Project News: The Circular Economy Summit in Austria

The Austrian Circular Economy Summit can be perceived not only as a kickoff but as a milestone event in the Austrian economy. On 22 March 2022, SEALIVE partner Austrian Standards participated in the event hosted by the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology.

The event was framed as an acknowledgment of the need for circularity in addressing social, economic, and climatic policy challenges and ultimately future-proofing socio-economic systems in Austria. Many aspects of circularity were discussed and examples of circular construction, circular textiles, circular mobility, and circular food were shared. EU commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius highlighted the importance of reusable, biodegradable, and compostable plastics to support the path to sustainability. Furthermore, there is a need to adapt business models and, in parallel, make use of innovative funding mechanisms available (e.g. Horizon Europe and Austrian national funding programme) to support the social movement of circularity.

Austrian Standards as a partner of SEALIVE participated in the summit and engaged with the participants, promoting the project and in particular making them aware of how the solutions developed by SEALIVE will contribute to the circular economy, i.e. circularity techniques and end-of-life solutions that will support sustainable bio-based plastics solutions.

For further information about the summit see circular-economy-summit-austria.b2match.io/.