About Circular Economy Beyond Waste

In 2021, the Danish Parliament adopted a national plan for circular economy, prevention and management of waste towards 2032. The Circular Economy Beyond Waste project will contribute to realize this plan.

The 26 actions of the project explore and demonstrate how we can prevent waste and find solutions to increase recycling and reuse to ensure that many more products and materials will be maintained as a part of the circular economy. The project collects and shares knowledge and experiences across partners and stakeholders in Denmark – and later in Europe and worldwide. The ambition is to contribute to form new laws and incentives to remove barriers to circular economy.

The Circular Economy Beyond Waste project will run for eight years from January 2022 to December 2029. The project has received funding of DKK 75 million by the EU LIFE IF Programme and has a total budget of DKK 125 million. The project lead is Central Denmark Region in close collaboration with the other project partners.

Ideally, no products must turn into waste; materials must be recycled and reused. These are some of the key words in circular economy. But it is not straightforward to create circular economy. Authorities, citizens, businesses and knowledge institutions must collaborate to change our consumption and production patterns.

In Circular Economy Beyond Waste, we think in new ways and we think together. This is necessary to meet the ambitious goals of the Danish government of reducing CO2 emission with 70% by 2030 compared to 1990. Moreover, Denmark must increase reuse of household waste with 65% by 2035; today, 44% of the household waste is reused.