As a new paradigm for economic development, the circular economy has significant environmental, economic and social benefits at the global scale. The circular economy concept highlights the notion of replacing the ‘end-of-life’ in current production and consumption practices by reducing, reusing, and recycling products and materials in production, distribution and consumption processes. Promoting circularity aims to accomplish sustainable development, and the circular economy has links to many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved by the United Nations in 2015. This report is a background contribution asked by the Independent group of scientists writing the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) 2019. The GSDR 2019 is the first in a series of comprehensive, in-depth Reports that will be produced every four years to inform the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development convened under the auspices of the General Assembly. Thus, this background report seeks to provide a condensed package on the circular economy; the concept, its history, potentials, business opportunities, management and measurement. Some of the key messages entail that moving towards a circular economy presents vast opportunities for businesses of various kind, and that increasing the material circularity of economy can also be a way to alleviate poverty. Yet, the systemic and disruptive changes required for a circular economy transition will not take place without significant changes to existing regulatory structures.

This paper summarizes key findings from a series of systematic reviews and comprehensive efforts to collate evidence and expert opinions on circular solutions for recovery and reuse of nutrients and carbon from different waste streams in the agriculture and wastewater sectors. We identify established and emerging approaches for transformation towards a more circular nutrient economy with relevance to SDGs 6 and 14. The paper cites the example of the Baltic Sea Region which has experienced decades of fertilizer overuse (1950s–1990s) and concomitant urban sources of excessive nutrients. Regulations and incentive policies combining the nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon cycles are necessary if circular nutrient technologies and practices are to be scaled up. Pricing chemical fertilizer at levels to reflect society’s call for circularity is a central challenge. Highlights • Development of a circular nutrient economy in the EU is reviewed. • The socio-economic value of organic waste products from agriculture & municipalities needs to increase. • Opportunities are found in the new EU Circular Economy Package & Fertilizing Products Regulations. • Further implementation is possible with the Common Agriculture Policy (nutrient management tool) and Waste Framework Directive for recycling. • The Baltic Sea Region case is explored being sensitive to eutrophication with ongoing international efforts to introduce nutrient circularity.

This study investigates consumer experiences and perceptions of products and packaging made of recycled plastics and examines factors that are linked with the attractiveness of such applications. Generally, the drivers and barriers related to the demand for recycled plastics are not thoroughly understood. To study these, a survey was conducted in Finland. The results reveal that 93% of consumers of recycled plastic applications are satisfied with the acquired products and would buy the products again. The use of recycled plastic is stated to have positively affected purchase decisions of 86% of consumers. The results imply that females, younger people, those who recycle, and those who are environmentally conscious are likelier to think that the use of recycled plastics increases product attractiveness. However, developers and producers should pay attention to availability, product selection and labeling of recycled plastics. The study provides information on potential customers, marketing strategies, and appreciated product characteristics for developers, manufacturers, policy-makers, and researchers in the plastic field. Highlights • Consumers are mainly satisfied with the products made of recycled plastic they own. • The use of recycled plastic seems to positively affect purchase decisions. • Many product- and consumer-specific factors impact attractiveness of recycled plastic. • Product selection, availability and labeling should be improved.

The European Union has set strict recycling targets for municipal solid wastes, but the implementation of circularity is still hindered by a variety of present set-ups. This paper addresses the recycling transitions and their complex nature in Austria, Sweden and Finland and points out the differences that are connected to the level of success in recycling. Furthermore, this study identifies present lock-ins in the waste management regime to provide an understanding on the factors preventing further development towards a recycling society. This is done by analysing different waste policy documents and interviews of national waste experts. The study employs the multilevel perspective (MLP) framework that is a commonly used approach in sustainability transitions research. The results highlight the variety of social, political, technical and economic elements, but also the connections between them that result in a stable regime. The pathways to achieve the recycling society differ between Austria, Sweden and Finland. National waste policy, the division of responsibilities, the variety of infrastructure and collection systems in waste management, the level of general awareness, public-private co-operation and the quality of waste data act as key characteristics that reflect the success in the recycling transition. Identified lock-ins for recycling seem to be slightly stronger in Finland compared to Austria and Sweden, while some of the lock-ins are the same in all countries, such as incineration capacity, malfunction of markets of recyclables or lack of product design for recyclability.

Background Agriculture is the main sector responsible for nutrient emissions in the Baltic Sea Region and there is a growing pressure to identify cost-effective solutions towards reducing nitrogen and phosphorus loads originating from farming activities. Recycling resources from agricultural waste is central to the idea of a circular economy, and has the potential to address the most urgent problems related to nutrients use in the food chain, such as depletion of natural phosphorus reserves, water pollution and waste management. This systematic map examined what evidence exists relating to the effectiveness of ecotechnologies in agriculture for the recovery and reuse of carbon and/or nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the Baltic Sea region and other comparable boreo-temperate systems. Methods We searched for both academic and grey literature. English language searches were performed in 5 bibliographic databases and search platforms, and Google Scholar. Searches in 36 specialist websites were performed in English, Finnish, Polish and Swedish. The searches were restricted to the period 2013 to 2017. Eligibility screening was conducted at two levels: title and abstract (screened concurrently for efficiency) and full text. Meta-data was extracted from eligible studies including bibliographic details, study location, ecotechnology name and description, type of outcome (i.e. recovered or reused carbon and/or nutrients), type of ecotechnology in terms of recovery source, and type of reuse (in terms of the end-product). Findings are presented here narratively and in a searchable database, and are also visualised in a web-based evidence atlas (an interactive geographical information system). In addition, knowledge gaps and clusters have been identified in the evidence base and described in detail. Results We found 173 articles studying the effectiveness of 177 ecotechnologies. The majority of eligible articles were in English, originated from bibliographic databases and were published in 2016. Most studies with reported locations, and given our boreo-temperate scope, were conducted in Europe and North America. The three most prevalent ecotechnologies in the evidence base (collectively 40.7%) were; soil amendments, anaerobic digestion and (vermi)composting. Manure was the principal waste source used for recovery of nutrients or carbon, making up 55.4% of the all studies in evidence base, followed by a combination of manure and crop residues (22%). There were 51 studies with 14 ecotechnologies that reported on recovery of carbon and nutrients together, predominantly via (vermi)composting and anaerobic digestion. Only 27 studies focused on reuse of recovered nutrients and carbon through soil amendments. Conclusions This systematic map report provides an evidence base that can be useful for researchers and decision-makers in policy and practice working on transformation from linear to circular economy in the agricultural waste sector. Three potential topics for future systematic reviews are: (1) effectiveness of products recovered from different types of agricultural wastes as soil amendments or fertilizers; (2) effectiveness of anaerobic digestion as an ecotechnology used for recovery of nutrients and carbon; (3) effectiveness of composting and/or vermicomposting as ecotechnologies used for recovery of nutrients and carbon.

E-waste (WEEE) is a significant source of Critical Raw Materials, which are materials that EU has deemed to be extremely important for its industry and at risk of supply disruption. However, the recycling rate from WEEE for most of these materials is very low, which is in direct contradiction to EU’s Circular Economy goals and industrial strategy. The goal of this thesis is to identify the shortcomings of EU WEEE legislation in promoting the circular use of CRMs, and then pinpoint the most critical issues that the legislation should pay attention to in order to improve the situation. The method used in the work is regulatory theory. The thesis finds that the current WEEE legislation is based around the previous generation of waste management issues, e.g. landfill capacity concerns, and does not take into account properly the current challenges of material efficiency and circularity. Improving the recycling rate of CRMs will require targeted legislative and policy action in key parts of the life cycle of electronics.

Growing exploitation of natural capital has raised a concern towards Earth’s capability to provide equal benefits for all in the future. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals addressed this issue and set the framework for private and public operators to implement and develop more sustainable solutions. Circular economy and bioeconomy have been presented as models to foster the economy along with sustainability transitions. However, the models have been criticized for taking overall sustainability for granted. As a result, the merged concept, circular bioeconomy, has been introduced to address such sustainability gap. The circular bioeconomy concept implies a more efficient resource management of bio-based renewable resources by combining the concept of circular economy and bioeconomy in strategic management level. These new concept demands both new technological innovations and new business model innovation. This study explores similar and dissimilar patterns in the way Finnish SME propose, create and deliver value through circular bioeconomy business models. The study examines the relation of new concept to sustainability as well. The study was based on qualitative research, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight company managers or owners. The data were categorized into business model components and sustainable business model archetypes. The results revealed that sustainability-oriented business model archetypes vary across the examined companies. Dominant ideas are substituting fossil-based materials and energy with bio-based one, and practices enabled by new technology such as production eco-efficiency. More radical principles were missing, for instance prolonging the material cycle before incineration or solutions to reduce consumer consumption. While environmental value was well covered in the business models of companies, contribution to social value was taken for granted as a narrow outcome of economic and environmental values. As this study concerned the micro level perspective, for further studies would be beneficial to examine the meso and macro level transformation to get a more holistic view on business environment, where companies with circular bio-product innovations operate to reveal implementation barriers for the circular bioeconomy.

The global plastics challenge has evoked countries to take action to reduce the environmental and health impacts of plastics. Measures are being taken both internationally and nationally to curb the harmful impacts of plastics and to create a sustainable circular economy of plastics. The EU is steering its member states in the right direction through a number of regulatory instruments, the most recent being the SUP Directive (EU) 2019/904 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, which is currently being implemented in member states. The measures and schedules for their implementation vary from country to country and include both voluntary and statutory measures. This report presents the strategies of selected European countries to address the plastics challenge. The Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland), the large countries (France, Germany and United Kingdom, England and Scotland in particular) and the Netherlands, a pioneer in the circular economy, are included. Information was compiled primarily from countries' plastics strategies and other administrative documents and websites during the fall and winter of 2020 and early 2021. In addition, a short survey was carried out for supplementary information in fall 2020, directed to IG Plastics working group of the EPA Network. The survey was repeated in February 2022 to obtain updated information. The amount of information found varied between countries. In addition, the use of available information was limited by the fact that some countries mainly produce information in their own language. The identified policy instruments can be categorized into regulatory, market-based, informative and financing measures, and voluntary agreements. In addition to these, the transition towards a sustainable circular economy of plastics is supported by research and development activities that build knowledge and bring changes to various stages of the plastics value chain. Substitutes for traditional plastics, such as bio-based and biodegradable plastics, are being developed. There is significant potential in bioplastic, but a lot of development still needs to be done and comprehensive sustainability assessments are required. Based on the collected material, a number of measures are being taken in Europe to promote the circular economy of plastics. However, differences can be observed between countries in terms of the detail of plans and speed of action. From the point of view of the waste hierarchy, several measures focus on either waste prevention or recycling. In addition to the strategies examined, it would have been useful to have more information on the implementation schedules and effects. Such follow-up data was rarely available. Steering towards the circular economy of plastics is continuous and fast-paced, which is why it is encouraged to look for updates to the information presented in this report. The Covid-19 pandemic may also have affected the implementation of the planned measures. Miten Eurooppa vastaa muovihaasteeseen? – Katsaus valittujen maiden strategioihin Globaali muovihaaste on herättänyt maat toimimaan muovien ympäristö- ja terveysvaikutusten vähentämiseksi. Toimenpiteitä tehdään sekä kansainvälisesti että kansallisesti, jotta saataisiin hillittyä muovien haitallisia vaikutuksia ja muodostettua kestävä muovien kiertotalous. EU ohjaa jäsenmaitaan muovien kestävään kiertotalouteen useilla sääntelykeinoilla, uusimpana tiettyjen muovituotteiden ympäristövaikutusten vähentämistä koskeva SUP-Direktiivi (EU) 2019/904, jota on toimeenpantu viime vuosina kansallisesti eri jäsenmaissa. Erilaisten toimenpiteiden muodostamat kokonaisuudet sekä niiden toteutusaikataulut vaihtelevat maittain ja sisältävät sekä vapaaehtoisia että lain velvoittamia toimia. Tämä raportti kokoaa ja esittelee valittujen Euroopan maiden suunnitelmia muovihaasteen ratkaisemiseksi. Mukana ovat pohjoismaat (Suomi, Ruotsi, Norja, Tanska ja Islanti), suuret maat (Ranska, Saksa ja Yhdistyneestä kuningaskunnasta etenkin Englanti ja Skotlanti) ja kiertotalouden edelläkävijämaa Alankomaat. Tietoa kerättiin näiden maiden muovistrategioista, muista hallinnollisista dokumenteista ja nettisivuilta vuoden 2020 lopussa ja 2021 alussa. Tiedonsaannin edistämiseksi syksyllä 2020 laadittiin EPA-verkoston IG-Plastics-työryhmälle aiheesta lyhyt kysely, johon pyydettiin päivityksiä helmikuussa 2022. Tietoa löytyi vaihtelevasti. Lisäksi saatavilla olevan tiedon hyödyntämistä rajoitti joidenkin maiden tapa tuottaa tietoa lähinnä omalla kielellään. Toimenpidekokonaisuuksista tunnistettiin sääntelytoimenpiteitä, markkinaperusteisia toimenpiteitä, tiedotustoimenpiteitä, rahoitustoimenpiteitä ja vapaaehtoisia sopimuksia. Näiden lisäksi muutosta kohti kestävää muovien kiertotaloutta tukevat tutkimus- ja kehitystoimenpiteet, jotka tuovat tietoa ja uudistavat muovien arvoketjun eri vaiheita. Yksi kehityskohde on perinteisen muovin korvaajat, esimerkiksi biopohjaiset ja/tai biohajoavat muovit. Biopohjaisissa muoveissa on paljon potentiaalia, mutta kehitystyö on vielä alussa ja materiaalit vaativat kattavia kestävyysarvioita. Aineiston perusteella Euroopassa on käynnissä ja suunnitteilla lukuisia toimenpiteitä muovien kiertotalouden edistämiseksi. Maiden välillä voidaan kuitenkin havaita eroja esimerkiksi suunnitelmallisuudessa ja reagointinopeudessa. Jätehierarkian näkökulmasta useat toimenpiteet keskittyvät joko jätteiden ehkäisyyn tai kierrätykseen. Tutkittujen suunnitelmien lisäksi olisi ollut hyödyllistä saada enemmän tietoa mainittujen toimenpiteiden toteutusaikatauluista ja vaikutuksista. Tällaista seurantatietoa oli harvoin saatavilla. Ohjaus kohti muovien kiertotaloutta on jatkuvaa ja nopeatempoista, minkä vuoksi raportissa esitettyjen tietojen päivityksiä suositellaan etsimään. Covid-19-pandemia on myös osaltaan voinut vaikuttaa suunniteltujen toimenpiteiden toteuttamiseen.

Pharmaceutical packaging is a complex group of products, the main purpose of which is to protect the medicine and forward information. Pharmaceutical packaging waste is generated and accumulated along the various phases and practices of the value chain. In general, the amount of packaging has been growing during the increasing political pressure to reduce waste and to increase the circulation of materials. The goals and solutions are expected to be found in the circular economy; however, the literature on circular pharmaceutical packaging is lacking. This study explores the key factors when promoting the circularity of pharmaceutical packaging along its value chain. This was conducted by reviewing the legislation, elaborating the value chain and analysing the data from focus group discussions with stakeholders. The results show that various barriers, such as legislation, a lack of information or interaction between stakeholders, but also rigid practices, block product design for circularity. In the developing circularity of packaging, the causal links along the value chain must be understood. Chemical recycling technologies are expected to resolve the challenges of maintaining clean cycles. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the environmental benefits of increasing circularity along the value chain of pharmaceutical packaging.