26 November 2018
Representatives from across Europe will meet up in London this week to discover how London is accelerating its transition towards a circular economy. On the 27-28th November the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) will share London’s progress with visitors from seven different European regions as part of the “European regions towards circular economy” (CircE) project.
The visit will take in sites which showcase circular economy approaches in London, including Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Mercato Metropolitano and Sustainable Bankside. Visitors will also take a tour of LWARB’s new office, whose recent fit-out was based on circular economy principles including remanufactured furniture, reclaimed and circular flooring solutions, refurbished IT and other innovative circular products.
Pioneering London-based SMEs – also supported by LWARB through their Advance London programme – will be sharing their work with the visitors. These SMEs include: Chip[s] Board, which creates building material from industrial potato by-products; Toast Ale which brews award-winning beer using fresh, surplus bread; and Library of Things which lets people rent rather than buy expensive items like sound systems, carpet cleaners and drills.
The CircE project is an EU Interreg funded project which aims to help partners from eight regions and cities in Europe to overcome barriers to a circular economy. It does this by sharing best practice and learning, with the goal of finding innovative solutions which will accelerate circular economy at a regional level.
The regions involved are:
- Lombardy, Italy
- Catalonia, Spain
- London, UK
- Gelderland, Netherlands
- Lower Silesia, Poland
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- The Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia
- Hauts de France, France
LWARB works in conjunction with the Mayor of London on plans to help London transition to a low carbon circular economy. Embracing the circular economy could bring £7 billion of savings to London every year, create thousands of jobs and reduce waste by up to 60% across the capital.
Last year LWARB launched the London Circular Economy Route Map, which outlined more than 100 practical actions that stakeholders across the capital can take to make themselves and the city more resilient and accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
