Roundtables for Circular Economy

The project Roundtable for circular economy aimed to identify challenges and opportunities regarding circularity and product related regulation and legislation, in order to facilitate circular economy in practice. Important in doing so, is the collaboration and knowledge sharing between authorities and industry. As this is a new practice, there are different interpretations of legislation and regulation. Therefore, in this project, two round tables were organized with authorities and industry in order to have a joint discussion on these issues. This is combined with an interview study with relevant actors.

One important goal of this project was to aid with guidance for a more circular and resource efficient society, as to avoid inaction and uncertainty on how to act circular and within the legal boundaries, now and in the future. Another important goal was to have a platform for discussions on circular economy, where authorities and industry can create a common understanding of challenges and opportunities of circular economy.

The conclusions from the project are several. The most obvious is that the product related
the legislation:
• is difficult to interpret as it consists of many directives and laws which are not synchronized
• is unclear about what may or may not be done
• is not adapted to the different strategies that a circular economy entails and as a company
want to act on

Have a look at the report produced in the project, and the examples provided.