2019 Virtual Conference on Circular Economy in Central and Eastern Europe

A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
IN CENTRAL AND
EASTERN EUROPE
WE ASKED - CAN A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
SAVE THE PLANET?
Seven countries came together
for a virtual conference to share,
discuss and act together.

INTRODUCTION
Circular Economy is a concept that tries
to break the cycle of rising unsustainable
consumption and the creation of heaps of
waste by implementing a system of closed
loops in which raw materials, components
and products lose their value as little as
possible - in line with SDG 12: responsible
consumption and production.
WE CA
A DE
Over the course of three days we explored
the Topic, with a focus on the Central and
Eastern Europe region.
This e-magazine captures the key insights
of the entire event using inputs from
everybody who took part.

NNOT LIVE ON
AD PLANET
CURRENTLY WE
PRODUCE FAR TOO
MUCH WASTE
WE USE TOO
MANY NATURAL
RESOURCES
INSTEAD OF
TAKE > MAKE > DISPOSE
WE NEED TO BEHAVE
MORE LIKE NATURE
BY WORKING
TOGETHER TOWARDS
A MORE CIRCULAR
ECONOMY, WE CAN ALL
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
IN THE LAST 40 YEARS 60%
OF OUR WILDLIFE
POPULATIONS
HAVE BEEN WIPED OUT
THERE ARE NO
SILVER BULLETS &
CHANGING OUR
BEHAVIOUR IS HARD

DAY 1
ABOUT CIRCULAR ECONOMY & REGIONAL CASES
A day to get familiar with the basics of the concept
of circular economy and learn about local realities
from experts in the field and region.
During day 1 we heard from Norbert Kurilla,
who is responsible for environmental policies in
slovakia, including international & EU affairs.
In this capacity Norbert has driven forward the
Slovak government’s initiatives to promote a
circular economy, including for the automobile
sector, sustainable cities and the forest sector.
He spoke about the challenges Slovakia faces in
moving towards a more circular economy and
their CE strategy.

CE SLOVAKIA
SOLUTIONS
1.POLICY
2.LEGISLATION
3.KNOWLEDGE
4.COOPERATION
SLOVAKIA’S STRATEGY
FOCUSES ON THESE
FOUR MAIN PILLARS
CHALLENGES
RISING WASTE WITH LOW
RECYCLING RATES
INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY, GROWING
MANUFACTURING, RISING MATERIAL
CONSUMPTION, HIGH DEPENDENCY
ON EXTERNAL MARKETS &
AUTOMIZATION OF JOBS
MANAGMENT OF
PROTECTED AREAS I.E.
CONTROL OF LOGGING
& HABITATS
LACK OF
DIVERSIFICATION
& INNOVATION
GREATER SHARE OF
GREEN PUBLIC
PROCUREMENT,
LIMITATION OF
PLASTICS,
MORE RETURNS &
ECO-DESIGN OF
PACKAGING
LIMITED NATURAL
RESOURCE BASE &
LOW PRODUCTIVITY
CE EDUCATION TO
INCREASE AWARENESS

DAY 2
CIRCULAR LIVING, WORKING & DESIGN
Everybody attending took the challenge
of applying circular economy in as
many aspects of life together with other
entrepreneurial minds.
FROM MUSH
Ekofungi and Ekof
sustainability & C
mushroom and v
and educates p
their own bus
TO FASHION
TO CO-WORKING
Alex Tokmakchiev creates co-working
spaces which foster efficiency,
collaboration, & creativity.
Tünde Fritzson-Bajdor raises awareness on the
negative environmental & social impacts of the
fashion industry, while encouraging people to buy
second hand instead of new.
TO CLEAN TECH
Syntoil, shared how they
produce recovered carbon
black from used tires.
T
sp
i
While Eva Karlsson, CEO of Houdini Sportswear,
gave an inspiring talk which demonstrated her
360-degree vision on sustainability.

ROOMS
ungiSchool embed
E into every step of
egetable cultivation
eople on how to design
iness for sustainability.
TO SMATER ENERGY
Svilen Piralkov told us about INVADE, a cloud based
project which seeks to solve energy distribution issues
and increase the share of renewables into the smart grid.
LEARNING FROM
CE ENTREPRENEURS
hroughout the conference, 13
eakers shared their experience,
ncluding Government officials,
Consultants and A range of
inspiring CE entrepreneurs.
TO SOLAR
SAILING
Rambo from Serbia,
shared his unique
Solar sailboat
project, designed for
a cleaner Adriatic
Sea.
TO PRE-PACKAGING
MIWA develops and produces
technological innovations to
help people overcome barriers in
adopting pre-cycling methods,
enableing packaging-free sales.
TO BEE SALVAION
Sergey Petrov shared his intelligent
data driven beehive system, which
helps beekeepers across the world
to keep healthier and stronger bees.

‘THE CIRCULAR ECON
ABOUT CLOSING A C
MAKING THE MOST
FLOWS WITHIN AW
DAY 3
WORKING WITHIN PLANETARY BOUNDARIES
Gaining an understanding of why a circular
economy is not per se sustainable, and
learning how we can respect the planet while
we establish a circular model.
David Attenborough’s planet earth film set the
scene. Justus Kammuelleron, WWF Germany,
then talked about transforming our economic
systems towards sustainability.
Gerard Roemers went on to share strategies
to help transition cities and regions towards a
more circular and sustainable metabolic state:

BIODIVERSITY IS A BALANCED
ECO-SYSTEM WITH TOTAL VARIETY
WORKING TOGETHER.WITH
GOOD BIODIVERSITY WE CREATE
HABITABILITY & SECURITY TO THRIVE
OUR BIODIVERSITY IS UNDER ATTACK. GROWTH IN
SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRENDS IS HAVING A DEVITALISING
EFFECT AND WE ARE REACHING TIPPING POINT
WE NEED TO BRING DOWN GLOBAL
HUMAN IMPACT TO WITHIN PLANETARY
BOUNDARIES
FOUR OF NINE PLANETARY BOUNDARIES HAVE
NOW BEEN CROSSED AS A RESULT OF HUMAN
ACTIVITY. TWO OF THESE, CLIMATE CHANGE
AND BIOSPHERE INTEGRITY, ARE WHAT THE
SCIENTISTS CALL “CORE BOUNDARIES”
OMY IS NOT
IRCLE. IT’S ABOUT
OF THE RESOURCE
HOLE ECO-SYSTEM’
THIS IS A SYMPTOM OF A SYSTEM NOT
WORKING IN A CIRCULAR WAY. IF WE CHANGE
THE METABOLISM OF OUR SYSTEM TO ENABLE
THE ENERGY AND MATERIALS TO FLOW WE CAN
CREATE A MORE SUSTAINABLE STATE.

CHALLENGES
We need a better educational and sharing of knowledge
effort: many people interested in circular economy in the region
have an ecology or sustainable development background, but very
few know of circular economy models. We need more in-depth
information more accessible to the right people through opensource
platforms, as well as building more refined models. Also,
there are no official and very few un-official forums to speak about
the topic of circular economy.
We are now too reliant on traditional consumptions
patterns, and need to change the mindset from linear to circular
economy, create local buy-in and a joint vision, as we create the
culture and behaviour shift needed.
We need to learn how we can respect the planet while
we establish a circular model - finding a way to recycle
microplastics, while we stop synthetic materials in clothes is an
example of that.
There is also a lack of granting and funding opportunities
to support circular business models, low involvement of decision
makers and lack of legislation needed to support the emergence of
these opportunities.
We need to overcome the challenges tied to the region of Central &
Eastern Europe being too fragmented on this topic: bridges need
to be built between the countries.

EXAMPLES WE SURFACED
• EkoFungi school of blue economy - a social business that is turning
waste into sustainable business opportunities in mushroom and vegetable
cultivation.
• Academy of Circular Economy - powered by the Serbian Chamber of
Commerce, this academy aims to help SMEs to improve the quality and
efficiency of business processes at their firms.
• LAM’ON - a 100% biodegradable laminating film for print that offers an
alternative to regular plastic laminating.
• Pollenity - a combination of top quality beehive with an innovative sensor
technology that creates augmented reality beekeeping.
• Puzl coworking space - an IT coworking space on a mission to help IT
humans and teams grow in a productive environment.
• Coworking by MOVE.BG - a platform for value creators and a think-anddo
tank for innovative solutions.
• Institute for Circular Economy - a Bulgarian NGO active in the
intersection of circular economy, biomimicry and regenerative development.
• Vision Sofia 2050 - an initiative of Sofia Municipality to achieve a shared
idea about the future of Sofia and region, and define the steps necessary to get
there.
• Circular Sweden - a collaboration between Houdini, Ikea, and H&M to
recreate the future of textiles.
• Houdini - outdoor sportswear in Sweden. Influencing the culture of how we
clothe ourselves by having people invest in items with a very long lifetime.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Dissemination of good examples and practices from the region
and outside to popularise them in the face of successful businesses and
solutions for smarter and greener living, as well as promoting further
discussions on the topic of circular economy and how its principles
can be applied in the region - a series of workshops on the topic of
becoming a zero waste consumer is an example of that.
Identification of all actors within the green and circular ecosystem,
by making assessments and creating awareness to ensure mobilisation,
as well as creating baseline agreements and having all stakeholders
around the table, with the aim of co-development of programmes
for circular businesses. One idea is for Impact Hub Belgrade to
convene interested parties on this topic quarterly.
Use the Green Public Procurement to impulse circular business,
while driving efforts to become a more resource-efficient economy.
Involve more educational initiatives and especially profiled
learning institutions (VET schools, university faculties dealing with raw
materials and resources) on creating circular models and transferring
them into the entrepreneurship pipeline.

Broaden the horizon, by moving away from the finance-driven
paradigm. Focus on what we don’t know & the types of collaborations
we don’t expect. Look outside of our own value chain and to companies
that we’re NOT used collaborating with. Within our cubicle, there’s only
so much we can do! Gather useful information like this before deciding
whether there’s a business opportunity.
Connect different cities to unleash collaboration and using
complementary skills, and make propositions towards public
authorities for actions towards the establishment of a circular
economy. Establishing long-lasting cooperations with local institutes
focusing on the issue, such as the institute of Circular Economy in
Bulgaria.
Change and innovate our pricing structures. An idea is to create
more pay per use products and services.
Consider the impact of resource flows and the value they
represent for the natural system. It’s not just about financial value,
ecology is important!

THIS CONFERENCE WAS JOINTLY
DEVELOPED BY WWF & IMPACT HUB
COMBINING DECADES OF CONSERVATION EXPERTISE
WITH ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTION TO ACCELERATE
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION.
WWF.IMPACTHUB.NET
Project Coordination: Anne Merkle
WWF & Impact Hub Partnership
Content Coordination: Sharon Ubani
WWF & Impact Hub Partnership
Support: Giana Andonini
WWF & Impact Hub Partnership
Harvest, illustration & design:
Becky Hatchett @ Think Visual
LET’S MOVE INTO ACTION!
If you want to learn more reach out to the WWF & Impact Hub
Partnership Lead: Anne under anne.merkle@impacthub.net