06/11/2019 – URBANREC final conference

Bulky waste is a challenging waste stream since there are about 19 million tonnes of bulky waste produced per year, 60% of it being landfilled, and we are far from a consistent approach at EU level to address this issue. Valuable products and materials are lost when they could be kept in the loop of product use and resource efficiency, in particular through reuse, repair and recycling.

After more than three years of hard work on identifying and testing solutions for bulky waste management, the URBANREC partners will present the outcomes of the project during a final conference to be held on 6 November in Brussels within the perspective of circular economy in cities. The conference will be hosted at the European Parliament and will present the results of regional pilots involving in particular the region of Flanders and Warsaw Municipality, as well as legal recommendations to improve bulky waste related legislation. The event will highlight good practices related to reuse and selective collection strategies and will present the achievements made by industrial demonstrators for the valorization of materials like plastics, textile and wood.

Time	Description
10:45-18:30	Circular Economy in Cities – URBANREC final conference
10:45-13:15	Circular Economy in Cities – Policy Dialogue, European Parliament, room to be confirmed
10:45	Registration of participants
11:15	Welcome & overall moderation (ACR+)
11:20	Presentation of URBANREC project (AIMPLAS)
11:25	The policy framework for circular economy in cities: MEP Ms. Maria Spyraki (EPP, Greece) Finnish permanent representation (tbc) European Commission, DG ENV (tbc)
11:55	Opportunities & barriers: URBANREC within circular economy perspective Panel discussions focusing on policy & legal aspects related to plastics, textile, reuse Topics to be discussed: clarification of scope and monitoring (also place of bulky waste as part of municipal waste, inclusion of non-clothing textile in the textile collection target or not); place of reuse and how to facilitate it (avoiding the waste stage); boosting the recycling market for non-packaging plastics and non-clothing textiles (standards for collection & recycling?) Participants: MEP Ms. Maria Spyraki (EPP, Greece) Finnish permanent representation (tbc) European Commission, DG ENV (tbc) Representatives of the Legal Working Group: AIMPLAS; OVAM; 1 representative of NGOs; 1 representative of Industries
13:10	Conclusions (ACR+)
13:15	End of Policy Dialogue
13:40-18:30	Circular Economy in Cities: the results of URBANREC and the future challenges for circular economy, Location to be confirmed
Permanent	Exhibition area (permanent): Stands with Regional demonstrators / Technological demonstrators Posters on selected H2020 projects
13:40	Networking lunch
14:30	Research and competitiveness for circular economy in cities: European Commission (European policy framework) EASME (Horizon Europe programme) Representative of university/academic expert (tbc)
15:00	Presentation of URBANREC key technical results and how they can contribute to circular economy IMOG RAMPF ECOFRAG IOS-PIB
15:50	Networking break
16:20	Panel discussion about perspectives for circular economy approaches for bulky waste in cities - European Commission - URZAD/Warsaw - DV/Valencia - Bornova

07/11/2019 – Working Group on circular economy in urban areas: the challenges of reuse, plastics and textile

On 7 November, ACR+ will animate a working group session targeting specifically local & regional authorities, in order to share good practices and help improve their strategies. Three parallel sessions will take place to address how to develop and implement a step-by-step strategy about reuse, non-packaging plastics, and non-clothing textiles. Experience and good practices from the participants will be exchanged and roadmaps for implementation will be drafted.

Location to be confirmed

Time	Description
10:00-12:00	Workshop on circular economy in urban areas: the challenges of reuse, plastics and textile,, Location to be confirmed
10:00	Welcome & introduction of the objectives of the session (ACR+)
10:15	Working group sessions on reuse, non-packaging plastics, and non-clothing textiles Roundtable introduction of each participant Discussion about the following issues: Governance: what stakeholders to involve, how and when Targeting and Monitoring: how to set up quantitative targets, how to ensure that accurate data is gathered, how to make the link with climate policy and carbon impact Citizens’ engagement: how to reach non-motivated individuals and move from awareness to commitment Costs: how to make sure that the costs for the municipalities are covered Public procurement: what tools (criteria, assessment tools) can efficiently support the use of public procurement Preparation of a roadmap for the specific topic of the group (reuse, plastics, textiles)
11:45	Feedback from the various sessions
12:00	End of Working Group session

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement Nº 690103