case studies Ellen MacArthur, www.ellenmacarthur foundation.org/casestudies Open letter “Drawing a line in the sand,” newplasticseconomy.org/ about/open-letter The EcoDesign Directive by the European Comission, ec.europa. eu/growth/industry/ sustainability/ecodesign_en The Circular Design Guide, www.circulardesign guide.com

not just to one department but to the entire organisation, if they are setting their sights on a circular economy.

Without a focus on design, the circular economy will not happen. However, there’s a stalemate.

Designers – and all those involved in the creation of new products and services – face competing demands. Even if they design with the circular economy in mind, their efforts can be overwhelmed by the linear systems in place today. Elsewhere in the system, businesses that recover products for repair or recycling, for example, need to have the processes or technology in place to handle what designers are sending their way. This disconnect hinders sincere efforts to move towards a circular economy.

This is where policymakers play a vital role.

Policymakers are uniquely positioned to put in place enabling conditions that allow the whole value chain to transition towards a circular economy. With a systems view, they have the power to connect the upstream and downstream, and set optimal conditions for the overall system to work. Focusing policy measures on the design stage can reconcile economic, environmental and societal demands, creating and distributing the rewards of a better approach.

As well as designers coming up with new circular concepts, there need to be corresponding “pull” factors to align efforts. Designers need confidence that their latest creations will be handled in the right way further down the chain, whether that’s how items are collected or if they can be recirculated without regulatory hurdles.

This may involve removing non-financial barriers to designing for the circular economy, such as definitions of waste that hinder trade and transport of products for remanufacturing, or imperfect information that prevents businesses engaging in repair, disassembly and refurbishment activities.

Users will also need to be nudged in the right direction. During this shift in our economy, even products and services designed for a circular economy could fall into more well-trodden linear pathways, such as improper disposal or underuse. In 2017 the Swedish government demonstrated an elegant example of how policymakers can set this direction.

The amendment saw value-added tax, or VAT, reduced from 25% to 12% for repairing items like bicycles, clothes, household linen, leather goods, and shoes. Actions like this could have positive ripple effects throughout the economy. For a start, reduced VAT should make repairing items more affordable and appealing for customers. On top of that, designers are provided with an added incentive to design for this new arrangement, making their products more repairable.

While policies like this can trigger new behaviours from designers, manufacturers

and businesses alike, a common vision and approach would have a unifying effect across the design industry. To date, the European Commission’s Ecodesign directive has been effective in terms of decreasing energy consumption. Now is the time to broaden the scope of the directive to consider better material choices, innovative business models, and activities like reparability and recyclability.

Signals throughout the economy tell us that the time is right to unite behind this shared ambition. Designers are becoming more and more familiar with the circular economy, thousands of them have used the Circular Design Guide and are building a movement by connecting online. Ranging from designers in companies, to students and professors, to freelancers or those in agencies, they want to use their creativity to redesign products and services for the circular economy.

Developments in technology are unlocking new possibilities for circular products and business models, including tracking the status and performance of assets using the internet of things, the communication of material composition through digital watermarks, optimising material use with 3D printing, and sharing product information via blockchain.

Business leaders from all industries are committing to ambitious circular economy targets. Throughout society, more and more citizens are aware of the shortcomings of the linear economy, whether it’s the impacts of pollution, badly designed products, or demands for better service and transparency from business.

During Project ReDesign, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s first educational project, the response from students and teachers throughout the country revealed how the circular economy can make people optimistic about the future.

With this new way of seeing the world comes the passion and agency to redesign it.

We all know that individual passion and drive can achieve great progress. If we match this energy with incentives, knowledge building, and a clear license to explore these possibilities, we will usher in a new era of design.

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renewablematter 26. 2019

Recognising Resources Are Limited by Granting Them an Identity

by Alessandro Speccher

Alessandro Speccher is an environmental trainer and consultant.

His research spans from environmental to social and economic issues, focusing on the relationship between nature and man-made environments.

Waste is a forgotten raw material: the first step is to organise the management of its identity.

Material Matters, The Importance of Matter – An alternative to Overexploitation by Thomas Rau and Sabine Oberhuber offers a critical and thoughtful perspective on how to take advantage of raw materials, in a historical moment when this kind of reflection needs promoting.

The book publication coincided roughly with the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an occasion that the authors used, metaphorically, to present to the UN the Universal Declaration of Material Rights (UDMR) – included in the book’s appendix – accompanied by the following message, “Earth is the only rightful owner of all raw materials and all matter and there is only one ‘permanent member’ who has a real right of veto: Nature.”

Thus, Material Matters becomes a book which goes hand and hand with the Declaration, explaining its genesis and describing its founding pillars, but also promoting debate and making an interesting contribution to the technical-scientific debate.

The authors are very critical when it comes to distinguishing between real innovation and a mere status quo improvement. The application of the reduce-reuse-recycle mantra is strict and consistent.

The authors think that the linear economy, “organised in such a way that nobody is held accountable for the consequences of their actions,” is hard to overcome because it is still not understood. Paraphrasing Kelvin, “You cannot improve what you do not know, you cannot know what you cannot measure.”

Not knowing the system’s limits, the absence of data, and the specialisation approach that tends to lose sight of the whole are the barriers to rediscovering the circular economy.

The separation between “power” and “responsibility” is identified as the genesis of the current model. “Consumers are expected to deal with too much: there is no way they can take upon themselves the responsibility to solve such problems, therefore the consequences

of manufacturers’ decisions are always collectivised as waste.” Since consumers have no idea about the chain that led to the production of the item they are using, they feel relieved of responsibility and helpless when faced with problems caused by an economic and production model where they are just the last link in the chain.

The Turntoo Model, developed by the authors and presented in the book through theoretical discussion and numerous concrete examples such as LAAS (Light as a Service by Philips) or AAAS (Appliance As a Service by Bosch) intends to offer an answer to this problem. It develops the concept of “product as a service,” debated for decades and a pillar of the circular economy, offering a possible answer to the question: what happens when a manufacturer no longer intends to use the materials making up the basis of its services? The answer to this question draws inspiration from an interesting reflection on the identity of waste. What is waste if not anonymous material?

It has been observed that we keep track of what we consider “precious” and forget what we deem “valueless.” As a matter of fact, identity is more than the sum of its characteristics, it suggests the idea that it is something that must not be lost and must be protected. How can we organise and set up a document for material identity?

Identity management would require keeping track of how the identity bearer evolves and changes.

The study of such evolution would create awareness which in turn could lead to a real improvement of processes. Thus, a building to be demolished and hence valueless would become a temporary depot of materials, in this way we could reward manufacturers who create objects meant to last (and not to break down), to be updated (instead of becoming obsolete) and to become an icon instead of going out of fashion.

With identity re-appropriation we can resume talk about rights, the Universal Declaration of Material Rights and its analogies with the

Think Tank

T. Rau S. Oberhuber, Material Matters.

L’importanza della materia – Un’alternativa al sovrasfruttamento, Edizioni Ambiente 2019; www.edizioniambiente.it/libri/1241/materialmatters

The book, currently available in Dutch, Italian and German, is awaiting a publishing house interested in publishing it in English.

T. Rau S. Oberhuber, Material Matters.

Het alternatief voor onze roofbouwmaatschappij, B+L 2018; www.bertramendeleeuw.nl/boek/ material-matters

Earth, too, must be recognised the right to sovereignty, this does not mean that human beings cannot use its resources, but rather have the power to manage them in the best possible way.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If we accept treating materials as we would like to be treated ourselves, we would come to a radical conclusion: no-one can appropriate for themselves materials provided by our closed system. In the linear production chain, capital is built into materials, this leads to speculation on raw materials and thus damaging nature.

To avoid all this, Earth itself must be recognised with the right to sovereignty, this does not mean that human beings cannot use its resources, but rather have the power to manage them responsibly. Managing has nothing to do with ownership, it is about taking responsibility.

Taking care and not possessing. In the Turntoo Model, where contracts are based on the product-as-a-service concept, equipped with an identity, we go back to the “prudent man” rule.

Identity and responsibility, the former becomes the expression of scientific and mechanistic logics and thought; the latter, the representation of a holistic, ethical and philosophical approach.

They must work as one and in synergy find a swift and effective solution to environmental problems caused by the linear economy.

To change our relationship with our planet we need both a new economic system and a cultural shift. If we really want to improve our relationship with Earth, we must change the soul of our economy and society.

More and more often, in specialised essays,

T. Rau S. Oberhuber, Material Matters.

Wie wir es schaffen, die Ressourcenverschwendung zu beenden, die Wirtschaft zu motivieren, bessere Produkte zu erzeugen und wie Unternehmen, Verbraucher und die Umwelt davon profitieren, Ullstein 2018; www.ullsteinbuchverlage.de/nc/buch/details/materialmatters-9783430202688.html

and this book is no exception, we find a combination of quantitative thought (guided by linear thinking) and qualitative thought, linked to timeliness and the ethical aspect of our choices, characteristic of systemic thinking.

The book offers both technical solutions and ethical and systemic arguments with a way of reasoning that uses the best of both worlds.

Part of our planet has already taken an evolutionary step, we can see it in classical mechanics now enriched and improved by quantum mechanics, in design finding new blood in biomimicry, in sciences which through biophilia enrich their emotional component, in industry shyly starting to apply the product-asa-service concepts, and in architecture seeing buildings as material depots (Brummen Town Hall designed by Thomas Rau is the first building in the world to have an identity card for each material used).

Our society is experiencing a great acceleration phase, both destructive and constructive.

Rau and Oberhuber’s contribution undoubtedly enrich the open debate on our future.

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renewablematter 26. 2019

The Circular Economy Club: A “Glocal” Project

Interview with Anna Tarí

Anna Tarí, centre

16

by the Editorial Staff

Anna Tarí is Founder & CEO of the Circular Economy Club (CEC).

Recent winner of the Youth Ibero-American Award in the Circular Economy category.

Circular Economy Club, www.circulareconomy club.com

As Founder & CEO of the Circular Economy Club (CEC), Anna Tarí, has had the opportunity to develop a unique perspective on the evolution of the circular economy movement, leading her to the belief that a transition to circularity is an inevitable process that needs to be accelerated.

In fact, when she started the CEC in 2012 as a website, there was limited understanding of this concept. Now, the variety of circular economy actors seeking to make a difference have found, in this non-profit international network based in London, a web of around 3,100 members from over 100 different countries. The CEC has therefore become a platform for accelerating change and bringing together circular economy actors so as to establish a strong community; a place where they can share best practices and have an impact at a local and global level simultaneously.

What role does the CEC play in the circular economy?

“The CEC role is to provide a platform where everyone can play their part in accelerating the transition towards a circular economy. Our work includes: performing workshops in over 160 cities worldwide to start circular economy local strategies; having CEC Organisers at universities who work to embed the circular economy in curriculums; and supporting over 140 startups through free mentoring, giving them visibility and helping them find funding. Today, we are 3,100 members in over 100 countries, from professors and students to CEOs and journalists, and anything in between. Everyone needs to have the opportunity to play their part in the circular economy. I think the reason why the CEC is

A “glocal” impact non-profit network that unites 3,100 circular economy protagonists from over 100 different countries. growing so fast is because we give people the option to do something with palpable results and connect them to a worldwide community of actors who are also playing their part.”

How can we speed up the transition to a more circular system?

“There are three key areas. First, implementing regulation changes along the lines of restricting and banning the use of toxic materials and landfilling, as well as incentivising products that include recycled materials and are designed to be repurposed. Second, by channelling more funding towards businesses that are developing technologies that facilitate material recovery and biodegradability, putting in place reverse logistics, and creating markets for used products and what we currently call waste. Third, building awareness through education and media channels so that more people understand that we can design a smarter system for managing our resources.”

What are the obstacles to this transition?

“The main obstacle, in my view, is the lack of markets for waste or used products and materials.

Until we do not have a profitable market for trading waste of any kind (for example plastic waste), we will be unable to incentivise people and organisations to recover. In order for that incentive to play its role, both governments and companies are crucial. On the one hand, governments can incentivise the use of recovered materials in production, as well as facilitate the infrastructure and logistics for adequate recovery and conversion of waste into valuable materials.

On the other hand, more companies could start looking at how to valorise the waste we have

Think Tank already produced and generate new business models out of them. For example, the beer Toast Ale is produced out of bread that would have otherwise gone to landfill.”

What more can be done?

“Governments aren’t incentivising businesses and citizens enough to change their behaviours. At the moment, it is easier to do the wrong thing than the right thing. It is easier to throw things in the trash than in a recycling bin. It is easier and cheaper

Governments aren’t incentivising businesses and citizens enough to change their behaviours.

At the moment, it is easier to do the wrong thing than the right thing.

to dispose of waste in landfills than to repurpose it. And so on. We should be creating a circular system by default. As a start, if landfills did not exist and the right reverse logistics were put in place for material recovery, materials would go back into the cycle much faster and with a smaller environmental impact.”

What interesting developments have you witnessed in your work with the CEC? “At the inception of the circular economy my fear was that people would immediately associate the term with recycling. There was a whole discussion around not associating circularity exclusively with recycling but rather focusing on designing out waste so that by default we do not create waste. However, I am positive about the trend that I see emerging, as people start understanding and embedding the concept of circularity.

There are more and more organisations, including big corporations, committing to the redesign of the entire system of production and consumption.

For example, one of the CEC Members, the company Terracycle, partnered with Nestlé, Danone, P&G and others, has launched Loop, a system allowing consumers to buy products in reusable and returnable containers.”

It looks like the circular economy has caught the attention of consumers and producers.

Do you think this process will continue to grow?

“The growth of the circularity concept, in terms of awareness and action, has been exponential.

We see it in the number of events and conferences worldwide; in the number of companies trying to understand how to embed

it into their practices; and in the number of new members joining the CEC. In our opinion this is not a trend that will fade, it is a change of economic model that is going to help humanity sustain our quality of life while fixing our relationship to the environment and society as a whole. We have reached a tipping point where either we change, or we are done. Fortunately, enough people are realising this. The economic model we need includes shifting from being mere consumers to becoming users, and these changes are connected to the lifestyles we are already acquiring, such as renting cars and clothes.”

Is there a cultural shift occurring on a global scale?

“Definitions of culture and cultural circles are getting more and more blurry in the current interconnected world where people increasingly belong to many places at the same time. Some countries are faster than others in embracing the circular economy, sometimes because they do not have abundant resources they have to learn how to manage the few resources they have a lot faster. Furthermore, some countries are bigger and their choices influence other countries. For example, with China closing its doors to waste exports from foreign countries, the EU has had to speed up the process of understanding and managing its waste flows now that they cannot simply be offloaded to China. Even if some countries embark on the circular economy later than others, it is human nature to evolve and build better communities, therefore it seems likely that every culture will embrace the change sooner or later.”

What countries are at the forefront of the circular economy?

“During the Circular Economy Mapping Week that took place in March 2018 in 65 cities worldwide, over 2,100 CEC Members came together to identify the circular solutions already happening around the world. The Netherlands, United Kingdom (especially Scotland) and Finland are the countries with a higher commitment and advancement in the circular economy field.

The fundamental pillar common to these three regions is a true governmental commitment to investing in new circular solutions in order to redesign, especially with regards to their industrial strategies. For example, the circular economy is a key part of Scotland’s Economic Strategy and Manufacturing Action Plan and is supported by a £70 million investment, £30m of which comes from EU funding.”

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Sustainable Shipbreaking: A Pending Issue

by Irene Baños Ruiz

Ships have the potential to become sources of either toxic waste or precious materials. A circular approach to shipbreaking can therefore help the environment, economy and employment.

1. www.shipbreaking platform.org/platformpublishes-list-2018

In 2018 alone, 518 ships ended up on beaches in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan – amounting to over 90% of the gross end-of-life tonnage dismantled globally.1 According to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a group of organisations working to improve the human and environmental conditions surrounding ship recycling, out of a world fleet of more than 50,000 ships – with an average lifespan of 25 to 30 years – only 744 were dismantled worldwide in 2018. Precious materials such as aluminium, silver and of course steel (which forms up to 95% of a ship’s weight)2 are re-sold, re-processed or recycled. However, during this process toxic

2. www.ban.org/greenship-recycling

Shipbreaking Platform, www.shipbreaking platform.org

components, such as lead, mercury and oil sludge are dumped into the environment without adequate hazardous waste management.

In the Ship recycling: reducing human and environmental impacts report, the European Commission demonstrates that improper ship dismantling affects ecosystems and people, raising cancer rates and polluting ecosystems in places such as Bangladesh and India.

“If you cut a ship without being able to contain the discharge of toxic substances in the environment and without protection for workers, you endanger human beings, the environment and the communities

Policy 3. https://www.ilo.org/ safework/areasofwork/ hazardous-work/ WCMS_110335/lang--en/ index.htm

6. www.shipbreaking platform.org/wp-content/ uploads/2019/01/StatsGraphs_2018-List_ FINAL.pdf

4. www.shipbreaking platform.org/platformpublishes-list-2018

7. www.basel.int

5. www.researchgate.net/ publication/237549357_ Ship_Breaking_Activities_ and_its_Impact_on_ the_Coastal_Zone_of_ Chittagong_Bangladesh_ Towards_Sustainable_ Management

8. https://ec.europa.eu/ info/news/new-eu-regimesafer-and-greener-shiprecycling-enters-force2019-jan-08_en 9. http://ec.europa.eu/ environment/waste/ships/ list.htm

depending on these ecosystems,” claims Nicola Mulinaris, Communication and Policy Officer of Shipbreaking Platform.

In fact, the International Labour Organisation has ranked shipbreaking among the world’s most dangerous jobs.3 In 2018 alone, at least 34 workers died while scrapping ships.4 And they weren’t the only victims. According to the Marine Institute of the University of Chittagong in Bangladesh, 21 species of fish have gone extinct and 11 are endangered due to shipbreaking.5 Loopholes in Regulation

Top: MV Paris Express – delivered in 1994, recycled in China in 2015.

Credit: Hapag-Lloyd

Irene Baños Ruiz is a freelance journalist who focuses on environmental topics.

She is currently based in Bonn, Germany, where she regularly collaborates with Deutsche Welle.

The United Arab Emirates, Greece and the Unites States were responsible for the worst shipbreaking practices of 2018, with most of their end-of-life ships ending up on beaches. Germany, known for its green credentials, sent all its vessels to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.6 South Asia attracts ship owners due to poor environment and safety regulations, cheap labour and high steel prices. “You can get 2 or 3 million US dollars more on an average for a ship in South Asia than in Europe, Turkey or the US,” explains Mulinaris. Although the numbers fluctuate, South Asian yards currently offer $450 per light displacement tonnage (LDT), Turkish ones about $250 dollars per LDT. In Europe these figures are even lower.

In theory, the United Nations Basel Convention,7 which regulates the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, also restricts international trade of end-of-life ships. Yet, shipping companies find ways around this.

The convention only covers ships intended for disposal: that’s the trick. Companies officially sell their ships for later use, thus disguising their intentions for disposal.

In January 2019, the Dutch ship owner Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV was fined

€780,000 and paid a settlement of €2.2 million for illegally exporting a vessel for scrapping in India. And this isn’t an isolated case.

“Shipping companies lie to the authorities.

Once the ships are in international waters, they change their destination, go directly to the beach and nobody can do anything about it. Unless the authorities prove, as the Dutch authorities did, a clear intention to dispose,” reveals Mulinaris.

In order to create a stricter regulatory framework, the EU adopted the Ship Recycling Regulation in 2013, which aims to improve ship recycling. The regulation restricts the use of certain toxic substances onboard ships, which must have a so-called Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM).8 After its full implementation on December 31st 2018, “the recycling of all large sea-going vessels sailing under a EU flag can only take place in yards included in the European List of ship recycling facilities.” The list includes 23 yards in the EU, two in Turkey and one in the United States, and is expected to increase in the future.9 Experts consider this list to be a turning point. “For too long, EU vessels have been dismantled in poor environmental and social conditions.

This is no longer acceptable. The full entry into force of the EU Regulation on ship recycling is a milestone for this sector, as it provides clear and specific rules on how EU-flagged vessels should be recycled,” explains Karmenu Vella, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, during a visit to an approved recycling yard in Ghent, Belgium.

However, of the nearly 600 ships that arrived on South Asian beaches, only about 40 flew EU flags, of which around 30 changed their flagship to a non-EU one on the way to Asia.

This is another major issue that hinders more sustainable shipbreaking: flags of convenience.

Companies often choose to register their vessels in countries with loose legislations.

“Companies such as Maersk have made clear that if the EU doesn’t add Indian yards to the list, for instance, they will stop using the Danish flag and will move to a non-European flag,” explains Mulinaris. “And it’s not illegal to change flag, it’s simply unethical.”

That said, Maersk claims that more than half of the company’s ships fly non-EU flags due to their international trade activities and none of their vessels recycled in Alang, India, flew EU flags. “Maersk is and has always been in full compliance with all applicable EU legislation,” John Kornerup Bang, Head of Sustainability Strategy at Maersk, tells RM. Kornerup Bang further elaborates that, when it comes to recycling end-of-life vessels, the company decides on a case-by-case basis after evaluating factors such as steel price, support provided by the flag nation and tax legislation.

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Left: Dismantling a vessel at a craned berth in China. Credit: Wallenius Wilhelmsen

CE, Ship recycling: reducing human and environmental impacts, 2016; tinyurl.com/y5qpvzf9 SSI, www.ssi2040.org

Making Shipping Circular Whereas closing regulatory loopholes may take a long time, growing pressure from financial institutions is proving effective, as financial stakeholders are looking for greener and more ethical portfolios to invest in, explains Andrew Stephens, Executive Director of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI).

In 2018, for instance, the Norwegian Oil Pension Fund, the world’s largest private investor, divested from four shipping companies due to their shipbreaking practices.

Companies such as Maersk are reacting.

In fact, the world’s largest container shipping company is investing in efforts to improve labour and environmental standards on the beach of Alang, India, one of the largest ship cemeteries in the world. “Our commitment to certain facilities in Alang includes our active engagement in the recycling process on top of their own standards. Our local engagement has driven concrete positive change in a relatively short period of time and we benefit from this higher standard when recycling our vessels in these facilities,” explains Kornerup Bang. Furthermore, Maersk is developing a so-called Cradle-toCradle Passport to prepare ships for quality recycling from the design phase – a crucial step in the circular economy.

According to the company, “the Passport, a first for the shipping industry, will comprise an online database to create a detailed inventory that can be used to identify and recycle the components to a higher quality than is currently possible.” Both Maersk and the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd are part of the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative,

an online platform launched in December 2018 by the SSI to raise awareness among shipping stakeholders and inspire them with good practices.

“Those joining the initiative are the ones that are setting the bar of what is responsible,” elaborates Stephens.

For Mulinaris, Hapag-Lloyd’s off-the-beach policy is a model worth following. To the contrary, he emphasises that Maersk isn’t doing enough: “Maersk has helped improve some Indian yards, we can’t deny that.

But, why doesn’t a forerunner like Maersk use its influence to shift ship recycling in India completely from beaching to proper industrial facilities?

Maersk is linking shipbreaking to a method that the company itself earlier denounced.”

To that, Kornerup Bang replies: “the level of sustainability of a recycling process is not determined by what kind of method is used, but whether the method itself controls discharge and offers high quality and controlled implementation of all procedures, avoiding environmental damage and guaranteeing labour conditions.” Either way, these efforts are a big step forward compared to what giants such as Fincantieri, among the world’s largest shipbuilders, do to improve end-of-life ship recycling: virtually nothing.

“Ship owners spend time and resources building new ships, but end-of-life ships often seem to be somebody else’s responsibility,” says Andrew Stephens.

Experts agree that solutions to make shipbreaking more sustainable already exist, it’s just a matter of willpower. Dry-docks are

Policy

On this page: IMO (International Maritime Organization) Photos

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©NGO

©Studio Fasching

Policy

©Studio Fasching

Previous page: Shipwrecks in Bangladesh

Bottom: Pakistan, shipbreaking platform

©Andreas Ragnarsson

©Andreas Ragnarsson

Left: Bangladesh, workers

seen as the preferred option: they provide a stable working platform and contain oil and hazardous waste. The ship recycling industry could fully transition to dry-docks by 2030, the Shipbreaking Platform believes.

Improving the shipbreaking sector could help protect the environment and workers’ health, as well as save valuable resources.

“There is great potential in terms of circular economy within ship recycling,” claims Mulinaris. The process of recycling ships could actually generate almost zero waste, the International Maritime Organisation shows: “For instance, steel is reprocessed to become reinforcing rods for use in the construction industry or as corner castings and hinges for containers.

Ship generators are reused ashore.

Batteries find their way into the local economy. Hydrocarbons on board become reclaimed oil products to be used as fuel in rolling mills or brick kilns. Light fittings find further use on land.” In addition, Stephens concludes, sustainable shipbreaking could boost the creation of green jobs in Europe. A masterstroke.

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In Depth

Keeping

Track of Ice Momentous changes occurring over decades are often difficult to study; let alone understand and internalise.

When talking about climate change, although we understand its causes and the risks it poses, we are at a loss as to the scale of time and space. Until recently, the very effects of climate change could be described with tables and scientific papers, but at the same time it was hard to offer a clear picture. How can a century-long global phenomenon be explained? The colossal work by Fabiano Ventura, “On the Trail of the Glaciers,” analyses historical photos of mountain glaciers taken in the Karakoram, the Caucasus, Alaska, the Andes, the Himalayas and the Alps.

It compares these with pictures of the same places as they are today using the same vantage point (repeat photography).

Comparison and the visual power of images reveal the dramatic transformation of glaciers due to climate change.

In Spring 2018, Fabio Ventura completed his Himalaya expedition together with geologist Andrea Bollati and documentary director Federico Santini.

The team – led by a large group of Sherpas – explored the section of the Himalayan range bordering with Nepal,

India and China; comparing the current state of glaciers with photos taken in the past during some of the greatest expeditions on Mount Everest and Kangchenjunga, two of the three highest mountains in the world.

The historical photos used (some of which you can see on these very pages) are those of the 1899 expedition by English mountaineer Douglas W. Freshfield, which also included Italian photographer Vittorio Stella, and those taken in the 1920s and 1930s in expeditions that included George Mallory and Edward Oliver Wheeler, two of the first Britons to lay their eyes on Mount Everest.

“We use image comparison as a tool combing the communication power of pictures and the rigour of historical and scientific research,” explains Fabiano Ventura. “Images witnessing the shrinking of the biggest mountain glaciers in the world together with scientific data collected, provide an immediate picture of the extraordinary climate change that our planet is experiencing and confirm the urgency of all possible actions to contain its consequences.”

Mor von Dechy, 1884 – ©Royal Geographical Society

by the Editorial Staff

“On the trail of glaciers,” sulletraccedeighiacciai.com In 2020 the final stop of the project will take place: “Alps 2020.”

CAUCASUS

CAUCASUS

To the right, a frontal view of the Adishi glacier, situated in the central part of the Great Caucasus mountain range in the region of Svaneti, Georgia.

From a comparison of the images it is quite clear that there has been a collapse of the entire frontal surface area of the glacier. The length of the Adishi glacier is of 9 kilometres and its surface area spans over 12.9 kilometres squared. The glacier’s tongue stops at 2,298 metres above sea level, with a drop of over 1,000 metres, making it one of the most spectacular glaciers in the region. The Adishi glacier, that takes its name from the nearby village, is the source of the river Adishichala, an important water basin for the region.

Fabiano Ventura, 2011 – ©Archivio F. Ventura

Map: John Britt

THE ADISHI GLACIER IN SUANEZIA

In Depth

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HIMA LA YAS HIMALAYAS

The Gyarag glacier and Mount Cho Oyu (8,201 m), the planet’s sixth highest mountain.

Thanks to the photo’s perspective, which has been taken from a particularly high angle, the comparison highlights the impressive glacial lake that has formed over the last 50 years following the melt of the glacial surface that today spans over 2 kilometres long and 600 metres wide.

Unfortunately, the formation of these lakes is now a common characteristic of Himalayan glaciers, often representing a danger to the valley populations. In fact, flash floods have occurred following the rupture of natural dams that hold back the water.

Major E.O. Wheeler, 1921 ©Royal Geographical Society

GYARAG GLACIER

Fabiano Ventura, 2018 – ©Archivio F. Ventura

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ANDES ANDES

UPSALA GLACIER AND THE FRONTIER BETWEEN CHILE AND ARGENTINA 85 years later the Upsala glacier in the Parque Nacional de los Glaciares in Argentina, has retreated over 15 kilometres. The valley pictured in the photo is 90 kilometres long and over 10 kilometres wide.

Its name derives from the Swedish university Uppsala (taking the old spelling, Upsala), that conducted the region’s first glacial studies during the 20th century.

The northern part, that works its way down from the ice field, is found in the non-concluded boundary section of the contested Southern Patagonian Ice Field between Argentina and Chile, both of whom continue to place the ice in their official maps.

Bottom: Fabiano Ventura, 2016 – ©Archivio F. Ventura

Top: Alberto Maria De Agostini, 1931 ©Museo Borgatello

In Depth 29

ALAS KA ALASKA

THE POINT OF CONJUNCTION BETWEEN THE MUIR GLACIER AND ITS TRIBUTARY RIGGS IN THE MUIR FJORD

The image was taken from photographic point number 4, the White Ridge, in the current Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. 72 years later, the terminal part of the Muir glacier in the Glacier Bay National Park has retreated almost 20 kilometres, almost disappearing from the photo. The photographic comparison documents the significant changes in landscape, such as the growth of thick vegetation on the mountains surrounding the Muir fjord, in a very clear way.

Furthermore, notice the relationship between the trimline of the mountain in the background and the height of the glacier in the historic photograph, which in the central area was over 700 metres thick.

William Osgood Field, 1941 ©Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks

renewablematter 26. 2019

Fabiano Ventura, 2013 – ©Archivio F. Ventura

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Circular Seaweed Seaweed production is no longer just about creating a new biofuel, it is also a source of food, feed and a valuable component in the bioplastics sector. However, it must be grown in a circular manner.

by Francesco Bassetti

Francesco Bassetti is Editor at Renewable Matter and an expert in sustainability and circular economy based content. He currently lives in London where he obtained his Master’s in Sustainable Development at UCL.

Just over 10 years ago Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, vowed to donate over $3 billion to fight global warming by developing low carbon fuels, and in particular a seaweed-based biofuel for aeroplanes. In an exclusive interview with the BBC in 2008 he advocated for: “A fuel that doesn’t affect our food security […] fuels such as algae-based biofuels that can be grown and don’t eat into the food supply.”

Influenced by the surge in crude oil prices between 2003 and 2008, and subsequent boom in plant-based biofuels, interest in developing alternative fuels became a priority. In this context, algae biofuel emerged as the next big thing, a biofuel that didn’t impinge on food security.

However, to date algae biofuel production is less than one million gallons per annum and still

Policy

https://seamorefood.com/press

concerns surrounding food security. It is predicted that global food production will have to grow by 50-70% by 2050 to maintain current consumption trends (World Bank 2016). Therefore, promoting the consumption of seaweed represents an important contribution to food security. FAO data reveals that over 6 million tonnes of seaweed are already consumed annually around the world, with all the largest markets situated in Asia: 5 million tonnes in China, 800,000 tonnes in Korea, 600,000 tonnes in Japan (van den Burg 2016).

Top: Seamore, a Dutch company producing seaweed-based foods, embodies this approach.

It combines eye-catching marketing with strong efforts towards educating consumers on the benefits and potential applications of seaweed

1. Seaweed is a type of marine macro-algae and can belong to three distinct groups that contain over 1,000 species: brown algae, red algae and green algae.

Previous page: Skipping Rocks’ biodegradable and edible water container.

Credit: Skipping Rocks

nowhere near having a competitive market price, leading the decade starting from 2005 to be dubbed the “Algae biofuel bubble.” Promising companies that had received millions of dollars in funding in the early 2000s (Solazyme, XL Renewables, Aurora Biofuels and GreenFuel Technologies, to name just a few) have either gone bust or expanded into higher added value products such as food, food additives, cosmetics, speciality oils and animal feed.

Today, interest has moved on from seaweed1 as a biofuel to the potential of seaweed as a raw material with a variety and cascade of applications. Today, the most promising application for seaweed continues to be as a food source (either as a direct food or as an additive/thickener): in this sector, its production generates the most added value and currently holds the largest seaweed market share.

However, the animal feed and bioplastics sectors are also growing, and are particularly promising if seaweed is produced in a circular framework, where all parts are used, thus limiting waste and maximising value. In fact, Professor Sander van den Burg – researcher at the Wageningen University in The Netherlands and leading expert in sustainable development, business innovation and seaweed – believes that the seaweed market has grown hugely over the last couple of years, largely driven by the food sector and that, “the cascading of [seaweed] biomass must become the future for this industry.”

From Biofuel to Seaweed Super Food A major influence in the promotion of seaweed in the food sector has to do with mounting

In Europe, seaweed is gaining a foothold as a direct food source for human consumption in the health and wellness foods sector, which is expanding and looking for new products that meet consumer demands.

According to the United Kingdom’s Food and Drink Federation, the British organic food and beverages market has grown 6% since 2016, versus a 2% growth of the non-organic one, and in the European Union (EU) sales in organic produce rose almost 50% between 2012 and 2016.

This expanding sector is fertile ground for seaweed-based products. However, in Europe companies need to accompany consumers by educating them on their uses and benefits. Van den Burg highlights this issue by emphasising how these new companies currently, “spend a lot of time explaining to consumers what to do with their products. This is necessary.

You cannot simply dry your seaweed, put it in a package and leave it there: consumers need to be supported and educated as well.”

From Food to Feed The second largest use for seaweed is as a direct source of nutrition or as an additive to existing feeds both in livestock farming and aquacultures. This market is also promising from an environmental standpoint as these are large industries that process huge amounts of raw materials. For example, the total amount of soy used in the Netherlands for feed equalled 2,353,000 tonnes between 2010 and 2011 (van den Burg 2016). Producing that same amount of feed using seaweed would imply a significant reduction in the land, water and resources used to grow crops traditionally fed to animals.

In fact, van den Burg claims that, “the Dutch dairy industry would be an interesting market for seaweed-based feed.” Not only does

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renewablematter 26. 2019 Nutrient Cycle

The confined spaces of aquaculture systems in which fish are bred and raised often lead to high levels of pollution in surrounding waters. Growing algae in their vicinity provides mutual benefits: seaweeds obtain the nutrients required for their growth whilst helping improve the quality of water the fish rely on. Therefore, in IMT the circulation of nutrients occurs in a closed loop. Furthermore, the benefits of IMT are not just confined to seaweed that is produced for feed. In fact, by generating large amounts of seaweed biomass in IMT systems the potential for seaweed as a component in bioplastics (and potentially biofuels) is beginning to look economically feasible.

Source: Wageningen Institute.

FOOD

Fish Farming

The Problem of Plastics SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE

Production of microalgae and mussels

Nutrient + CO2

FOOD

MicroSynbiotiX Ltd, www.microsynbiotix.com Evoware, www.evoware.id Skipping Rocks, www.skippingrockslab. com/index.html

BIOGAS

Raw materials/ Ingredients for fish food

FERTILISER

seaweed have a high protein content but at low levels of inclusion (less than 2% of dry matter intake), it can exert a significant prebiotic activity, thus improving animal health and increasing production without the risk of livestock developing antibiotic resistance [Evans & Critchley 2013].

Aquaculture also benefits substantially from seaweed use, which is especially important as global production of farmed fish has surpassed that of beef, in a 14-fold growth since 1980. For example, MicroSynbiotiX Ltd, winner of the 2016 Blue Economy Challenge, focuses on creating a microalgal feed that acts as a vehicle for a variety of vaccines, thus reducing the need for antibiotics.

However, seaweed’s greatest potential contribution is embodied in a truly circular approach to its production: integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMT).

IMT unites animals and plants from different trophic levels into the same space, so that aquacultures can function as actual ecosystems.

Mankind has produced more than 8 billion tonnes of plastic since 1950. Europe alone generated 58 million tonnes of plastics in 2015. Growing concern over the impact of plastics on our health and environment (and in particular marine pollution) has led to increased interest in bioplastics. One of the major contributors in the development of bioplastics is PolyLactic Acid (PLA), a sustainable alternative to fossil fuelbased polymers that is both compostable and biodegradable. However, most of the production of PLA and other biopolymers currently relies on plant-based materials such as corn, wheat, sugar beets and sugar cane, thus threatening food security by putting food and feed crops in direct competition with the manufacturing of bioplastics.

In fact, the European Bioplastics association claim that: “the industry is committed to tap new renewable resources and move away from foodplants [and] is fully aware that the sustainable sourcing of its feedstock supply is a prerequisite for more sustainable products.”

Seaweed is thus emerging as a potential alternative. Van den Burg sees bioplastics as “one of the main areas of future interest for seaweed-based products.” Companies such as Evoware and Skipping Rocks have been working hard to consolidate biodegradable plastic packaging made from seaweed.

Skipping Rocks, founded in 2013, has actually come up with a product that can replace plastic bottles with biodegradable, and even edible water bottles. Although van den Burg claims that “the bioplastics sector is not driving the seaweed market for now […] it does have potential.”

In fact, the potential of seaweed as a bioplastic is particularly interesting when seaweed is produced with IMT systems. Research by the EU-funded Seabioplas project has explored the circular potential of integrated seaweed

Policy

Evoware

production systems. Its research shows how over 67 to 80% of nitrogen and 50% of phosphorus fed to farmed fish is released back into the environment, either directly from the fish or from solid waste.

The seaweed feeds on this nitrogen and phosphorus, thus removing the excess whilst generating extra biomass.

This not only benefits the seaweed and removes polluting elements from the water but also, when compared to other raw materials used in bioplastic production, implies fewer CO2 emissions, higher productivity, no risk of potential deforestation, and no consumption of freshwater or fertilisers and pesticides.

Furthermore, after seaweed has been used to generate PLA the residues can be used as valuable by-products in animal feed, or food supplements/additives.

This is incredibly significant as utilising by-products means both minimising waste and maximising profitability (and hence the economic feasibility) of seaweed bioplastic production.

I Sea a Circular Future

Evoware

Current research on the feasibility of seaweed production for bioplastics and even biofuels generally focuses on the single-uses of seaweeds. Combining different applications through approaches such as IMT, as well as developing the market for seaweed-based food and feed products, could be fundamental developments in bolstering seaweed production. However, more data and research on our ability to use a cascade of applications, such as the extraction of valuable hydrocolloids, functional food additives and use of remaining material as feed ingredient or for bioplastics is required.

In the words of Paulien Harmsen, Biorefinery expert at the Wageningen Institute: “Seaweed farming can become a large industry in Europe if we can produce a broad range of products from the same biomass. If we employ the cascade approach and master commercial biorefining the market for this sustainable industry will be huge.�

Seaweed for Bioplastics Source: Wageningen Institute.

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Polylactic acid products

Sun, CO2, no added fertilizer

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Fermentation to lactic acid

Aquaculture (IMTA)

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(Advanced) pre-treatment

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Dossier

AUSTRALIA Australia, the sixth-largest country in the world by surface area, is rich in natural resources and can boast a highly dynamic economy, making it an ideal candidate to become a protagonist in the development of the bioeconomy on a global scale. It exemplifies this by betting on bioenergy, biochemistry and biotechnologies.

Policy

A Full Boost Bioeconomy Even without a bioeconomy strategy, Australia – the world’s twelfth economy which has been growing for the last 30 years – is showing with its actions an ever more definite commitment to a bio-based future. The transition has already begun and is being led by the state of Queensland.

by Mario Bonaccorso

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

Queensland Biofutures, 10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan, https://statedevelopment. qld.gov.au/resources/ plan/biofutures/ biofutures-10yr-roadmapactionplan.pdf

Australia is the world’s sixth-largest country by surface area. Rich in natural resources, and driven by a strong and dynamic economy, the country, led by Prime Minister Scott John Morrison, does not yet have a bioeconomy strategy.

However, it is well prepared to become a protagonist in the development of this sector at a global level.

This is mainly thanks to the initiative taken by the state of Queensland, where, in 2016, the Queensland Biofutures, 10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan was presented, with the goal of creating the bioindustry of the future.

“Our vision is for a $1 billion sustainable and export-oriented industrial biotechnology and bioproducts sector attracting significant international investment, and creating regional, high-value and knowledge-intensive jobs. [...] The biofutures industry could have a transformative effect on Queensland’s economy, but it won’t happen without government commitment. We are determined to see a strong and sustainable industrial biotechnology and bioproducts sector become a reality.” These statements, present in the roadmap’s foreword, demonstrate the region’s commitment to losing their dependence on fossil fuels.

If on the one hand Queensland is leading the transition to a bioeconomy, on the other the entire country, even without a strategy, is showing with its actions a decisive drive towards a more biobased future. The economy, which is twelfth in the world and has been growing uninterruptedly since 1991, has benefited from the implementation of a series of policies aimed at furthering the growth of the bioenergy sector. These include testing new types of raw materials, from algae to agricultural and forestry waste.

The Bioenergy Sector Australia has a fundamental need to increase its energy security, stimulating regional development while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, bioenergy accounts for 1% of Australian electricity production, and for 7% of electricity generated from renewable sources; biofuels make up between 1 and 3% of total fuel consumption. Most of the country’s current bioenergetic capacity comes from bagasse cogeneration.

The clear political will is to support the sector’s continuous and sustainable growth, thanks to confidence in long-term investments and a high level of consciousness on the part of citizens and the community. With this in mind, the Australian Bioenergy Fund was launched by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) in 2015.

This is a government-owned “green bank’ that handles a total of 10 billion US dollars meant for clean energy projects. The Bioenergy Fund is an equity fund for bioenergy and energy from waste, including agricultural and forestry waste, in which the CEFC has invested 100 million, a sum matched by private investors. These investments aim to aid the development of new technologies that will improve the use of waste products from forestry, agriculture and algae for the production of energy and biobased fuels.

These advanced technologies allow for progress in the bioenergy sector without competing with traditional agriculture, an example of this being the technology for deriving biodiesel from microalgae biomass developed by the University of Melbourne.

In October 2018, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced that the government had granted 23 million dollars in funding to develop the first energy-from-waste

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Circa Group, www.circagroup.com.au Leaf Resources, http://leafresources.com.au

project in Western Australia, with the goal of diminishing the amount of waste going to landfills. This will involve the construction of a 668-million-dollar plant, developed jointly

by Macquarie Capital and Phoenix Energy, to be built in an industrial district in Kwinana, 25 miles south of Perth. The structure will generate energy from waste with a capacity of about 36MW, which is enough to give power to 50,000 families, and will use up to 400,000 tonnes of non-recyclable solid waste a year, derived from door-to-door collection. The plant will also be able to treat commercial and industrial waste, as well as construction and demolition waste, and the resulting ash by-product is commonly used as a base for roadworks, or in the European construction sector.

The Kwinana plant will be owned by a consortium whose members include Macquarie and the Dutch Infrastructure Fund (DIF). The project – set to be completed in 2021 – will receive up to 90 million dollars in investments from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The plant will be built by Acciona and managed by Veolia: it is expected to generate over 800 jobs during the construction phase, and 60 full-time jobs once it becomes operational.

According to ARENA’s CEO Darren Miller, “every year Australia produces over 23 million tonnes of solid urban waste, and this project could help divert non-recyclable waste from landfills whilst generating energy in the process.”

Biochemistry Heavyweights Energy is not the only sector involved in the Australian bioeconomy. Two of the world’s most dynamic companies in the field of biobased chemistry have their headquarters in Australia: Circa Group and Leaf Resources.

The former, based in Parkville, on the outskirts of Melbourne, was founded in 2006 with the hope of creating a sustainable business that converts non-food cellulose into highperformance renewable chemical products.

Cellulose is the most abundant and renewable polymer in the world. Millions of tonnes of cellulose are underused every year, and Circa sees a clear opportunity to extract more value from them.

By using the Furacell process, owned by the company, Circa produces industrial quantities of Levoglucosenone, a highly functional platform molecule with many potential industrial applications, including pharmaceuticals, agro-chemicals, food products and other advanced uses.

The company, led by Tony Duncan, is also building a portfolio of Levoglucosenonederived products, aimed at specific fields of chemistry with a growing market, such as biosurfactants, aromas, agro-chemical products, bio-polymers and bio-solvents, Cyrene being an example of the latter. Cyrene was developed collaboratively with York University’s GCCE

Policy Queensland Flies with Biofuel Amongst the many steps made towards an Australian bioeconomy, the use of advanced “Biojet’ fuel in the refuelling system at Brisbane Airport undoubtedly represents a milestone that places the city alongside Los Angeles, Oslo, Stockholm, Geneva and Chicago as one of the few airports promoting sustainable aviation.

The experimentation, which started between 2017 and 2018, laid the foundations for Brisbane’s future as a regional hub for biofuels, with a biorefinery capable of producing sustainable Biojet fuel from local biomass. This is the result of a collaboration between Virgin Australia,

National Marine Science Plan 2015-2025, https:// www.marinescience. net.au/wp-content/ uploads/2018/06/NationalMarine-Science-Plan.pdf

the government of Queensland, Brisbane Airport Corporation, US biofuel producer Gevo Inc. and distribution partners Caltex and DB Schenker, with the goal of sourcing and mixing advanced biofuel with traditional fuel used at Brisbane Airport.

The project could accelerate the use of biofuels for aviation in other airports in Queensland, which would also benefit the state’s agricultural industry – in towns such as Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Bundaberg and Toowoomba – thanks to higher demand for local biomass like sugarcane, also generating higher employment in the sector.

(Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence) and is aimed at the market for solvents used in specific chemical and pharmaceutical industries, totalling approximately 900,000 tonnes. Cyrene is a biobased alternative to traditional solvents such as NMP (N-Methyl-2pyrrolidone), DCM (Dichloromethane) and DMF (Dimethylformamide). These products are under regulatory pressure all over the world because of their toxicity. However, Circa sees opportunities for Cyrene that go beyond mere substitution. As part of the business’s scalability plan, a joint venture was undertaken in 2015 with Norwegian company Norske Skog. The result was FC5, a 6.5-million-dollar demonstrative commercial plant built in the Australian state of Tasmania, capable of producing 50 tonnes of Cyrene annually. Cellulose waste from forestry and the production of paper is used as raw material to produce Levoglucosenone and Cyrene.

In Europe, Circa is part of the ReSolve consortium, a 4.5-million-euro project funded

by Horizon 2020 that aims to replace traditional fossil-based solvents, classed as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC), according to the European REACH regulations.

Leaf Resources, based in Darra, a suburb of Brisbane in Queensland, has developed an innovative process centred around glycerol, a waste product from the production of biodiesel. The process, named Glycell, effectively breaks down vegetable biomass in cellulosic sugars and lignin in a convenient and clean way. The Australian company achieves higher rates of cellulose recovery and a more rapid sugar conversion, but the game-changing feat is the ability to recovery higher-purity glycerol, which is then sold at a profit.

The Glycell process can produce sugars for about 50 dollars a tonne, whereas the

market average from other sources is around 200 dollars a tonne. Cellulosic sugars are an important raw material for green and renewable chemical products, such as bioplastics and biofuels, whose rapidly growing markets are already worth billions of dollars.

Drastically reducing the cost of the main raw material for biobased chemicals, plastics and fuels, the Glycell process has the potential to change the face of renewable production on a global scale.

In 2016, Leaf Resources signed an important agreement with the Danish company Novozymes, a global leader in the enzyme market (of which it holds about 50%).

Additionally, in partnership with Claeris, a business at the forefront of the construction of industrial plants with a low environmental impact, Leaf Resources is building a commercial biorefinery in Segamat, a town in Johor state, in southern Malaysia.

The Australian company has signed a memorandum with Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM), the Malaysian government’s agency for innovation, along with the Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation, whose specific goal is to develop the bioeconomy in the Asian nation. It also established a joint venture with Claeris, called Leaf Malaysia, to advance the project.

Research and Development In Australia, pending a more complete strategy, the government has shown political drive and support for different sectors of the bioeconomy, particularly in relation to the increase in added value for agricultural, forestry and marine resources. In terms of government focus, most of the policies related to this meta-sector can be seen as research and development strategies. In 2013, the Australian government set out fifteen

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renewablematter 26. 2019 strategic research priorities for the future, which also integrate key bioeconomy themes, not only in the bioenergy field, but also in the monitoring and management of ecosystems and the optimisation of nutrition and health.

The development of biotechnologies was especially encouraged by national policy related to the bioeconomy, and by communication strategies that draw attention to the importance and benefits of biotechnology for the agricultural and industrial sectors. Furthermore, in 2011 the Australian government published two studies on biorefineries that investigated the potential of value chains for tropical and temperate biomass.

Aiming to promote research capacity in the key sectors of bioscience and biotechnologies, in 2011 the government developed a “Strategic Roadmap” for Australian research infrastructure. Following the research investment plan published in 2012, support for important research infrastructure was identified as an essential element and inserted in the framework for the “National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (2013-2016).”

Additionally, the Strategic Roadmap from 2011 provided support for several networks related to the bioeconomy, specifically in the fields of integrated biological discovery, biological collections, biotechnology for advanced and industrial materials, as well as next-generation biofuels.

In 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Science launched the “National Marine Science Plan 2015-2025,” which focuses on the development of the “blue economy” and the protection of the ocean and Australian marine resources. The Marine Science Strategy outlines the so-called “10-year steps for success”, prioritising several research areas including: the creation of instruments to support scientific decision-making for policy and industry; the development of an oceanographic modelling system; the construction of national marine bases and long-term monitoring plans; industrial and government partnerships; scientific marine education in a more interdisciplinary context; investment in research vessels; and exploration, mapping and monitoring of marine ecosystems, all of which whilst favouring national collaborations.

In addition to these national innovation strategies, South Australia also published a bioeconomic strategy called “Building a bioeconomy in South Australia 2011-2015.”

More business-oriented, it identified three elements of strategic intervention. Firstly, it aimed to guarantee access to venture capital. The second goal was the creation of infrastructures such as clusters.

Thirdly, it offered support for commercial development and assistance in the marketing of new businesses. The Finnish Technical

Research Centre (VTT) was involved in the development of a local bioeconomy.

VTT, the largest organisation for multitechnology applied research in Northern Europe, upon request from the South Australian government, studied the conditions of forestry-sector industries in the socalled Green Triangle, and examined the added value that could be achieved through high-technology production. The local government asked VTT to find ways to enhance productivity in the region’s forestry and sawmill industries, and to promote cooperation among businesses. The Finnish Research Centre recommended seven future paths for the region. Three of these have a 3-to-5-year timescale, while the others span over a decade into the future. The short-term solutions for increased productivity are as follows: more efficient use of timber resources; increased production value for the construction sector; and the need to take advantage of opportunities offered by fibrous raw materials and industrial collateral flows. According to VTT, x-ray scanning of timber could increase yield volume by 5%, which equates to an annual revenue increase of 70 million Australian dollars (about 46 million euros) for large sawmills.

The scanning enables analysis of the internal structure of wood and hence identifying its optimal use.

Implementation of the VTT’s long-term recommendations requires the construction of new biorefineries for the production of highly refined products, such as absorbent materials and membranes, cellulose-based fabrics, chemical products and polymers with biological and nanocellulose bases.

The two-phase study was co-financed by the state and federal governments. South Australia boasts considerable forest resources: over 340,000 hectares of forests and plantations, primarily consisting of pine and eucalyptus.

The sawmill industry employs around 35% of the Green Triangle’s population in South Australia.

Policy Interview

by M. B.

Australia Supports Innovation and Sustainability Marco Baccanti, Chief Executive of Health Industries

Marco Baccanti is Chief Executive of Health Industries SA, a South Australia government organisation.

Health Industries, http://healthindustries. sa.gov.au

Marco Baccanti is the Chief Executive of Health Industries, the South Australia state agency for the economic development of the life sciences sector, based in Adelaide. Backed by a team of professionals with international experience, the organisation focuses on incentivisation policies for the industrial sector, on research and its applications, on the development of state infrastructure, on attracting investors and supporting local businesses and start-ups.

In this interview with Renewable Matter, he tells us how the Australian government is supporting the bioeconomy and innovation.

In the United States, the definition of bioeconomy includes the field of biotechnology for health. In Europe, this field is excluded because focus is centred on the social challenges that need to be faced.

How is the bioeconomy defined in Australia?

“The Australian approach is always pragmatic, simplified; in this sense it could be defined as Anglo-Saxon. Therefore, the concept of bioeconomy here has a simple meaning: resources, energy, transformation of renewable raw materials, biorefineries to enhance agricultural waste, farming, etc. The conjunction of the concept of bioeconomy with biotechnologies for health does not occur, the two ideas are seen as different.”

Sundrop. Credit: Mansouraboud68 / CC BY-SA 4.0

How does South Australia support the bioeconomy and innovation?

“In recent years, the state government has directed a lot of investments and innovative legislative

initiatives at the renewable energy sector. Several important projects have received funding, such as the largest battery system in the world, connected to wind-powered electricity generators, which was constructed very quickly thanks to a collaboration with Tesla. Project Sundrop is also noteworthy: a solar energy plant in the middle of the desert, with a multitude of mirrors directing the sun’s rays at a central tower, which is 127 metres high and contains molten salt.

The electricity generated by the plant is used in a seawater desalination plant, which itself then provides water to a large system of hydroponic greenhouses where tomatoes are grown. The plant is completely self-sufficient in terms of energy and mineral resources and produces 15,000 tonnes of tomatoes per year through a closed, integrated and self-sustainable system of energy, water, salt and carbon dioxide.

With regards to legislative initiatives related to alternative energy sources, it is important to recall the recent incentive given to South Australian citizens, who receive a significant reimbursement from the state if they install batteries for energy accumulation on their property. In so doing, they ensure that the energy generated by their solar panels is not simply recirculated in the network, but is stored for further domestic use, for example during the night. The incentive has already had an important effect: the German group Sonnen set up a plant in Adelaide for the production of domestic batteries, which is set to generate 430 jobs by the end of 2019. The plan has just been re-confirmed

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One last important chapter is represented by the initiatives in the fuel-cell and hydrogen-production sectors. Here too, the strategy is aimed at storing and valorising the mismatch between the production of solar energy and the effective needs of the network.

Despite the recent emphasis on the theme of sustainability, there are no examples of biorefineries or waste-enhancement plants for the food industry, for example. The most common approach is the export of low-added-value commodities, without local transformation.

Finally, from the point of view of supporting innovation, the most effective scheme is at the federal level: thanks to this, all businesses registered in Australia that have an annual revenue under 13 million euro (AUD 20 million) have the right to be reimbursed in cash for 43.5% of their research and development expenses.”

How does public opinion perceive the bioeconomy and biotechnologies?

“Unfortunately, as far as bioeconomy is concerned, the debate here is much less lively than it is in Europe. In the biotechnology sector, the aforementioned reimbursement incentive for research and development has helped to generate entrepreneurial initiative and has attracted investments from international biotechnology companies that come to Australia to perform clinical research (particularly in the health sector). This is

because incentives are made available to foreign companies as well, as long as they are registered in Australia.”

What makes Australia more or less competitive compared to the US and Europe in innovative sectors such as the bioeconomy?

“As far as I have been able to observe, Australia today has a competitive advantage thanks to generous research incentives and the agility of its regulatory system, which has a simple structure and operates quickly.

Let me give you an example: in Australia, the time needed to obtain authorisation to proceed with a first human clinical trial for a biotechnological pharmaceutical can be as low as six weeks, compared to the nine months on average that are necessary to obtain similar approval from the EMA in Europe or the FDA in the US. Aside from this, the quality standard of scientific research is good, and access to market capital is relatively easy, especially as far as first stock exchange listing is concerned.

On the other hand, Australia definitely suffers because of its geographical distance from the main markets, as well as from scarce competition and lesser entrepreneurial culture in the field of research, which also makes technological transfer and industrial collaboration more difficult. Also not insignificant in making the country less competitive is the small size of its internal market, heavily affected by the fact that Australia’s population is of just 25 million people.”

Interview

by M. B.

Decarbonise the Australian Way Tony Duncan, CEO of Circa Group

Tony Duncan is co-founder and CEO of Circa Group, the Australian biotech company converting waste biomass into advanced biochemical materials. In this interview with Renewable Matter, Duncan outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the Australian bioeconomy and what Circa Group has planned for development in the biobased chemistry industry.

Tony Duncan is co-founder and CEO of Circa Group, as well as Director of Circa Sustainable Chemicals.

1.http://www.fao.org/3/ I9580EN/i9580en.pdf

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Australian bioeconomy?

“Australian bioeconomy initiatives have covered a wide range of developments – as you would expect from a country with considerable natural resources. Although there have been a number of successes emerging from traditional bio-economy industries (forestry and farming), commercialisation of newer technologies has been limited.

From a government perspective, the focus has

been on specific large-scale opportunities related to energy (e.g. wind, solar, carbon capture and storage (CCS), along with ongoing funding for University research. In industry, R&D1 incentives are a very important aspect.

They help develop new technologies and have been critical to Circa’s prototype plant being built. Other federal and State initiatives have also helped over the years, although these are often dependent on government agendas.

That said, we do feel that the government is becoming increasingly aware of the need for long term planning in the sector and of the growing need to better balance incentives for commercialisation as well as research.”

What is Circa Group’s role in the bioeconomy?

What are your plans for the future?

Policy

2.https://biooekonomie. de/sites/default/files/ country_profile_australia_ pdf.pdf

3.http://www.fao.org/3/ I9580EN/i9580en.pdf

“Production has started at our first large scale prototype demonstration plant FC5 (a joint venture with Norske Skog), delivering commercial trials of Cyrene® and establishing supply credibility with global customers and researchers. Once this has been achieved, our next goal is to start planning for scale-up with a commercial-scale FC6 plant.

Cyrene®, which is made from non-food based sustainable biomass, is one of the few new polar aprotic solvents on the market. It competes with traditional solvents such as NMP, DMF, DMSO and also has some unique properties which can provide a valuable differentiation point in given areas. For example, research recently conducted by the University of York and CSIC Madrid found that Cyrene® has successfully produced the highest-quality graphene dispersion ever reported; even compared with NMP, an increasingly restricted solvent currently on the EU list of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC). This has far-reaching commercial implications, as it opens up multimillion euro market opportunities for graphene in applications such as advanced composites and polymers, coatings, batteries and 3D printed materials.

More recent work at the UK’s National Institute of Graphene and the University of Manchester has enhanced the initial findings with regards to Cyrene®. We are now looking at opportunities for graphene inks to be directly applied to materials like textiles and paper, as well as use in various applications including transistors, sensors, antennas, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and wearable electronics.

Other good news regarding Cyrene® is that we recently received authorisation from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to manufacture or import up to 100 tonnes per year of Cyrene® in the EU, after receiving REACH Annex VIII approval.

Our next goal is to register Cyrene® in the US and other jurisdictions.

Finally, we will be continuing to research more high-value applications for Cyrene® as we believe its potential is yet to be fully explored. For example, we are aware of projects underway that are looking at Cyrene® as a solvent with which to manufacture high-performance epoxy resins, water filtration membranes and active pharmaceutical ingredients – to name but a few.”

There seems to be a lack of a specific government strategy on the bioeconomy in Australia. What benefits would a comprehensive plan bring?

“As mentioned above, bioeconomy policy in Australia would benefit from being more ‘connected,’ as many policy initiatives are more regional, such as the ‘Building a Bioeconomy in South Australia 2011–2015’ strategy. Recent policies have also focused on the bioenergy aspect of the bio-based economy.2 A comprehensive bioeconomy strategy would help the Australian federal government reach many of its objectives in relation to policy, such as increasing

food security, reducing industry’s carbon footprint and helping the country transition away from fossil fuels and towards using more sustainable raw materials.”

How relevant is the role played by the agriculture and forestry industries in the Australian bioeconomy? How relevant is the role played by green chemistry?

“Forestry and agriculture are key Australian industries and contribute substantially to Australian wealth, which has traditionally been bio-based. These industries are diverse, for example bioenergy, dairy, wheat, fibre-based paper and packaging manufacture. Policies are increasingly focused on industrial biotechnology as a tool to move away from petro-based feedstocks and towards renewable biomass.3 Australia lacks a large-scale, traditional chemicals industry outside mining, oil and gas, and agricultural chemicals. The federal government has not yet understood how to manage this area.

Also, while there are many excellent research groups in universities, these are often relatively small – with limited industrial support – compared to those in countries such as the US, Germany, UK or France.”

Without the general public on board, it is really difficult to truly decarbonise.

What is the Australian public opinion on the bioeconomy? Are there plans for education and training?

“I’m sure it’s not simply an Australian issue – public opinion in this sector is polarised.

However, from our experience the take-up of new more sustainable technologies by the general public is rapidly increasing (take solar as an example). Australia is a country that is very susceptible to weather extremes, and, generally, technologies which help mitigate its effects are supported. We’ve found that public awareness of the bioeconomy in Australia – and globally – is often linked to interest in sustainable industries. Our work at Circa has generated much interest in Australia as sustainability becomes increasingly mainstream.”

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The Right to Repair

by Giorgia Marino

In the fight against obsolescence, Europe has implemented some black and white rules to help prolong the use-life of electrical and electronic equipment.

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.

A washing machine is not forever, there’s little doubt about this. But, if buying an appliance used to be a long-term investment, nowadays this is no longer true. Whether obsolescence is planned, induced by the psychology of the market or made inevitable by the advancement of technology, the use-life of products – especially electric and electronic ones – keeps getting shorter.

This is also caused by difficulties in repairing these products. Technicians are expensive, spare parts disappear from the market after a while, and the items themselves are often difficult to dismantle or made in a way that makes disassembly impossible. Repairmen, called in to mend air-conditioners, dishwashers or PCs, more often than not just end up saying: “It’s better to throw it away and get a new one.”

Meanwhile, electronic waste keeps piling up, and threatens to become the next major environmental crisis: according to estimates by the UN’s Global E-Waste Monitor, in 2018, in just one year, 48.5 million tonnes were produced.

That is one thousand times the weight of the Titanic, or 4,500 Eiffel Towers of potentially toxic and dangerous materials.

Evidently, this “throwaway” culture is no longer sustainable. And the motion for the right to reparability, advanced by a consortium of

associations and NGOs, was put to the European Commission, and finally made its official entry into the Ecodesign Directive. After all, it all starts with design: “80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at the design stage,” states the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), an NGO network.

Energy Efficiency or Durability?

The Ecodesign Directive and its updates have, until now, been primarily focused on ecocompatible design from the perspective of energy-saving, or, at best, water-saving. The addition of the circular economy package, however, has now expanded the focus to the entire life cycle of products, prioritising aspects such as recyclability, re-use and use-life of goods.

Even so, it is often the case that prolonging a product’s life and making it more energyefficient are conflicting objectives. The ideal option for consumers’ finances would obviously be longer lasting products, but these have not always coincided with eco-friendliness. This idea is addressed by a report compiled in 2018 by the Öko-Institut in Fribourg: “For a long time, the energy-saving message was that consumers should buy a new and more energy-efficient appliance once their existing product had been

Policy

ŐkoInstitut www.oeko.de/en

in service for a few years. For types of product whose efficiency improved rapidly over a short time period, this undoubtedly made sense.

However, the energy efficiency of a wide range of appliances has improved substantially in recent years, mainly as a result of the EU’s Energy Labelling and Ecodesign Directives. Consumers who already own an energy-efficient appliance should therefore keep it in service for as long as possible in order to minimise its environmental impact.”

The best decision in environmental terms

– between repair and replacement – is of course dependent on the type of product.

The Öko-Institut has compiled a list of electrical appliances and electronic devices that should be used for as long as possible: computers, laptops, smartphones, washing machines, dryers with high-efficiency heat pumps, and other appliances like fridges, vacuum cleaners and dishwashers that already have A-class energy ratings (even B-class for vacuum cleaners).

Nevertheless, “numerous studies on products such as notebooks and washing machines show that a long-lasting appliance is generally more eco-friendly – despite advances in energy efficiency. Notebooks are an example: in a study for the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the Öko-Institut calculated that even if the new notebook uses around 10 per cent less energy than the old one, it would have to remain in service for around 80 years in order to compensate for the energy consumed in its manufacture. From an environmental perspective, it also makes sense to keep other electronic devices, such as TVs and smartphones, in service for as long as possible.”

The Pillars of Reparability: Disassembly and Spare Parts Once the ideal trade-off between efficiency and lifespan has been established, the question then becomes: how can product use-life be prolonged?

To address this, the package of amendments to the Ecodesign Directive added between December 2018 and January 2019 contains a series of measures that aim to increase the reparability of energy-related appliances, such as washing machines, dishwashers, dryers, fridges, computer and TV screens, and lighting.

There are three essential focus areas: design oriented to longer use-life (including modularity and the possibility of upgrading); availability of spare parts; and easier access to information regarding maintenance and upgrading.

To begin with, the Directive asks to make it easier to dismantle products, for example by not welding or gluing parts together.

The request has been largely agreed upon, with important exceptions for washing machines and dishwashers.

Another key issue is the availability of spare parts. For the first time, it has been established that parts must be made available for at least 7 years after a model is put on the market, with the prescription extending to 10 years in some cases. Not an insignificant endeavour for manufacturers, who have until March 2021 – when the new regulations come into effect – to adjust their production. “The timings are quite challenging,” comments Paolo Falcioni, Director General of APPLiA Europe, the international association that unites European manufacturers and distributors of domestic appliances.

“However, the text published by the European

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EEB – European Environmental Bureau https://eeb.org Home Appliance Europe www.applia-europe.eu

Commission is well-balanced in accounting for the different forces at play, and manufacturers are undoubtedly in favour of transparency and the definition of minimal requisites in terms of availability of spare parts. There will obviously be some increase in expenditure for companies, but the legislation will require this effort of every manufacturer, even non-European ones who sell on the common market. This will guarantee market-wide uniformity, without disparities.”

The world of civil society also appears to be satisfied, but with some reservations. “It’s an important first step, – comments Stephane Arditi, responsible for the EEB’s circular economy policies – for the first time there are clear and practical rules for product reparability: an excellent precedent for future targets. Although the availability period for spare parts is still quite limited, thus penalising appliances that could last even longer with repairs.”

“Another criticism – Arditi goes on – can be made regarding ‘coupled’ parts. Some spare parts that always go together within appliances can now be sold both together or separately, but others will continue to only be sold together.

This, aside from wasting material, only increases repair costs. This is a decisive factor, because if reparability is to become a widespread option, it should be as convenient as possible.”

Who Repairs What?

Who Decides?

The truly contentious topic, however, is “who.”

Who has the right, the qualifications and the ability to repair?

It is crucial to establish this, because it means deciding to whom companies must give maintenance information and technical files regarding their electronic components. Without this, repairs become an impossible undertaking, or at least a very arduous one.

“What the NGO consortium was asking for – recounts Davide Sabbadini of Legambiente – is transparency for the files needed for electronic diagnostics. The ideal situation for us would be for these to be open and downloadable online, easy to consult for all users. This way, not only professional repairmen, but also associations and eco-centres could perform repairs and eventually resell products, supplying a poorer part of the market and optimising the use-life of products as much as possible.”

However, information is power, and no one wants to provide it freely. The Commission’s work therefore involved a delicate balancing act between the demands of manufacturers and those of organisations and consumers.

Robert Juki, Sector Head for Energy Efficiency of Products at the European Commission, explains: “In the revised ecodesign regulations, Member States have agreed to introduce two spare parts lists; one for professional repairers only, and one for end-users and professional repairers. Whilst everyone will have access to the spare parts of the second list, spare parts and repair information related to the spare parts on the first list is limited to professional repairers only. We believe that these requirements will also stimulate Member States to set up appropriate registration systems for repair organisations.”

“Balanced legislation –comments Paolo Falcioni – that successfully accounts for security and the right to repair. The technical information will be provided to those who can demonstrate that they are able to work on a washing machine or dishwasher without jeopardising consumer safety or their own. The law doesn’t exclude anyone, it only establishes necessary criteria for safe repairs. It also takes into account simpler repairs that consumers themselves can perform without risks, such as changing a refrigerator’s seal. For these cases, some producers already offer a quick repair kit that makes repairs easier.”

NGOs, on the other hand, are less satisfied.

“We know that, on paper, the legislation is not discriminatory, but for small repairmen or ‘repair cafés’ it can be prohibitively expensive to gain the required accreditation,” notes Stephane Arditi. “There is also the risk that large companies will exercise excessive control over access to authorisations to repair their devices and appliances.” He is also doubtful about the question of safety: “It is impossible to know whether consumers will try to open up and repair an appliance by themselves. At this point, to reduce risks, it would be better if information were available to everyone.”

An Eye on the Future Criticism and dissatisfaction aside, the revisions to the Ecodesign Directive will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the environment and

Policy energy saving in Europe. “Based on our estimate, the total savings are expected to be around 130 TWh per year in 2030, which is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of Ireland.”

What is still missing is a labelling system that makes consumers immediately aware of a product’s degree of reparability. “But we are working on it,” assures Arditi. “The Joint Research Centre, which works alongside the Commission, is carrying out various studies to help establish a Repair Scoring System. This could result in a label, similar to the energyefficiency one, with different ratings determining the degree of reparability. Such an instrument would be really effective in finally transforming the market.”

Meanwhile, the focus is now shifted outside of Europe, considering that the legislation crafted in Brussels is a unique historical precedent on a

global scale. “North America began campaigns for reparability before us – Arditi explains – but the USA’s approach is different, for them it is more a battle on the principles of the issue, rather than a debate on technical details.”

European pragmatism could therefore lead by example in a revolutionary change to market models. “The ideal situation would be to join forces, combining the practical experience in North America, the legal precedents in Europe and other more interesting approaches from Asian countries like China, Korea and Taiwan, thus creating a global market of reparable products. Once we reach this level, a critical mass for creating real business opportunities for longer lasting and more sustainable products will have been achieved.”

And the e-waste generation’s mad rush will come to an end.

Repair Scoring System http://susproc. jrc.ec.europa.eu/ ScoringSystemOn Reparability/index.html

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Reuse

and New European Directives: Basic Guidelines

by Pietro Luppi, Alessandro Strada, Karin Bolin

In Europe, the second-hand industry is made up of several activities, sales and trades. The second-hand clothing sector is particularly interesting: the supply of used clothes continues to grow whilst the quality of recycled fabrics decreases and waste management costs rise.

Pietro Luppi, Director of Occhio del Riciclone Research Centre, and spokesman for the National Network of Second-Hand Operators, is in charge of the Innovation Office at Humana People to People Italy.

Trading in second-hand goods is one of the world’s oldest professions, but the ecological value of reuse has only recently been recognised. The circular economy package provides tools and targets that increasingly help introduce reuse – and preparation for reuse – in waste prevention and management policies. The second-hand market will be inundated by huge supplies of never previously available goods. The EU and national institutions will have to make decisions that will dramatically change the whole industry. A very hard task ahead if there is no clear view of reality.

The European Union demands the “creation and support of reuse networks”: But what exactly needs supporting? Who must be involved in such networks? Today, in Europe, the secondhand industry is made up of a host of activities, sales and trades: peddlers, junk shop owners, flagship and third-party retailers, used clothes or other durables collectors, wholesalers, charity shops and online platforms.

Second-hand goods which often travel from richer to poorer areas. Wherever there is higher

Alessandro Strada is a philosopher specialised in strategic marketing. Since 2010 he has collaborated with contracting and secondhand clothing collection sectors for Humana People to People Italy.

Karin Bolin, President of Humana People to People Italy. She has dealt with the reuse sector for over 30 years in Italy, France, Sweden, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.

income, large availability of used goods and limited demand cause low prices.

Wherever income is lower, the exact opposite happens and so, by osmosis, there is a constant import/export flow both within and outside of the European Union. Oftentimes, as shown by the Eurotranswaste (2012) and “Holes in the Circular Economy” (2019) studies, such phenomenon cause illegal activities.

So much so that in Italy organised crime tends to get a hold of used clothes collected in Municipalities only to use them in international waste trafficking.

General figures reported are contradictory and policy makers risk becoming confused.

Available reports sometimes reveal only reuse activities already included in prevention programmes: according to such an approach, Flanders (Belgium) is top of the list, nearing 5 kg per head of reuse, whereas Italy shows negligible results. However, according to the 2018 National Report on Reuse by Occhio del Riciclone and Utilitalia, if all activities that independently carry out waste prevention were

World included in the count, Italy would probably boast 8 kg of reuse per citizen.

Second-Hand Clothes Supply Chains: The Shape of Things to Come Collection and recovery supply chains for second-hand clothes are particularly interesting.

They tend to anticipate by a number of years structuring and integrating tendencies in environmental policies currently occurring with other durable goods. Most European second-hand clothes are collected with kerbside containers and very often within textile separate waste collection services entrusted by contract code to public procurement contracts.

Entrustment is an increasingly important link because it creates complex supply chains that can be summarised in the following

Figure 1 | Number of times an item is worn* *Average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used >100 units (2015)

200 190

2x

180 170 160 150 140 130

~50gn units (2000)

120 110 100

2000

2005 World GDP

2010 Clothing utilisation

Clothing sales Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Euromonitor International Apparel & Footwear, 2016 edition (volume sales trends 2005-2015) World Bank, World development indicators – GD (2017)

2015

main steps: separate waste collection, first stocking in reserve plants (R13), so-called “original” material sale and transfer to recovery plants (R3), treatment/preparation for reuse, intermediate and final sale of the reusable fraction through second-hand channels, recycling of non-reusable fractions, and disposal of what cannot be recovered. Along the supply chain, there are a variety of operators with different targets (some for-profit others non-profit) that operate in one or more steps according to their skills, operational capacity and location in an increasingly international market.

A study carried out in 2016 by Humana People to People Italy and Target Consulting, on a sample of 1,000 individuals, highlights how citizens, besides asking for transparency and rigour in supply chains, are more likely – 84% of the interviewees – to allocate their own used clothes to supply chains promoting solidarity.

Environmental achievements are therefore strictly linked to honouring the “solidarity mandate” of donors.

The economic sustainability of services are also worth monitoring. Indeed, unlike other waste fractions for goods, whose collection and treatment constitutes a cost for the community, historically the textile fraction has been conveyed through recovery channels able to produce economic returns that can repay collection costs and sometimes even generate profit. However, the sustainability picture of supply chains is changing. Markets are experiencing a dramatic drop in international sale prices of the “original” (on average 2025% less compared to 2014) as a result of a number of factors. These include: an overall increase in supply of second-hand clothes due to higher interception in Europe and the US, and to the fact that China and South Korea have recently started collecting and marketing their own second-hand clothes (550 thousand tonnes in 2017; UN Comtrade); poor profitability of selection plants and their difficulty in channelling lower-quality textile waste; and international politics (importing countries that are now ravaged by civil wars or high import tax). Moreover, there is a higher residue to be disposed of at a higher cost per kilo. General lowering of collection quality depends on the fast-fashion boom and change in consumer habits in so-called advanced economies.

According to McKinsey & Co, the average consumer buys 60% more clothes compared to 2000 and keeps them for half the time (figure 1).

Price-Based Bids and Economic Break-Even Points The varying equilibrium between selling price and costs of second-hand clothing supply chains, brings into question the sustainability

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renewablematter 26. 2019 of entrusting recovery and reuse services (directly or indirectly) exclusively to highest bidder systems. In Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom this is a widespread practice, despite the fact that it is hard to argue that second-hand clothing recovery and reuse are part of “high repetition” or standardisation services, which European Public Occhio del Riciclone Procurement contracts allow for. Quality of Network, www.occhiodelriciclone.com collected clothes is variable, costs are variable and revenues are not only variable but also Humana People subject to radical fluctuations. In 2017, to People Italia, during an event at Ecomondo, Humana People www.humanaitalia.org to People Italy highlighted that, during the hardest economic conditions, the presence of a rigid economic factor breaking the sustainability framework risks favouring those willing to slash costs through illegal practices and environmental disregard. In general, highest bidder systems produce ruthless

Figure 2 | Impact of “highest bidder” approach on the price equilibrium of used textiles.

Source: Elaboration by Occhio del Riciclone, 2019.

0.60 €

0.40 €

0.20 €

0€

2000

2005 Sale price (“original” – 20.01.10) Accumulated costs (operational cost + highest bid)

2010

2015 Separate collection costs and stocking (R13)

2019

competition amongst operators willing to offer the contracting authority every economic margin in order to win the bid and therefore survive. A rationale that could undermine any action that, in line with the European directive, determines incentives or concessions aimed at making the reuse economy more sustainable (such as Vignaroli, Braga and Muroni bills now being debated in the Italian Parliament). Indeed, such incentives risk evaporating into indirect giveaways to multi-utilities or Municipalities contracting out services. Figure 2 describes – out of a sample of 100 Italian Municipalities – collection cost and revenue fluctuations, highlighting the effects on a break-even point of an integration into costs of a hypothetical bid of €0.08 per kg to a contracting authority (actually contributions exceeding €0.10 are quite common).

Extended Producer Responsibility and Measuring-Oriented Models Compulsory separate collection of textiles by 2025, introduced by European Directive 851, could generate a global increase of total collection and a decrease in waste that can be turned into energy, making it very difficult to keep up traditional collection programmes based on free service by service providers.

The same situation, in the medium term, could be extended to all other fractions of reusable durable goods. Against this background, extended producer responsibility (EPR) could become essential for the reuse system to work. But today more than ever, “brand new” product manufacturers quite rightly see second-hand producers as inconvenient competitors, so much so that if they managed the new EPR schemes they could opt for rationales of reusable grabbing so as to hinder the recirculation of goods.

Furthermore, care should be taken when distributing public or producer funds in order to avoid unfair practices or market distortions. In this respect, a word of warning about EPR experiences and public fund schemes for reuse applied in France and Belgium, where there are non-profit groups of second-hand operators that not only benefit from substantial concessions on costs, but also receive up to 75% of their revenue from public or producer funds, focusing their operational processes not on the market but on the measures requested by providers. Getting many incentives allows for setting up prices that competitors (both profit and non profit) cannot match. Sometimes their prices are so low that they attract the interest of foreign second-hand operators that grab goods in subsidised shops only to transport them into their own countries.

From Plastics

to Oil

Agilyx, a U.S. pyrolysis company that has spent almost 15 years perfecting synthetic oil production, has now amplified their operations to welcome a rarely recycled material: foam.

by Katie Pyzyk

Katie Pyzyk is a freelance journalist living in the United States.

She writes on a variety of scientific topics including biology, environment, and technology, as well as waste and recycling, social issues and smart cities.

Almost 15 years ago Agilyx opened a pyrolysis plant that specialises in processing hard-to-recycle mixed plastics into high-quality synthetic crude oil.

In April 2018, the Tigard, Oregon-based company delved into new territory that has the potential to revolutionise polystyrene (PS) recycling.

Agilyx has started operating a circular chemical recycling system that de-polymerises PS to create a styrene monomer oil.

Agilyx processes all forms of PS, but it has earned the most attention for accepting expanded polystyrene (EPS), also called foam, into its recycling facilities. EPS presents a variety of recycling challenges, in part because of its low melting point and light weight – which often makes transport expensive and is rarely accepted in U.S. curbside recycling programmes. In fact, a growing number of U.S. municipalities have banned or are trying to ban foam products. In fact, foam is often considered a contaminant if it is included with other recyclable items and hence is mostly sent on to landfills.

Some EPS recycling operations do exist in the United States, but usually they densify or melt the foam to keep the material in its polymer form. The PS resin is then manufactured into new products such as picture frames, surfboards and synthetic lumber. However, few plants exist that turn EPS into a monomer oil, especially at the scale on which Agilyx operates.

Another unique aspect of Agilyx’s monomer oil operation is that it accepts feedstocks at any contamination level, many of which other processors consider too “dirty” to handle.

An American Chemistry Council (ACC) report notes that although contamination is a problem for other plastic recycling methods, “because depolymerisation breaks scrap plastics back into the basic building blocks for resin, that contamination is removed,” which makes the resulting product “free from impurities, and possessing virgin resin-like properties.”

Depolymerisation thus allows for the recovery of “resin that would otherwise generally not be recovered,” ACC reports.

Agilyx’s main feedstocks come from commercial or industrial suppliers, although it also accepts single-use postconsumer materials, such as used foam cups or food trays from schools. The company’s leaders believe they have perfected a “tightly disciplined” feedstock management protocol over the past five years, which ensures a high-quality and dependable product. Before agreeing to accept feedstock from a supplier, Agilyx employees characterise each batch of materials and add the characterisation to their predictive modelling capabilities. This way, they know the yield and contamination level of each polymer in advance, and can therefore modify the pyrolysis process to ensure a consistent output.

“The recipe and quality control processes dramatically impact the ability to make a product,” claims Joseph Vaillancourt, Agilyx’s CEO. “That’s the piece most people don’t

World appreciate […] We take in waste from 500 different companies,” which is then used to create a uniform monomer oil product that can be customised to each end-use customer’s specifications. The monomer oil then goes to a refiner who further processes the product into manufacturing-grade styrene, which is used to make new PS products.

Agilyx, www.agilyx.com 4R Sustainability, Conversion technology: a complement to plastic recycling, https://plastics. americanchemistry.com/ Plastics-to-Oil

Agilyx processes 600,000 pounds of polystyrene each month, which yields 56,000 gallons of styrene monomer oil. In addition to the depolymerisation process creating very little material degradation, “we’re also doing it at a 70% lower carbon profile than using virgin resources,” explains Vaillancourt.

Initially, Agilyx had not intended to enter the materials processing market. The founder’s original business plan was to be a technology company that would sell pyrolysis systems to waste or petrochemical companies.

However, they have encountered resistance on both sides of the equation: “Waste companies were not interested in becoming oil recycling companies. And we are too small for petrochemical companies, or they loved the idea but did not want to have to source material from the waste industry,” explains Vaillancourt. Therefore, Agilyx found its niche as a middle market player. “We have integrated vertically into securing our own waste,” he says. “We’re marrying two totally separate industries.”

Vaillancourt outlines how the company’s synthetic crude oil business took a hit several years ago when “commodity markets fell to the point where our initial platform was no longer financially viable.” That’s when Agilyx examined processing discrete polymers instead of mixed plastics and chose PS for its first monomer oil project.

The company idled the synthetic fuel part of the business while developing the monomer oil processing system, but management intends

to reintroduce synthetic fuels among their product offerings.

Altogether, Agilyx is working on the research and development of about 60 new pyrolysis projects, including some for which end-use customers approached the company so as to create specific products catered to their needs. Vaillancourt sees many opportunities for future business expansion by accepting other hard-to-recycle items besides foam, such as single-use plastic items that the U.S. government is increasingly regulating, including straws and packaging.

In the immediate future, Agilyx is exploring opportunities with which to take suppliers’ segregated, homogeneous manufacturing scraps of different resins, and processing them into monomers; similarly to the current PS processing model. The Agilyx leaders like to “think about plastics as an already high-quality feedstock, even though it is ‘waste’ and there are contaminants,” says Vaillancourt, “plastics may not have a high value financially, but they are a high-value feedstock.”

The value is projected to grow as the push to preserve natural resources intensifies. For example, when looking at all of the polymers that will be manufactured over the next 20 years, “if you capture all that plastic and convert it to either a chemical substrate or an oil, it’s equivalent to up to 200% of what the U.S. estimates its own in-ground oil reserves are today. It’s a massive opportunity… around $50 billion a year opportunity.”

Agilyx employees are optimistic about the future and proud of their contributions to the circular economy and expanding viable plastics recycling markets. Vaillancourt highlights how providing new ways to recycle plastics and new end markets could help to change the public perception on plastics in general: “We are super excited about our flexibility and what we can achieve both in terms of the types of products we can produce and that we can perform fully circular recycling.”

He credits advances in technology and the years of researching and testing pyrolysis processes as significant contributions to Agilyx’s current success. “We’ve got a tremendous amount of years and capital invested in this,” explains Vaillancourt, and laughs while stating: “We’re an overnight success that took 15 years to get to where we are.”

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Turning Cork

Ethical

Thanks to a pioneering project launched by Amorim Cork Italia, every year 80 million corks are collected, recycled and transformed into design objects.

World

by Rudi Bressa

Rudi Bressa is a freelance journalist and naturalist, who writes about the environment, science, renewable energy and circular economy for various national newspapers.

Amorim Cork Italia, www.amorimcorkitalia.com

Cork is a valuable material: more than 40 years are needed to obtain a single cork.

It is a noble material that embodies the history of its native land. It can be 100% recovered and recycled, to be used in green building projects, in furnishing, in the mechanical engineering sector, and even in the aerospace industry. However, in most cases corks become waste after being used just once, just after a bottle is opened. In order to reverse this trend, in 2011 Amorim Cork Italia, active in the cork market, started “Etico,” the first project for the recovery and recycling of corks in Italy. “In Italy we have created a pilot project for a cork collection process that can last in time,” explains Carlos Veloso dos Santos, General Manager for the Italian branch of the Portuguese group Amorim Cork, world leader in cork sealants. “This is the reason why the projects is not only still running, but has grown over the years. Today we work with 40 associations, 1.000 volunteers and more than 6.000 collection points in Northern and Southern Italy.”

The Circular Economy is Also a Solidarity Economy Thanks to the project “Etico,” Amorim Italia collects between 70 and 80 tonnes of cork every year, the equivalent of 11 cork-loaded trucks.

Cork is later processed and transformed into fine granulate. The company covers all the expenses.

“Plastic caps usually cost around 150 euros per tonne. Amorim pays the non-profit organisations involved in cork collection 700 euros per tonne,” explains dos Santos. “To this cost we need to add the cost of grinding (around 300 euros a tonne, editor’s note): this means we invest 1.000 euros for each tonne of cork we collect.” This way associations and cooperatives are encouraged and supported in their collection process, and at the same time they find a way to fund their activities. Therefore, each cork contributes not only to enhancing the recycling chain, but also to the solidarity chain on a local level. Thanks to this initiative Amorim has managed to prevent 80 million corks from ending up in the waste stream.

However, how can you create an added value chain for a secondary raw material, which is one of the circular economy goals? The answer lies in producing quality products that ideally have some kind of connection to the environment where the material comes from, like wine cellars and wine bars. This is project Etico’s second step: creating a noble material out of recycled cork. “Together with Greencorks, we will launch a collection of furnishing complements such as bottle display units or shelfing made with recovered cork from bottle tops,” explains dos Santos. “We will introduce corks in a different form in wine cellars; not only as bottle tops.” Not just a cork, but a design object.

After being introduced in the Veneto region, project “Etico” has spread to the Italian regions of Friuli, Piedmont, Tuscany and Umbria,

reaching as far as Sicily, Campania and Calabria. It has involved non-profit organisations, as well as other public institutions that are involved in separate waste collection.

These take care of the boxes provided by the company, collect corks by raising awareness in the local community and provide a first sorting of the corks, with the help of cooperatives working with the disabled or convicts. At the end of this process, companies specialising in recycling buy and grind the cork to produce materials for heat or sound insulation in green construction, or to create new objects like stools, buckets to chill wine bottles and much more.

An encompassing circular sustainability concept, that meets environmental, economic and social needs. It meets environmental needs because it maintains the value of cork as a raw material. Economic needs because Amorim Cork Italia adds an economic contribution to the earnings coming from the sale of corks used to produce fine granulate for green construction, and this becomes a source of self-financing for the non-profit organisations involved. Finally, social needs are met as it allows volunteers from these non-profit organisations to carry out their community projects. “Our objective is the creation of a model of circular economy that can involve the most vulnerable members of society and make sure this becomes a functional and profitable management system,” claims Carlos dos Santos.

When you add value to a specific material through aesthetics, the message you give is that collecting and recovering the one billion corks that are dumped in Italy every year is possible.

The chance to create a whole new chain is already present; there are companies willing to invest and there’s no lack of materials. All we need to do now is spread the word.

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Nørrona: Outdoor Fashion Changes Clothes

A brand creating long-lasting and reparable clothing (10,000 items repaired in 2017) using low-impact materials such as organic cotton and recycled polyester.

A business model where sustainability is not only at the core of the production chain, but an integral part of the company’s identity.

by Emanuele Bompan

Nørrona, www.norrona.com

For Jørgen Jørgensen, CEO of Nørrona, sustainability is a life goal. In the business world there is often talk of a “value proposition” to be made to customers through a company’s products and policies.

At Nørrona, however, the environment has been a part of the company’s identity since its creation. The Norwegian business has always been on the front line in the fight against climate change, proposing sustainable solutions for the planet by offering longer-lasting products made of low-impact materials, such as organic cotton and recycled polyester.

“My grandfather always said to choose high-end products because they were more resistant,” explains Jørgensen. “While a new Nørrona product is fantastic, an old one can be even more so. A long life is one of the best ways to

reduce the environmental impact of a product to a minimum, this is why we have always offered repairs for all our products, ever since the founding in 1929. By creating high quality garments that last for years and years and can be repaired, we ensure that it isn’t necessary to buy new ones.” In the last year, an extraordinary 10,000 garments were repaired, a significant increase compared to 3,500 in 2015.

At Nørrona, a lot of attention is focused on recycled materials. The first recycled pile fleece coat was made over ten years ago, and by 2020 the company intends to exclusively use recycled fabrics, such as polyester, one of the most commonly used fibres. In 2017, 58% of the polyester used in the production process was recycled. By 2020 this figure will be 100%.

Recycled nylon was at 8% in 2016, but rose to 43% in 2017, and will reach 75% by 2020.

World When these fibres are not used, they are replaced by regenerated wool derived from old garments or organically grown cotton. Additionally, chemical fibres are being phased out. By 2020 the company will cease using PFAS, perfluorooctanesulfonic compounds used to waterproof garments but now known to be toxic.

“Our ambition is to become leaders in social and environmental responsibility within our market,” elaborates Jørgensen. “Many of these objectives are challenging, but we want to try as hard as possible to achieve them.” These efforts can be seen at the company’s headquarters, Nørrona House: the building is entirely powered by renewable energy, and since 2018 all employees must travel to work in a sustainable way, for example by cycling, using electric cars or walking.

The next step? To become a zero-waste HQ, that is to recycle and reuse all operative and productive refuse.

Finally, in order to go further in the fight against climate change, Nørrona has a self-imposed environmental tax on profits. 1% of revenue is donated to organisations that work on environmental sustainability projects, for a total of almost one million euros over the past two years. An environmental strategy that, rather than searching for an ultimate goal to be achieved, looks to create a base for continued expansion and improvement in performance.

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Startup

Name: Sector: Pros: Characteristics:

Cruz Foam: Making Packaging from Shellfish Cruz Foam New materials Biodegradable and compostable material made from chitin obtained from waste shrimp shells The patented process creates a foam that is similar to polystyrene and polyurethane foam, and which is demonstrating excellent performance as a green substitute in the packaging sector

by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

www.cruzfoam.com

Chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide on our planet, after cellulose. It is found in the shells of shrimp, crabs and lobsters.

It is no coincidence that Cruz Foam has placed this biopolymer at the centre of its upcycling process, extracting it from shrimp shell waste and creating a material that has great potential in the packaging sector. The Californian start-up, thanks to a patented water-based process, has been able to create a foam that is similar to polystyrene in its mechanical properties, and to polyurethane foam in its structure.

Having its origins at the University of California in Santa Cruz, the start-up is now verifying the scalability of the productive process, and the use of the foam in the production of packaging.

It all started with two student researchers, John Felts and Xiaolin Zhang, who, under the guidance of electrical engineering lecturer Marco Rolandi, had the intuition to take advantage of a type of waste that is abundant yet underused in California.

The US state is home to many companies that produce unshelled and frozen shellfish; on a global level, the food industry generates 8 million tonnes of waste shells.

The upcycling of shrimp shells is a project that began almost a decade ago.

After years of research and testing the use of surfboard foam, the company is now exclusively oriented towards the production of B2B packaging and is collaborating with companies in the sector to accelerate the product’s launch on the market.

Startup

Startup

Name: Sector: Pros:

Characteristics:

by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

www.ioniqa.com

Ioniqa: Virgin PET from Non-recyclable Packaging Ioniqa Recycling technologies An intelligent magnetic separation process transforms low-quality plastics into virgin PET Magnetic materials and chemical separation processes to infinitely recycle PET waste, producing high-quality PET with a relatively small use of energy

“Our aim is to recycle all coloured PET waste until, one day, even old polyester clothing will be made into food packaging.” These are the words of Hooghoudt, CEO of Ioniqa.

The Dutch company, born as a spin-off from Eindhoven’s University of Technology and the Dutch Polymer Institute, has developed a chemical recycling process which uses magnetic materials able to transform lowquality PET bottles, fabrics and carpets,

which today are non-recyclable, into highquality virgin PET. Ioniqa’s patented recycling technology transforms waste that contains hard-to-recycle PET, such as coloured containers, into blocks of purified polymers.

The coloured PET is collected and shredded, and then depolymerised by adding heat and a magnetic fluid. In the following phase, a magnet activates the chemical desorption process, which separates and removes the colouring. The end result of the process is virgin PET. Corporations such as Coca-Cola and Unilever, as well as several PET producers, are collaborating with Ioniqa and investing in the improvement of their technology, as well as designing possible inverse logistics processes for their own end-of-life containers.

After the success of tests carried out in the Rotterdam demo plant at the end of 2018, at the end of January 2019 Ioniqa closed an investment round with 12 million euros that will be used to open a 10 million tonne industrial plant already being built in Eindhoven.

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Startup

Name: Sector: Pros:

Yescapa: Private Campervan Hire Yescapa Collaborative use service Campervan, caravan and van rental for private individuals, with insurance and 24-hour assistance included

Characteristics:

The platform allows for the rental of campervans by acting as a trusted intermediary between private individuals, putting owners and holidaymakers in touch

by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

Five thousand available vehicles, one-hundred-and-fifty thousand users, thirty thousand bookings completed: these are the figures achieved by Yescapa, the platform that facilitates campervan rentals between private parties; putting holidaymakers and vehicle owners in touch.

The arrangement is simple: owners post

www.yescapa.fr

an announcement on the platform for free, and set out their prices.

Travellers can then choose their preferred vehicle, and reach an agreement with the owner. Before departure, after inspecting the campervan, both parties sign a contract that includes comprehensive insurance and 24/7 roadside assistance.

Yescapa takes a commission on each transaction, entirely charged to the traveller, which varies between 10% and 15% depending on seasonality, duration of rental and any additional services such as deposit administration.

It has been worked out that, on average, six weeks of sharing allow owners to recover the entire price of the vehicle: the average compensation an owner gets is around €490 a week (€70 per day), while average annual earnings hover around €2,500.

Founded in Bordeaux in 2012, the campervan Airbnb has already launched in Spain, Germany, the UK, Portugal and Italy.

This expansion doesn’t seem likely to stop, as Benoît Panel, the company’s founder and CEO, states: “we are working towards Yescapa becoming a point of reference in Europe for mobile holidays, granting more and more opportunities for people to travel and facilitating access to all kinds of recreational vehicles.”

Startup

Startup

Name: Sector: Pros:

Characteristics:

by Antonella Ilaria Totaro

www.getgrover.com

Subscription Electronics with Grover Grover Product as a Service By signing up to the service, users have access to all the most innovative technology through a pay-as-you-go system Through its website and partners Grover offers gadgets and technology that customers can use for however long they want, through monthly, quarterly or annual subscriptions

Whether you want to keep up with the latest tech, try a smartphone before buying it or use a GoPro whilst on holiday, Grover, a Berlin-based start-up, can offer access to a wide range of electronic gadgets. Grover offers a product-as-aservice subscription, which allows users to avoid unnecessary purchases.

At the moment, the service is only available in Germany. Customers can register for a subscription either online or at partner stores like Media Markt and Saturn.

Once users have paid for their first month, they receive the product within two or three days. “There is no deposit required, in fact

Grover covers half of any repair costs in case of damage,” explains Thomas Antonioli, the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

With a subscription that starts at €14.90 a month, users have access to projectors, headphones, VR sets and videogames for any desired amount of time before returning them.

All products are still property of the company, but the advantages for users are clear: access to gadgets and technologies, freedom of choice and full flexibility in the use, exchange, purchase and return of the products.

Grover was founded in 2015 by Michael Cassau, a former Investment Professional at Goldman Sachs who was fascinated by the possible crossovers between ownership and experience. The company is on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s CE100 list, and, with 50 employees and annual growth rates of 20% it is demonstrating how even in the electronics sector it is possible to separate access to from possession of goods. The company is aiming to expand to Europe and the US, and in 2018 it closed off a 37 million euro round of investments.

A clear sign that electronics as a service can be a very successful business model.

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Columns Thinking Resilience

What a Waste 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.

Trash in America, Frontier Group; https://frontiergroup.org/ reports/fg/trash-america EPA National Waste Overview; www.epa. gov/facts-and-figuresabout-materialswaste-and-recycling/ national-overviewfacts-and-figuresmaterials#Generation J. McCarthy, “The US is rapidly running out of landfillspace,” Global Citizen; www.globalcitizen.org/en/ content/us-landfills-arefilling-up “Extended producer responsibility: the answer to cuttingwaste in the UK?,” The Guardian; www.theguardian.com/ suez-circular-economyzone/2017/may/10/ extended-producerresponsibility-theanswer-to-cutting-wastein-the-uk The Natural Step, https://thenaturalstep.org

Why not make the economy circular, with waste from one process feeding into other production processes, reducing the need for both resource extraction and the dumping of rubbish? To reach this objective we must reduce, reuse, repair, recycle and replace non-renewable resources with renewables wherever possible.

The circular economy is needed now more than ever. The USA alone produces around 260 million tons (US short tons) of municipal solid waste per year from homes and businesses, amounting to around 2.03 kilos of waste per person per day (EPA 2015). However, this represents only 3% of all the solid waste in the US economy; the other 97% is generated by agricultural and industrial (e.g., mining and manufacturing) processes. If the total US waste stream (including wastewater and waste generated for exported goods) is allotted on a per capita basis, each American is responsible for 1.8 million kilograms of waste per year.

Only about a third of waste from homes and businesses is recycled; the rate for industrial waste is much lower, with only 2% of the total waste stream currently being recycled.

Meanwhile, the 2,000 active landfills in the US that hold the bulk of household trash are reaching their capacity. The USA should recycle more. Doing so would reduce pollution, slow climate change, and mitigate resource depletion and habitat destruction from mining and logging.

However, sadly, the recycling industry faces problems. Prices for scrap metals and paper have declined in recent years and China is no longer interested in accepting metal and plastic waste from the US. The systemic challenge lies in collecting waste in tiny, mixed amounts; transporting it to a handling facility; sorting it; cleaning it; repackaging it; and then transporting it again. This almost always costs more and requires more energy than just discarding the stuff at a local landfill.

Waste is what economists call an externality: it’s never an intended, and often not a priced component of the production process, though it does inevitably impose costs – which are often borne by society as a whole. The manufacturer’s mandate is to produce more, and this translates to the strategy of planned obsolescence – making products that are meant to be replaced

quickly rather than being endlessly reused and repaired.

What is needed to circularise the economy?

Two things.

First, an overall systemic commitment to the project. This means buy-in from industry, government, and citizens. Make things in such a way that recycling is easier. Focus on extending producer responsibility. Automobile manufacturers, for example, already use a wide range of recycled materials in their products, and like to take credit for doing so. But, making the auto industry truly circular will require participation throughout the entire supply chain, support from government via incentives and regulation, and consumer education. Other industries, such as consumer electronics, lag far behind the auto makers, so there is truly an enormous task ahead.

The other thing we need to do will be an even bigger challenge: we need to ditch the growth imperative. As long as profit maximisation and overall growth are the implicit goals of the economy, recycling will remain a boutique industry driven largely by relatively rich people who can afford to assuage their ecological consciences.

A truly circular economy will be one in which all industrial processes are harmless to people and nature. This means that all “growth” will have to occur in the cultural sphere rather than in flows of materials and energy. We must focus on human happiness rather than GDP; on rates of participation in education and the arts rather than quarterly sales figures.

Currently, we are far from having a circular economy, and that gap is embodied in overflowing landfills and giant barges of trash with nowhere to go – as well as a plastic gyre the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean. Will the monuments to our civilization consist of mountains of refuse? We can certainly do far better, but that will require us to make a systemic commitment to building a circular, steady-state economy whose aim is beauty and happiness rather than growth for growth’s sake.

Columns

Circular by Law

The Circular Economy Makes Progress, Climate Actions Stall Francesco Petrucci in collaboration with the Magazine “Rifiuti – Bollettino di informazioni normativa” and Observatory for environmental norms on www.reteambiente.it

Circular Plastic Alliance https://ec.europa.eu/growth/ industry/policy/circularplastics-alliance_en

The Action Plan for the Circular Economy launched in December 2015 can be regarded as complete, or at least in the process of being completed. According to what has been declared in the EU Report divulged on 4th March 2019, the 54 actions envisaged by the Plan have either been implemented or are being implemented. The Plan implementation accelerated the transition towards a circular economy in Europe while promoting employment (+6% compared to 2012 in the circular economy sectors). In 2016, it generated almost €147 billion in added value, with investments of nearly €17.5 billion in circular activities such as repairing, reusing and recycling.

The Action Plan for the Circular Economy includes approval of the directives on waste in force as of 4th July 2019, regulation on fertilizers pushing for recovery of organic waste, agreed on 12th December 2018. Furthermore, the Strategy on plastics of January 2018 produced the directive on single-use plastics now being submitted for final approval (after the agreement of 18th January 2019), and the voluntary pledging campaign on the subject (Circular Plastic Alliance), launched by the Commission and subscribed to by over 70 businesses. All of which will make the recycled plastic market soar by +60% by 2025. Lastly, on 25th February 2019 an agreement on the draft regulation introducing low carbon parameters to be applied to financial tools was reached.

This will guide consumers towards green investment products.

It remains to be seen how to foster the market towards circular products, since in 2016 only 12% of used material resources in the EU came from recycled products and recovered materials (Eurostat data 4th March 2019).

While Europe may be satisfied with the actions pushing the circular economy, actions to reduce greenhouse gases are less fitting. The European Commission launched on 28th November 2018 the long-term European Strategy to fight global warming, but proposals have been deemed insufficient by the EU parliament; according to which greenhouse gases should be reduced by 55% by 2030 (the Commission’s target is 40%), in order to achieve zero balance emissions by 2050 as laid down in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Good news on the climate from Eurostat (February 2019 data): between 2008 and 2016

there was a general reduction (-26%) of total emissions of acidifying gases produced by EU companies.

Meanwhile, on 24th December 2018, the new EU regulation on energy governance and the new EU directives on renewables and energy efficiency came into force. Objective of these directives: renewables to 32% and efficiency to 32.5% by 2030, and transposition by member States by 30th June 2021.

The European Chemicals Agency updated its format to apply for authorisation of chemicals according to REACH regulations. New measures will come into force on 1st June 2019. Still regarding REACH, on 7th July 2020 phthalates marketing restrictions and bans will come into force as provided for by Regulation EU 2005/2018.

As of 1st January 2020, REACH regulations on nanomaterials (EU Regulation 1881/2018) will come into force.

Whereas, on 31st January 2019, Regulation EU 37/2019 came into force, updating substances that can be used in plastic materials coming into contact with food. Materials compliant with old regulations can be marketed until 31st January 2020 and stay on the market while stocks last.

Quality certifications were also updated. On 19th December 2018, “good environmental practices” were passed for EMAS certification for cars and electrical and electronic equipment (EC Decision 62/2019 and EU Decision 63/2019), while EU Regulation 2026/2018 updated EMAS environmental declaration for certified companies.

Another update involved ecological criteria to obtain EU Ecolabel for graphic paper and tissue paper (EU Decision 70/2019).

As far as electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) manufacturers are concerned, EU Regulation 290/2019 introduced a common format to register producers of EEEs and yearly communication of marketed items. Last but not least, on 1st March 2020 ten directives (from EU 169/2019 to EU 178/2019) will come into force, still allowing the use of lead and cadmium in a series of appliances, a derogation from the general ban introduced by the relevant 2011 directive.

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