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Ireland: Minister Smyth granted CIRCULÉIRE funding of €1.5 million

Dublin, Ireland

CIRCULÉIRE – Ireland’s first industry-led circular innovation network – and its secretariat Irish Manufacturing Research are delighted to share the news that the company has been granted continuation funding. This announcement was made by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, Ossian Smyth TD, in his keynote address delivered at  CIRCULÉIRE’s 2022 Annual Conference held on 23rd November 2022.

Minister Smyth, who has responsibility for the Circular Economy and Communications, announced his commitment to provide €1.5million  funding to CIRCULÉIRE to continue its activities in 2023 to “foster and enhance circular economy knowledge, capacity building and implementation by Irish Industry”.

“Since its inception in 2020, CIRCULÉIRE and its members have been leading the way in circular innovation, supporting manufacturers and their supply chains to embrace circular economy principles. The transition to a circular economy, supported by CIRCULÉIRE, will contribute to Ireland achieving its targets in greenhouse gas reductions by 2030”, Minister Ossian Smyth.

CIRCULÉIRE- The National Platform for Circular Manufacturing’s activities are aligned with and contribute to the realisation of the objectives and actions of the Government’s Circular Economy Strategy and the Climate Action Plan. For the last three years, CIRCULÉIRE has been dedicated to assisting manufacturers and their supply chains to switch from linear to circular business models.

That has been possible by supporting ten circular innovation demonstration projects, conducting baseline surveys, in-depth circularity assessments, annual thematic working groups, running Ireland’s first dedicated circular venture accelerator and fostering meaningful dialogue between policymakers and industry while supporting our members to reduce waste and associated CO2 emissions. This year, coming to the end of its first three-years-funding cycle, CIRCULÉIRE has shown significant progress in creating circular momentum across the Irish industry.

“Since CIRCULÉIRE started its activities in 2020, we have grown from 25 Founding Industry members and we are now supporting over 50 organisations on their circular economy journey. IMR are extremely proud to receive DECC’s funding in 2023, which recognizes the valuable momentum CIRCULÉIRE has generated and the importance of continuing to foster and grow circular economy innovation and implementation” – Dr Geraldine Brennan, Head of Circular Economy, IMR & CIRCULÉIRE Lead.

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As an example of this engagement, Freefoam Plastics was one of the companies funded by CIRCULÉIRE to lead a supply-chain innovation project. The “Circular Economy & The Power of Many” is a pilot construction collaboration take-bake scheme for all the materials that are delivered for the installation of roofline building products.

“By being involved with CIRCULÉIRE, we were able to get the [circularity] assessment done, and the take-back scheme pilot through innovation funding. These activities and engagement brought the circular economy up in the company’s agenda and now it is one of our main strategic initiatives as part of our corporate strategy” – Kevin Cronin, COO, Freefoam Plastics.

Another key activity for CIRCULÉIRE members is the annual baseline survey across materials, water and energy which helps companies measure their waste and CO2 reduction performance over time.

“Initially, we thought it would be time-consuming, but it is exactly the opposite. CIRCULÉIRE performed a fantastic baseline survey. They worked with probably 15 of our staff and it was a great team effort. Everyone learned and worked together. Since then, we have had good networking, worked on our carbon emissions, and calculated our Scope 3 emissions. It is been a very good journey” – Fergus O’Sullivan, Plant Manager, Aryzta.

www.circuleire.ie

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