Roughly one year after adopting its Circular Economy Package, the European Commission (EC) reported on the delivery and progress of key initiatives of its December 2015 Action Plan. In the last year the EC has taken measures in areas such as waste, ecodesign, food waste, organic fertilisers, and innovation and investment. Circular economy principles have been gradually integrated in industrial best practices, green public procurement, or in the use of cohesion policy funds, nonetheless the legislative packages presented in 2015 are still in discussion at the European Parliament and Council. Together with the report, the Commission also issued guidance to Member States on converting waste to energy and proposed a targeted improvement of legislation on certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.
During 2017 the EC will propose, among other, a Plastic Strategy, and a legislative proposal on minimum quality requirements to promote the safe reuse of treated waste water.
The Chemistry Rediscovered contest intends to promote chemistry among young high-school students from all Europe. This will be achieved with the help of teachers, who will develop scientific projects together with their students and encourage them to present their findings, in the form of a video-experiment, together with an accurate experimental protocol.
Deadline: 17 February 2017
Website: http://www.euchems.eu/
In this interview recently conducted by EuCheMS, readers will meet Christian Schärf, Paul Rathke, and Friedrich Wanierke, the winners of the 2016 European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) EuCheMS Award. Their research project, “Alpha-aluminium oxide-based gemstones: Development of a chemical synthesis process prompted by current mining conditions”, started from their interest in gemstones, but soon they realised there were also some positive social outcomes of creating gemstones in laboratories. This interview shows their commitment and passion for chemistry. Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
You are cordially invited to subscribe to Chemistry in Europe, EuCheMS new newsletter. Its objective is to inform about research in Europe, to provide highlights from EuCheMS Member Organisations and Professional Networks, and to look into policy related developments. You can subscribe to this new newsletter here. Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
The very first issue of the new EuCheMS newsletter “Chemistry in Europe” will be published later on in January. Each issue will have articles from research, perspectives from our members, policy analysis, and much more. Register at http://www.euchems.euand be the first to receive the newsletter!
