by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Circular models can be both sustainable and profitable—if developed with the right partners. But is municipal waste collection truly a core competence? Urban waste collection is a complex challenge. In many cities, residents and businesses struggle with persistent litter on the streets. Despite the efforts of frontline staff, stricter rules, and awareness campaigns, waste problems …
During a consortium meeting of the Circular Foam research project, there was a vigorous debate about digitalization in the circular supply chain. Participants view digitalization as a critical factor for success (alongside other crucial aspects such as regulation and technology). But what exactly does digitalization mean for circularity? There are barriers to digitalization for large-scale, …
As appointed in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, cities and regions in EU member countries start accompanying their circular economy strategies by monitoring frameworks, often called Circular Economy Monitors (CEM). CEMs need to rely on many statistics and datasets to assess performance towards achieving set targets and steer decision-making. Waste statistics play an essential role in …
European cities face unprecedented challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss, growing economic instability, and global chain disruptions. The circular economy is increasingly recognized as an excellent opportunity to tackle these challenges, unlocking wide-ranging benefits that help cities thrive and become more liveable and resilient. This is precisely why the Circular Cities Declaration (CCD) has …
CityBarge, Renewi, and their logistics partners are starting to transport commercial waste on the canals of Leiden (NL). CityBarge’s mission is to make cities more liveable by restoring existing canals and using them for city logistics. Through a combination of a zero-emission pusher tug and pushed barges, logistics flows in the inner city are transferred …
Every day large quantities of waste are generated in cities. A lot of this waste is incinerated. How can we turn high-quality waste resources into value? Monitoring tool geoFluxus leads the way to a circular economy by mapping waste flows. When it comes to household waste the City has a duty to collect and process …
The Dutch construction industry is the biggest producer of waste, according to CBS-data, but also accounts for over half of the use of all recycled materials in the Netherlands. The construction industry uses 35-40% recycled materials. Widespread reuse of building components can promote the circularity of materials in the building sector.
Keeping the streets clean in a dynamic urban environment is one of the major challenges facing the Amsterdam City Council. Amsterdam Business School researcher Maarten Sukel developed a system that can recognize waste bags and other unwanted objects lying around in the street. This system can spot the object in real-time and is based on machine …
Researchers at MIT and AMS Institute have developed an alternative strategy for garbage collection in the historic center of Amsterdam: Waste Streams part of the Roboat project. The Amsterdam Canals are still marred by curbside trash. By bringing back the original purpose of the canals (access to the inner city for transport and collection of goods) the …
The largest waste types in construction projects are surplus rock, stone fractions and other construction- and demolition waste, with a large potential for reuse and recycling. In order to fulfill national and international goals of 70 % material recovery from construction and demolition projects, it is necessary to facilitate adequate management of these waste flows.