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On April 4, 2023, the Circular Economy Academy was launched with great interest. At the first event of the webinar series, we presented the results of the SRSP/TSI project “Introducing the circular economy and managing the challenges of waste management”, which ended at the end of March 2023, with the help of representatives of the organizations participating in the project.
On behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office, Dóra Alexandra Arany, head of department, reported on the implementation of the project spanning more than three years, including the launch and work processes. She emphasized that, in addition to the three main priority areas, horizontal approaches play a very important role in the strategy, e.g. circular business models spanning the life cycle of education, research and development, and products and materials, which can further accelerate the circular transition covering the entire economy.
Péter Chrabak, the head of circular economy at Zoltán Bay Research Institute, which is a partner organization in the project, presented the main priority areas (biomass and food industry, construction industry and plastics) and the measures with a significant impact, which can be considered critical in terms of the transition to a circular economy in Hungary. He explained the quantified goals set until 2040 presented in the OECD report, which make Hungary’s future vision more tangible and facilitate its implementation.
The goals to be achieved by 2040:
- The Government invests in research and introduces incentives to support resource efficiency through innovation, eco-design and the sharing and reuse of products. Hungary’s goal is to double its resource productivity (GDP/DMC) and reach the target of 2 EUR/kg.
- In order to close the material cycle and use materials more sustainably, measures are being taken to double (increase to 15%) Hungary’s rate of circular material use.
- The Government provides support in the field of innovation and the development of new business models. Hungary aims to increase the number of cyclical jobs by 30% (to 2.5% of the total workforce) in industry, agriculture and the service sector.
The report was prepared on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office, with the cooperation of the OECD Environmental Protection Directorate and the involvement of Hungarian stakeholders. You can read more about the OECD report here.
The presentations were followed by a panel discussion with the participation of our speakers, moderated by Dr. Bálint Horváth, CBRE’s Senior Sustainability Consultant. During the conversation, it was discussed to what extent the material use (DMC) of the Hungarian economy can be reduced as a result of the measures, and what the prospects are for increasing the use of degradable/renewable materials. Participants also had the opportunity to ask questions.
But what financing options do organizations have? Dóra Alexandra Arany’s presentation presented the indirect (KEHOP Plusz, GINOP Plusz, TOP Plusz, DIMOP Plusz and KAP Strategic Plan) and direct (LIFE, INTERREG) EU funds, the utilization of which can be of prime importance for companies in the circular economy in starting the transition.
Thanks to the sponsors of the Circular Economy Platform:
Ninety percent of biodiversity loss is caused by the extraction and processing of natural resources. One million species are threatened with extinction by 2050. Over half the world’s total GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. The circular economy and biodiversity are closely interrelated. This key message was the focus of the fifth Circular Economy Summit held on November 24, 2022, with nearly 150 people in attendance.
Only 8.6% of the global economy is circular, thus significantly less than the potential scope, even though the circular economy involves a number of tools and complex systems, and is one of the most effective things we can do to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges, including the preservation and restoration of biodiversity. At the biggest circular event of the year (held with the help of ING Bank) a number of corporate and start-up examples of the circular economy were provided along with an overview of international processes.
Today, the Circular Economy Platform, which was established at the initiative of the Hungarian Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSDH), the Dutch Embassy, and the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology, consists of 97 members. These institutions have highlighted knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and immediate action as the platform’s most important tasks.
The impact of the linear economy is unquestionable: more than 90% of the biodiversity loss is caused by the extraction and processing of natural resources. In the last decade, the global economy has consumed 70% more virgin materials than the world can safely replenish.
The connection between biodiversity and material management is clear: the circular economy as a form of system-level change can play a role in halting biodiversity loss and can create tangible opportunities for businesses as well.
“Companies must be at the forefront of systemic changes. Those who act earlier are apparently less likely to suffer from external effects such as rising energy prices, shortages of raw materials, or disruptions in supply chains… Climate neutrality must be achieved urgently – among other things – through the spread of the circular economy, which the leading companies have already recognized… according to this year’s ‘Towards Net Zero’ research, the use of circular solutions is increasingly coming to the fore. For the time being, these solutions are mostly seen as new business opportunities alongside preexisting ‘material-intensive’ processes. But the aim should increasingly be to replace the latter, as this approach can only slow down the use of natural resources” – highlighted Attila Chikán Jr., president of BCSDH, in his speech.
“Use the current crisis to build a circular, regenerative and future-proof economy that not only stops the destruction of the Earth but restores the damage that has been done” – stated Efstathios Andreou, Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands to Hungary in his opening speech.
Guest speaker at the Circular Economy Summit was Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Cramer, a renowned expert on the circular economy, professor at Utrecht University, chair of the board of the Dutch Circular Hotspot, former Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and author of the book Building a Circular Future, published in 2022, who sees that a clear way to accelerate the process is to join forces and launch as many pilot projects as possible: “Coalitions and alliances need to be built with those willing to take the lead in making a circular future a reality, and the number of pilot schemes needs to be expanded with more and more donors and active government involvement.”
Hungary is currently not managing its natural resources well, and is far from circular, but it is encouraging that, as in Europe, the legislative process has started to address the issue of the circular economy. These are important steps that can ensure that Hungary’s further development does not take place by using up natural resources. Tamás Rentz, Head of the Department of Sustainability and Awareness Raising at the Ministry of Technology and Industry, reported on the progress made so far and on the next steps.
The transition to a circular economy is today’s big business opportunity. The essence of the concept is not yet well understood by most economic actors, but it is a model that can increase the resilience of the economy and facilitate the achievement of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Creating a circular economy could represent a global business opportunity worth USD 4.5 billion by 2030.
“Sustainability is at the heart of ING Bank’s strategy. We see the shift to a circular economy as essential to preventing climate change, and financial institutions have the responsibility to be the drivers of this process, as we banks can provide the finance to make the transition“ – added Tibor Bodor, CEO of ING Bank, host of the event.
The role of finance, regulation and companies in conserving natural diversity and circular solutions associated with this were the topics of the roundtable discussion moderated by Irén Márta, Managing Director of BCSDH, at which Tibor Bodor, CEO of ING Bank, Dr. Barbara Botos, Travelling Ambassador for Climate Affairs and Climate Diplomacy of the Ministry of Technology and Industry, Norbert Holczinger, Head of Department of the Hungarian National Bank, and Marianna Pinczés, Managing Director of Virgin Oil Press Ltd., discussed the relevant issues, also providing insights into relevant events at COP27, which concluded last week. The key message is that the current crisis is forcing an acceleration of change, but we need to prepare for this in the longer term. It is no longer enough to set long-term targets: we need intermediate targets, metrics, and concrete steps to drive real change and ensure that the taxonomies that are being developed do not come as a shock to the business sector.
The second roundtable discussion of the event moderated by Bálint Horváth focused on international business development experiences with the circular economy and sustainability. Among the participants were Roman Gdovjak, Cyrkl (Expansion Manager & Country Manager Slovakia & Hungary); Agata Frankiewicz, CEO and Founder of Deko Eko; Martijn Veltkamp, Design Manager at FiberCore Europe; Lennard de Klerk, owner of Irota EcoLodge; and, Martin Basila, CEO of Sensoneo.
The main message of the panel discussion was that waste is ‘eternal,’ so it can be an eternal problem or an eternal business opportunity. The interlocutors shared their experiences in terms of how they create opportunities related to this problem and how they have expanded their activities to several countries and continents, and what plans they have for expansion in Hungary.
BCSDH – one of the founders of the Circular Economy Platform – strives to be a community of highly committed companies and business leaders, and is encouraging and supporting its nearly 130 member companies – and, following them, the business sector as a whole – to go ‘beyond emissions’ and focus on biodiversity conservation and restoration and reversing growing social inequality.
This is what our Time to Transform 2030 (a decade-defining program built on the achievements of Action 2020) is all about, to which our Circular Economy Platform is also connected.
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The final event of the cross-border CircularRegions project (Cross-border capacity building for developing circular regions) was held on 22 March via Zoom with the participation of 100 experts, company, and NGO representatives of the Circular Economy Platforms of Slovakia and Hungary. For the circular economy to become a common practice in every business, we must show entrepreneurs the way and guide them through the first steps to successful transformation. The goal of the project was to develop an advisory service in the transition to a circular economy for small and medium-sized enterprises, to train consultants and to establish cooperation between organizations that are members of the circular economy platforms in Hungary and Slovakia, thus accelerating the transition to a circular economy in cross-border regions. This increases efficiency for entrepreneurs, brings a more stable business and a competitive advantage.
To highlight on the importance of circularity in solving climate change, we invited Vojtech Vosecky, the Associate of Circle Economy to the event. He talked about the global challenges we are facing, and showed the participants, that from the 100,6 Gt resources entering the global economy we only cycle 8,6 % of them back to the system. This is the so-called Circularity Gap level of the world, which was reported in the Circularity Gap Report 2022.
He highlighted that the solutions across housing, mobility and nutrition could deliver 70% of the required emissions cut, and a global agenda packed with circular economy strategies can close the emissions gap and bring us on a “well below 2 degrees” pathway. After the keynote speech, the project partners introduced the results of the project.
Denisa Rasova from Slovak Business Agency introduced the project itself.
Bence Janek, from IFKA has shown the results of the Mapping of the Region, which focuses on the SK-HU border regions, collects more specific information about the potential to close the material loops in the region, identify the type of companies in the selected sectors, the key stakeholders and their knowledge about circular economy and collects existing good practices.
The biggest common challenges were the following: The news about circular economy is becoming more widespread, but corporate practice still follows linear economic model; There is a lack of consumer awareness and specialists and expertise; There are deficiencies in regulatory and incentive systems. After that he presented the sector-specific recommendations, which the mapping carried out before.
Martina Velika from INCIEN introduced the developed service, the Circularity Check Tool to the participants. This tool contains 60 questions and 5 indicators, specializing in a product/service. Its advantage is that by answering the questions, it not only assesses the circularity level of the company’s product or service, but also shows for the company development opportunities. The developed project materials are all available by clicking on this link:
1/ Training manual which includes all that was covered during the workshops, including an overview of the CCH questions and guiding notes on their interpretation.
2/ Introductory consultation checklist
4/ Circularity Check questions translated to SK and HU (in Excel sheet)
5/ Circularity Check report template
6/ Training videos
But what were the general experience of the experts with the Circularity Check Assessment? To answear that question we organized a panel discussion with experts from both counties, with the moderation of Bálint Horváth from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Hungary, who himself has also participated in the project as a consultant. The main findings were that using the tool was a great learning for companies and experts as well, and that the tool is not applicable for all sectors, because in the case of tourism and services it was difficult to define the scope of the assessment.
Ivett Takács from BCSDH summarized the steps of the project and talked about the piloting phase of the project. She presented the companies, who were participating in the testing. In Slovakia, 5 experts worked with 4 companies: two companies from the tourism (Patty Ski and the Penzion Harmonia), 1 construction company (Slovizol) and 1 company from the plastic industry (Novoplast). From the Hungarian side, 7 experts worked with 7 companies. 2 companies operate in the construction industry (Cube Factory, Corten Kft.), 2 companies operate in the food and packaging (NaturFood, BioFungi), 1 plastic company (Ugrinpack) and 2 companies from the tourism sector (Novotel Hotel Budapest, Irota Ecolodge). She also summarized the process of the piloting and showed the participants the output of the piloting: the report with the company-specific recommendations.
Irén Márta from BCSDH continued with the main findings of the project. She talked about the results of the two experience sharing consultation with experts, which were held last week in order to get to know the feedback of them about the piloting process. She highlighted on some possible development suggestions of the Circularity Check service and also emphasised the importance of the assessment itself as starting point for improvement.
At the end of the event, Andrej Spanik from Slovak Business Agency talked about the sustainability of the project both in Hungary and Slovakia.
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The project partners are the Slovak Business Agency, the Institute of Circular Economy, the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary and IFKA Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft. The project is implemented under the Interreg Slovak Republic – Hungary program with the support of the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund and supported by the amount of 155 081,99 euros. The project lasts from December 2020 to March 2022.
More information: www.skhu.eu | Facebook | LinkedIn
Implementing the strategies for achieving a circular economy would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 39%. How to achieve climate goals through the circular transition? – this burning issue was at the heart of the fourth Circular Economic Summit, which was held with the participation of almost 170 people on 25 November 2021.
The world as a whole is a long way from operating as a circular economy. The circular economy involves a number of tools and complex systems and is one of the most effective things we can do to tackle climate change and rebuild biodiversity. The biggest circular event of the year (held with the help of ING Bank) provided a number of corporate and start-up examples of the circular economy and an overview of international processes.
Today, the Circular Economy Platform, which was established at the initiative of the Hungarian Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSDH), the Dutch Embassy, and the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology, consists of 94 members. These institutions have highlighted knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and immediate action as the platform’s most important tasks.
Tibor Bodor, CEO Hungary & Head of Wholesale Banking CEE said the following: “we see more and more market-makers emerging in the area of the circular economy. This provides us with a positive view, with the expectation of increasing the speed of sustainable transitions.”
The world is facing three critical challenges: a climate emergency, loss of natural diversity, and growing social inequality. Climate change is not a phenomenon of the future: we are already increasingly experiencing its effects in the form of heat waves and droughts, torrential rain, and even severe windstorms. Most of the effects of the climate change will take place through water-related changes.
A substantial acceleration of ambition and action is needed to meet the Paris Agreement targets. One of the main successes of the now-concluded COP26 is that more ambitious, net zero-emission national commitments have been made. While three weeks before the event global emissions targets covered only two-thirds of those required to reach net zero, after COP26 they had increased to 90%. Hungary wants to be a net climate-neutral country by 2050 and has also committed to a 55 percent national reduction in emissions by 2030.
“Companies also need to act now. A company that does not change in time is taking a serious risk. No longer can ‘low-carbon’ be the sole objective: climate neutrality must be achieved urgently through new technological solutions and the spread of the circular economy and rapid changes in consumption patterns at all levels – highlighted Attila Chikán Jr, President of BCSDH. “As in so many other areas, companies are leading the way, and a growing number of them are already integrating circular economy principles into their strategies. For the time being, these solutions are mostly seen as new business opportunities alongside preexisting ‘material-intensive’ processes. But the aim should increasingly be to replace the latter, as this can only slow down the use of natural resources” – he added.
Of all the natural resources water deserves special attention, as the basis for effective climate adaptation. In addition to an increase in the average temperature, Hungary is expected to be hit hardest by a growing water shortage. Implementing circular water management is urgent and necessary.
This should contribute to keeping water resources in the system for as long as possible, thereby helping to reduce the water footprint.
At present, Hungary is not managing its natural resources wisely, and it is still some way from achieving a circular economy, but it is encouraging that the Hungarian legislative process has started to address the circular economy. These are important steps that will help ensure that Hungary’s further development does not happen at the expense of its natural resources.
The guest speaker at the Circular Economy Summit was Vojtech Vosecky, a leading expert in the field of the circular economy and associate at the one of the world’s leading transition organizations, Circle Economy. He gave a presentation about the links between climate protection goals and the circular economic transition.
Measuring circularity on a company level – and the CTI system and its practical application, as developed by the WBCSD jointly with KPMG – was the topic of the roundtable discussion led by Irene Martinetti, WBCSD Circular Economy Manager.
In addition to learning about a number of international and domestic examples of circular water management, including corporate and start-up solutions, the Circular Regions Project was introduced to provide an overview of the potential of regional cooperation on the topic of the circular economy.
“The Circular Economy is becoming a significant pillar of the Netherland’s diplomatic activities and this region is playing an important role in that. It is good to see that the regional approach is also represented here today, where our practices inspire other countries and we get inspired by the examples of others, showing how the circular transition can respond to the complex ecological issues of our time” – added Désirée Bonis, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Hungary.
Transitioning to a circular economy is a great business opportunity today. The core of the concept is not yet deeply understood by most companies, although the use of this model can increase the resilience of the world economy and facilitate the achievement of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The circular economy could generate business opportunities worth $4.5 billion worldwide by 2030.
Thus, within the Circular Economy Platform’s highly successful Circular Economy Academy, participants benefit from insight from renowned experts about circular performance measurement systems, food waste, and circular design. Furthermore, they have been able to learn about the latest circular business models through innovative international and domestic examples. The work continues, while the focus remains on knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and action.
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The Circular Economy
According to the current so-called linear economic model, technical and biological components are extracted from nature, transformed, and are then disposed of without recycling.
In contrast, in the circular economic model, metabolic processes occur in a closed circle, waste is almost 100% recycled, and biological and technological components are returned to the cycle with minimum loss of quality.
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What is the future of packaging? Are there innovative solutions that can solve the problem? What can companies do? Yesterday, the third and the last episode of Circular Economy Academy was held with the participation of more than 30 company representatives.
As the founder of the Circular Economy Platform, H. E. René van Hell, ambassador of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands gave an inspirational welcome speech to the participants about the successful cooperation of the Circular Economy Platform and its founders. He gave an insight of the first and second episode of the Academy and highlighted on the trends of measurement tools, food waste, and packaging.
Firstly, Dorottya Kovács, Communication specialist of the Coca-Cola HBC Hungary has presented the Coca-Cola first paper bottle pilot project, which is currently running in Hungary. She spoke about the commitments and activities of Coca-Cola on the field of packaging. At Coca-Cola by 2030, all primary packaging must be 100 % recyclable, and 100% of beverage packaging should be collected. To do so, Coca-Cola is working in 2 pillars. First is the reduction of packaging, and the second is innovative packaging, which contains the paper bottle prototype. 2000 Hungarian consumers can be the first to participate in the first European market test in Hungary. The plant-based AdeZ drink is offered through a partnership with Kifli.hu, which is one of the Hungary’s fastest growing online grocery retailer. After using the bottle, consumers are pleased to share their feedback about the bottle. The used bottles are being collected, so that developers can examine how the material has reacted to transportation and use.
After that, participants could learn about 3 innovative businesses, which are solving the problem of the single-used packaging. Envirocare was introduced by Ivana Birová, project manager of Envirocare. This Slovakian company is focusing on research of ecological bioplastic and Panara, the producer together has developed a nonoilen. Nonoilen is a thermoplastic material based full on bio-based polymers and is fully biodegradable without any synthetic polymers and compared to other plastic, it helps improve mechanical properties (flexibility, shape stability) and it all has food-contact certification.
A Hungarian innovative company, Greenstic has also been introduced by Márton Bati, co-owner of the company. Greenstic was established 2 years ago, and has more than 290 compostable, plastic-free products. These are made from sugarcane, paper, recycled paper, and PLA and are designed by them or some are designed exclusively for a certain customer of theirs. The company is working together with restaurants, catering services and warehouses. The most important impact of the COVID was the growing home delivery services and the reduction of the event and festival business. The Hungarian law about banning some of the single used plastic has generated a customer demand. In the future, greenstic will use new plant based raw materials, like mushrooms, potato, grape skin, milk, hemp.
Marteen Stolk, Business Developer has introduced the activities of Ioniqa, a Dutch company, which is working with sustainable plastics. It recycles the un-recyclable PET waste, by doing so it contribute to a closed loop system for PET Plastic. It takes the rubbish PET, makes a high-quality monumer out of it which can be used by PET manufacturers. All the PET which could not be recycled will be brought back to the value chain. It will be 100% recycled, 75% less CO2 emission, and price and quality competitive to oil. Ioniqa is the first operational plant supplying the largest global PET manufacturers in the world, like Unilever and Coca-Cola.
As closing of the event, Bálint Horváth, Circular Economy Officer at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands summarized the Circular Economy Academy webinar-series and asked the participants to indicate the topics that they are interested in the future.
The Academy will be continued next year.
With close to 50 participants, the first day of the Circular Economy Academy kicked-off with the presentation regarding the Circular Transition Indicator (CTI) and the Circularise software, which both ensure the transparency of the circular use of materials throughout the value chain and can be used for the measurement of circularity performance by businesses. The survey on the circular economic potential of Hungary conducted by BCSDH and the Bay Zoltán Research Institute in 2020 confirmed the need for innovation, sharing of business solutions and education. The Academy, modelled on last year’s Circular Economy Webinar series, was launched as a higher-level continuation of education. The three most important topics were identified considering lats year’s webinars, on which the Academy’s program is based. At the first event, an overview of circular measurement systems and practical examples were presented by domestic and foreign experts.
Irén Márta, Managing Director of BCSDH presented the activities of the Circular Economy Platform, as well as international and domestic collaborations, namely the CircularRegions project, the CIRCO project and the Hungarian Circular Economy Strategy. Afterwards, Bálint Horváth, Circular Economy Expert of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, presented the goles, dates and topics of the three webinars of the Academy.
WBCSD and KPMG’s Circular Transition Indicator (CTI) framework and related case studies were introduced to the wider audience by Arnoud Walrecht, Global Lead Circular Economy at KPMG and István Szabó, CEE Head in Sustainability Services, which included the specific metrics, key intervention points and the practical software itself. CTI application is already presently used by companies such as Philips and Microsoft, who used it to report on their level of circularity, and more similar examples are expected to arise.
Denisa Rasova, Manager of the Circular Economy Platform Slovakia presented their work regarding Circular Regions and Circularity measurment tools, namely Circularity Check and Circulytics. The previous one outweighs the latter in its attration of wider audiences, efficiency, and provides more rapid results and has a more specific purpose. While CTI is currently more applicable by larger companies, Circularity Check and Circulytics is a more popular self-assessment tool among smaller businesses.
Mesbah Sabur, founder of Circularise presented their groundbreaking and much needed work, on bringing transparency to another level regarding supply chains, while empowering businesses to take steps towards the transition to a circular economy. Circularise uses a public blockchain system to mimic the physical bounderies of materials regarding production and the supply chain as a whole. All this, while maintaining privacy. For example in collaboration with Porsche, customers have been granted a tool to be thoroughly informed about the sources of the materials used in the products purchased.
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