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Initially conceived for the public administration, circular procurement has now been adopted by several large companies in the private sector. A firm’s environmental footprint does not only depend on its own activities, but also on the others they originate from. That’s why to achieve a real circular transition, companies have to involve their suppliers and not limit this systemic change only to their direct area of operations.

The Mediterranean region is on the verge of a major paradigm shift in the way in which goods and services are consumed and produced, to decouple development from environmental degradation and resource depletion. The two coasts are a climate change hotspot, a key area for marine and terrestrial biodiversity and home to around 530 million people.

People, the planet and the various economies are vulnerable to climate change, so we need to try to limit this change by working on the factors that cause it, also trying to adapt our world to coexist with what has already changed, limiting the damage as much as possible. A cultural, social and economic change is required and our survival and that of our planet depends on it. Knowledge, monitoring, innovation, sharing, collaboration and funding are the essential elements to achieve it. The European Green Deal provides member states with a coordinated basis of initiatives, tools and funding to make change happen in a way that is fair and balanced for all people, businesses and administrations.

The circular economy is a new economic model based on observation of the environment. This model has environmental, economic, but also social benefits and is being implemented also thanks to increasingly green European and national policies and new technological tools.

The recent publication More Growth, Less Garbage (1) updates the data of the study What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 (2), developed by the World Bank, which globally aggregates municipal solid waste national data, reporting estimated generation to 2050. Global waste generation is estimated to grow from 2.24 billion tonnes in 2020 to 3.88 billion tonnes in 2050. In addition to basic waste data metrics, the reports provide information on costs, revenues and tariffs, as well as an analysis of case studies for production diversification.