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IMR in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications (DECC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EIT Climate-KIC and Founding Industry Members are pleased to announce the official launch (virtual) of Ireland’s 1st Circular Economy Innovation Network on Friday 27th November 2020. Join us for the Official Launch with Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communication, event compere Maia Dunphy and special guests to learn how you can capture circular advantage for your business with Ireland’s 1st Circular Economy Hotspot. Register Here

Ahead of our official launch on 27th November 2020, CIRCULÉIRE are proud to be featured in the latest Sunday Business Post Special Report on the circular economy opportunity for Ireland which went to press on Sunday 8th November 2020. In addition to the coverage of CIRCULÉIRE – The National Platform for Circular Manufacturing which is Ireland’s 1st circular economy innovation network articles in this special report included: Coming full circle will boost GDP by €1.65bn – on how the government of Ireland are spearheading this transition Wasting no time to find new ways of cleaning up – exploring the positive changes in the field of waste management are a result of local, regional, national and European action plans and directives Circular economy benefits bring business round to sustainability – exploring BITC Ireland’s members circular economy activities. Learn more

CIRCULÉIRE is proud to be involved in Irish Science Week 2020 where we will be participating in multiple events highlighting the benefits of the circular economy. Science Week is celebrating its 25th anniversary from the 8th to the 15th of November 2020. It aims to make science accessible to a larger part of the population by having scientists present their research through a variety of events. This year’s edition is named “Science Week – Choosing Our Future”. On Monday 9th November Romain Couture from the CIRCULÉIRE team will join a team of IMR researchers in a live Q&A called “Geeks Unleashed” with students from over 60 primary and secondary schools from around the country. As part of this engagement, CIRCULÉIRE has developed a virtual workshop called “Generation_Circular” which takes students (aged 12-16) on a journey to understand circular economy and sustainability through exploring the impact of everyday items like a smart-phone. We have 170 middle schools signed up representing nearly 2,500 students! On Wednesday 11th November, Dr Geraldine Brennan will present the case for embedding circular economy principles in the Irish economy as we #BuildBackBetter as part of the 2020 “Choosing Our Future Online Forum” which will facilitate a nationwide is a nationwide, large-scale debate inviting policymakers, experts, and citizens to identify the next steps to be taken during the COVID-19 crisis and what’s next for our society. Learn more

The OECD Programme on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions supports cities and regions in their transition towards a circular economy through multi-level dialogues to identify challenges and opportunities; peer-to-peer learning and key indicators for decision making and evaluation of the circular economy strategies. Following a global survey and stakeholder dialogues in a range of case study cities and regions, on Wednesday 4th November, at a side event of the 2020 Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference organised by the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, the OECD will launch its’ synthesis report on “The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions” which includes a case study on Ireland. Dr Geraldine Brennan, IMR’s Circular Economy Lead has been invited to participate in a roundtable of innovators from the Case Studies of the OECD Programme on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions at this virtual launch event. By attending this event, you can: Learn about circular economy initiatives and practices from 51 cities and regions that completed the OECD Survey on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions Discover the path to a circular economy via the Case Studies carried out in inGroningen (Netherlands), Umeå (Sweden), Valladolid (Spain), and continuing inGranada (Spain), Glasgow (UnitedKingdom) and Ireland Discover the checklist for Action and the OECD Scoreboard on the Governance of the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions Learn more

CIRCULÉIRE, the National Platform for Circular Manufacturing, are proud to have been actively engaged in Irish Bioeconomy Week 2020 and featured in the Irish Examiner for this work. During Irish Bioeconomy Week 2020, which is a national, annual event, CIRCULÉIRE in collaboration with the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation (IBF), presented the key insights from our 2020 Circular Bioeconomy Thematic Working Group process to the CIRCULÉIRE Network. The “CircularBioeconomy2020” webinar shared insights related to the business opportunities in the Irish circular bioeconomy landscape based on a four-month working group process which took place between June and September 2020. “CircularBioeconomy2020” report curates and leverages the knowledge and expertise from the wide-range of panel participants which included academia, consultancies and policy-makers from around the country. Additionally, Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR), the secretariat of CIRCULÉIRE, was also featured during the Irish Bioeconomy Week as part of the EPA’s Green Enterprise Webinar Series 2020 for their SymbioBeer project, which aims at demonstrating the viability of an industrial symbiosis in Longford between Panelto Foods and St Mels Brewery (see Irish Times coverage of the SymbioBeer project here). Learn more

Every year, the European circular economy community from businesses, public authorities, NGOs to knowledge communities and civil society organisations gathers to discuss the transition to a circular economy. It is the flagship event of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Day 1 of the Conference (3 November), hosted by the Commission, will familiarise you with the new EU Circular Economy Action Plan and discuss its implementation. The potential of the circular economy for a green recovery will also be covered in the sessions. Interact and exchange with the panelists during the plenaries broadcasted from Commission’s Charlemagne building and contribute online to the thematic online parallel sessions. Join the EECSC in the first #EUCircularTalk, a new feature of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, to exchange on the transition to a circular economy with a high-level Commission’s representative. Day 2 (4 November) of the conference, hosted by the EESC, will focus on stakeholder views in a series of online workshops highlighting successes and identifying new challenges. Eight workshops will cover circular themes ranging from construction to food waste to procurement and roadmapping. Learn more

Circular Bioeconomy 2020 is the result of CIRCULÉIRE – The National Platform for Circular Manufacturing‘s 2020 Thematic Working Group exploring the circular bioeconomy opportunities that can deliver significant CO2 and waste reductions in Ireland. During Irish Bioeconomy Week 2020, IMR and IBF will launch the findings to the CIRCULÉIRE Network. This webinar will be for the CIRCULÉIRE Network but panel members from the wider innovation ecosystem who have participated in this thematic working group over the last four months will also join to share their reflections. This CIRCULÉIRE Network webinar will take place from 12-1pm on Wednesday the 21st October 2020. Learn more

Are you a programme owner or policy maker keen to advance the transition to a circular economy? Join us in building a circular economy joint programming platform to enable more cooperation! CICERONE is pleased to announce its third and final workshop, “Cooperation for circular economy research & innovation“, on 22nd and 29th of October 2020 from 14:00 to 16:30 CET. Participants are welcome to choose one of the two proposed dates, which will be identical events. The coordination of objectives and programmes of regional, national and European funding programmes, managed by a new joint platform, will be a fundamental driver for improving circular economy funding mechanisms – and therefore accelerate the uptake of the European Circular Economy Action Plan. This challenge will be addressed in an interactive and hands-on online workshop that will give participants insights into the future platform, and provide the opportunity to shape its services, ensuring they are in line with needs and expectations. CICERONE will be delivering the conference via EIT Climate-KIC’s learning management system, so that you can access the conference related materials, network with the conference participants and access all practical information related to the activity in one place. 14:00: Introduction (Plenary) 14:15: Session 1 (Break-out) This session will introduce the future platform for Circular Economy Research & Innovation funding, enabling an interactive discussion on the services and model of the platform. The session will be framed through guiding questions, with the support of facilitators, where participants can provide specific inputs to help shape the new EU Circular Cooperation Hub. 15:15: Session 2 (Break-out) This session will explore capacity building needs for public funders and policy makers to efficiently implement circular economy R&I joint programmes. Building on the previous session, we will work hand-in-hand with participants to identify requirements for the platform’s learning services, including a policy toolkit and a Online Massive Open Course (MOOC). 16:15 Conclusion (Plenary) Learn more

Bioeconomy Ireland Week is an annual week-long event held each October to highlight and raise awareness of Ireland’s rapidly growing bioeconomy. To mark Bioeconomy Week Ireland 2020, EPA are hosting a EPA’s Green Enterprise: Innovating for a Circular Economy* webinar where we will share the findings of the following three bioeconomy projects: 1. SymbioBeer Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) is facilitating an Industrial Symbiosis innovation demonstration pilot between St Mel’s Brewery and Panelto Food called SymbioBeer. Here waste bread is being utilised as a substitute for virgin malt to create a new beer and subsequently a new bread was produced using outputs from beer production closing multiple resource loops (bread to beer to bread). 2. Hexafly Hexafly developed an innovative way of breeding insects on an industrial scale utilizing Bio-Conversion technology to achieve maximum extraction of high value protein and oil products for the aquaculture, animal feed and plant nutrition industries. 3. CyberColloids The overall objective of this project was to evaluate the potential to recover and utilise the biomass generated in fruit and vegetable supply chains for the production of new food fibre ingredients This is a free online event which will take place via Microsoft Teams from 10am-11am on Thursday 22nd October. Following the presentations there will be an opportunity for Q&A. To register please email nwpp@epa.ie * Green Enterprise is an annual funding call to support innovators in Ireland to develop and demonstrate consumer and business solutions that will stimulate the circular economy. It is led by the EPA’s National Waste Prevention Programme. Learn more

Want to discover the latest on industrial symbiosis and the future of sustainable industrial practices? Join the SCALER event to hear experiences and case studies from successful industrial symbiosis implementation, find out about tools and gain access to guidelines to kick-start resource efficiency. SCALER (SCALing European Resources with industrial symbiosis) is a European project aimed at increasing the uptake of industrial symbiosis. This project develops a set of tools and best practices to help companies implement symbioses to ensure sustainable resource use. The event will be dedicated to knowledge sharing, presenting both best practices from businesses successfully implementing industrial symbiosis practices, along with key tools to help companies kick-start their journey towards resource efficiency and sharing. The event will be divided in two sessions where you can hear from speakers from ISQ; ENEA; A.SPIRE, Cambridge University, International Synergies, Strane Innovation and EIT Climate-KIC : 14:10-15:30 Session 1 – What is the potential of industrial symbiosis in the EU? This session will explore how industrial symbiosis can act as a key model to transition industry from linear to circular. 15:45-17:00 Session 2 – Industrial symbiosis for regional transition This session will explore existing best practices and present key tools to support businesses in their industrial ecology endeavors. Learn more

Dr Geraldine Brennan and Damian Coughlan from the CIRCULÉIRE Team will be speaking at WEEE Ireland’s Virtual Seminar on “Financing the Future – The WEEE Circular Economy” as they mark International E-Waste Day 2020. Line-up includes speakers from DECC; Ecosystem; WEEE Forum; University of Limerick and IMR / CIRCULEIRE. Join from 10:45am-1:30pm on Wednesday 14th October 2020 Learn more

The Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) is looking for your views on how a new Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) should operate in Ireland. DRS is a system used in other EU Member States and further afield to incentivise consumers to return their beverage containers for recycling or reuse. The DRS being introduced in Ireland is focused on plastic bottles and aluminium cans because too few of these are being captured for recycling by our current system (which could put Ireland in breach of EU legislation) and too many are being discarded as litter. Ireland’s Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy commits to introducing a Deposit and Return Scheme (DRS) in Ireland. This public consultation is the first step on that journey. Alongside this consultation, DECC are publishing a report which evaluates Ireland’s current collection systems, in the context of new EU targets. Learn more