REDUCES project ended its Phase 1 successfully in July 2022. Looking back to the three years of the project, a lot has happened in the world and in the project. COVID-19 influenced the implementation almost from the beginning. It influenced both the regional and interregional learning and made everybody to adjust to online working methods. And of course COVID-19 has not gone anywhere but we have found ways to live with it.

REDUCES interregional learning contributed to the six regional action plans that were published in July 2022. Action plans and more materials can be found from the library. These plans consist of policy actions that aim to support regional circular business models development (renewablity, recycling and resource-efficiency, sharing platforms, product-life extension and product as a service).

Now in the Phase 2 it is time to put those plans to actual actions. The project partners from each region will monitor how the actions are becoming policy changes. In the April 2023 we will share the results in Utrecht final meeting.

In coming months we will publish blog posts from the all REDUCES regions updating the regional situation. So stay tuned, REDUCES journey is not over yet!  

Timo Mieskonen
Turku University of Applied Sciences

Image: IRStone - stock.adobe.com