WEEE: One Problem, Multiple Solutions
What we are holding in our hands is the latest technology, poised between our love for cutting-edge innovations and the anxiety for the temporal fragility of such ephemeral extraordinarine...
The Treasure Hidden in the Mines
This article is condensed from the study Le miniere urbane dell’alluminio (Urban Mining of Aluminium) produced by CiAl – Consorzio imballaggi alluminio (Aluminium Packaging Consortium) (...
New Products for New Markets
EFIB2015 speaker, Marie Wheat of the United States Department of Agriculture, talks to Joanna Dupont-Inglis about the challenges and successes of developing the USDA BioPreferred® Prog...
The Circular Economy: A Work in Progress
For Europe, 2014 was supposed to be the year of the circular economy: a new paradigm to project development models for society and industry from now to 2050. Those hopes were doused at the end of la...
Bioeconomy: An Investment of 1 Euro Today Will Reap 10 Euro in 2025
An investment of one euro in 2010 will generate a return of 10 euro in 2025. An investment of 35,000 euro into research and development over the same time frame will create one full-time job. This i...
Metamorphosis of a Consortium in a Changing Waste Economy
Since its creation over 30 years ago, one of the Italian Mandatory Consortium for Used Oils’ assets has been the choice of its legal structure. The COOU has a private-law corporate structure, ...
How to Turn a Plastic Cup into a Scooter
Separate waste collection is similar to a football game. In the first half, the good is produced and consumed and then, if possible, it is sent to separate waste collection. In the second half, the...
The Future of Lego Bricks is Bio-Based
Lego bricks of the future will be bio-based. The world’s largest toy manufacturer has decided to invest in research and development to find new, sustainable materials for the production of its...
How Circular Is Circular?
In recent years, the circular economy has drawn increasing attention, so much so that today it has become a sort of slogan/symbol to describe environmentally-friendly changes made (or to make) to a ...
Pushing the Limits of Technology, Recognizing the Limits of Natural Resources
“Being able to live well within natural limits is the great challenge of our century and it requires a change in development model. We must adopt a habit of production and conservati...
A Question of Fibre
Not all fibres were made equal. With regard to paper, we are used to “noble” wood-derived cellulose, that a few decades ago came from virgin sources, but over the last few years has been...
Paper: Sustainability Enters the Production Cycle
Sustainable processes. It is not just a question of matter and energy, but often of methods and processes as well. This is a new approach taking hold in the management of industrial activities and o...
We Recyle Oil
In the circular economy one of the most controversial sticking points is the supply of material to recycle or regenerate. As William McDonough outlines in this issue of Renewable Matter, waste shou...
700 for the Bioeconomy
Promoted and organized by EuropaBio, representative association of European biotech and biobased industry, EFIB (European Forum on Industrial Biotech), has reached its eighth edition. Thi...
In Iceland, Cod is king
“While in typical North Atlantic fisheries, the head, gut and bones of every cod are discarded, in Icelandic fisheries we have become used to making money out of many of these by-products,&rdq...
Earth Conundrum: +83 Million -15 Billion
Even assuming a decline in fertility rates, global population will reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100, compared to the average variant projections. And even if f...
Matter Must Be Renewed, Not Incinerated
Those who thought that with Sblocca Italia (Unlock Italy) decree, the hydrocarbon extraction and the new large and useless constructions, the government had hit rock bottom with its environmental po...
Expo: A (Partially) Untold Story
Critics like to begin by noting the absence of a coordinated message addressing the great global crises concerning the world’s food supply. In fact, such questions do receive attention here an...
The Circular Economy Race: Aluminium in Pole Position
In all sports there are natural talents, champions with innate abilities. In the circular economy race, aluminium features amongst the favourites at the starting grid, with all the right stuff for a...
Zero Waste Disposal, 100% Recovery
In any of its uses, aluminium in particular fully represents and expresses the values and the principles of a system embracing the so-called circular economy, even anticipating the challenges and op...