Are you interested in building ambitious, high-potential consortia to help shape Ireland's circular future? We are delighted to announce that the CIRCULÉIRE Innovation Fund 2026 Call for Applications is now open! The 2026 Innovation Fund will make €750,000 available to contribute to CIRCULÉIRE member-led consortia projects to be completed in 2027. A big thank you to the Department of Climate, Energy & Environment, DCEE, for making this vital funding stream available and t

For the last few years, most conversations about circular economy policy have started with the same question: What's coming next? What’s the next strategy, piece of legislation, consultation or target? In 2026, the smarter question may be ‘What is moving into implementation?’ Both Ireland and the European Union have produced an enormous amount of circular economy policy for the past few years. Strategies have been launched. Action plans have been published. Consultations have

CIRCULÉIRE Q2 Network Meeting – Attendees and speakers at IMR Mullingar, 11 June 2026. On 11th June, we held the CIRCULÉIRE Q2 Network Meeting, entitled Circular Economy Innovation in Action, a day designed with the power of the network as its central theme, bringing together members' expertise, experience, and ambition to accelerate circular action. The event included three interactive sections —IMR’s CEI Tour, the Circular Action Pledge, and Catalysing Collaboration — to in

Jenny Hughes (Irish Medtech), Ed Byrne (Galco), Sean Dowd (Boston Scientific), Damhnait Gleeson (SEAI), and Paul McCormack-Cooney (Irish Manufacturing Research) participated in the Sustainability & Energy Efficiency session at the Manufacturing the Future 2026 Conference (16 April, Galmont Hotel, Galway). The Macro Picture: Resilient, But Tested Ireland's economic performance over recent decades has been exceptional. Manufacturing output has grown broadly across pharma, medte

CIRCULÉIRE Case Studies. Ireland's second Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy 2026-2028 has been launched, and it marks a significant step forward for circularity in this country. At CIRCULÉIRE, we have been closely following its development and actively contributed by submitting our members' feedback through public consultation. We are pleased to share both a summary of what it contains and some excellent news: many of the recommendations our members helped shape

Illustrative image — Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy 2026–2028: Accelerating Action. Ireland's second Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy 2026-2028. Accelerating Action has arrived — and it is the most ambitious and concrete national commitment to circularity the country has seen. Launched in February 2026 by Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE) Darragh O'Brien and Minister of State Alan Dillon, the Whole of Government Circular Econo

CIRCULÉIRE Q1 Network Meeting – Members at Aryzta, 26 March 2026. On Thursday Irish Manufacturing Research hosted our Q1 CIRCULÉIRE network meeting 'Circular Bioeconomy & Packaging in Action’ at Aryzta in Dublin. With over 40 cross sectoral members attending to get the latest updates from DCEE, stats from the EPA and insights from members including a tour around the Aryzta bakery - it was a very informative session. Niall McLoughlin , Principal Officer, CE Strategic Pol

The national “Circular Economy & Net Zero” campaign launched yesterday in the Irish Independent and online at businessnews.ie . Referring to ‘driving innovation through Ireland’s New Circular Roadmap’, Minister of State Alan Dillon, TD called the circular economy ‘an economic necessity that strengthens Ireland’s competitiveness, supports high quality jobs and builds communities that thrive’. Focused on tackling the global e-waste challenge IMR’s article featured our in

Do you have deep technical expertise in the Irish and EU pharmaceutical sector, with a strong understanding of areas like green chemistry, solvent management, and GxP? Can you translate this knowledge into practical, actionable insights for a business audience? If you are a skilled technical writer passionate about advancing the circular economy, IMR the secretariat and coordinator of CIRCULÉIRE wants to hear from you. IMR is requesting applications from a suitably qualifi

Xavier Dubuisson, CEO of Retrokit, and Dave Garforth, Program Director at Responsible Plastics Management (RPM), and Dr. Geraldine Brennan (Director of Circular Economy Innovation at IMR/CIRCULÉIRE). On 21 st January, Director of Circular Economy Innovation, Dr Geraldine Brennan, represented IMR and CIRCULÉIRE in the Circularity in Construction Panel at HPBA’s Net Zero Construction Symposium, alongside Xavier Dubuisson, CEO of Retrokit and Dave Garforth, Program Director at

Youtube Video: All-Island Circular Venture Awards 2025 Highlights, 27th November 2025. For our closing round-up of the 2025 All-Island Circular Venture Awards, we present our highlights video showcasing all the elements of a successful event - speeches from Minister of State with responsibility for Circular Economy, Alan Dillon TD and Micheal Cassidy IMR CTO; all the shortlisted companies, expert judges, ESB’s fantastic venue, circular award fabrication, the audience, award

Q4 Network Meeting participants engaging during the Producer-Led Innovation Session. On Wednesday 3 rd December we hosted our final CIRCULÉIRE member networking session of 2025: Producer Responsibility as a Driver of Circular Innovation Across High-Impact Sectors. Co-hosted in partnership with WEEE Ireland , this collaborative session explored how producer responsibility (through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes or voluntary initiatives) can drive circular val

Representatives from the CircularShift consortium, including IMR’s Patrick O’Donnell and partners from across Europe, gather in Mechelen for a three‑day project meeting on advancing circular procurement. From December 1-3, Patrick O'Donnell from Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) attended the Interreg NWE CircularShift project meeting in Mechelen, Belgium. He represented the wider Irish consortium, which includes the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, Sandy

Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR), in its capacity as the secretariat of CIRCULÉIRE, and the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE) are delighted to announce the winners of the inaugural All-Island Circular Venture Awards held on Thursday, November 27th at ESB’s Event Space in Dublin. Open to late-stage start-ups and ventures across the island of Ireland, the Awards are designed to recognise companies pioneering the emergence of the circular economy sector

Katyln O’Riordan (CEO & Co-Founder of Kinset), Richard Brennan (CEO, Evolve Automotive), Michelle Lee (Head of Innovation & Sustainability), and Valentina Tarasco (Circularity Assessment & Metrics Lead CIRCULÉIRE/IMR) at the ESG Autumn Summit 2025. A big thank you to CIRCULÉIRE members Kinset , Evolve Automotive and General Paints Group for sharing their circular stories with Valentina Tarasco IMR Metrics & Assessment Lead at the ESG Summit on the 20 th of November. Kat

This challenge took place as part of Design & Crafts Council Ireland Irish Design Week 2025 with a programme of 70 events nationwide. Winners were announced on 20 th November with Change Clothes winning in the micro category and The Rediscovery Centre winning in the small category – both great examples of the circular economy in action in the consumer space! McWilliam Bags and Gemell Technology (a finalist in the 2025 All-Island Circular Venture Awards) were runners up.

Karl Crowley, Senior Program Manager for RD&I Circular Economy at IMR/CIRCULÉIRE, presenting at IMR’s Network Day in Mullingar on 20 November 2025. On Thursday, 20th Novemb er, Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) hosted its Members Network Day in Mullingar. A gathering of industry leaders, technology experts and member companies, the event focused on accelerating Ireland’s manufacturing sector toward a more resilient, sustainable, and circular future. The Circular Economy I

Geraldine Brennan (IMR/CIRCULÉIRE), Gareth McAllister (Ahascragh Distillery), Daina Vaz (IMR), and Colm Martin (SEAI) at IMR’s Network Symposium on 20th November. Industrial heat is the backbone of manufacturing, powering everything from food processing to metal production. In the month of November, CIRCULÉIRE held Enabling Circularity in Energy Systems , a webinar about Power to Heat (P2H) and Thermal Storage (TES) as a route for decarbonising energy in Irish Industry, which

Valentina Tarasco (Metrics & Assessment Lead, CIRCULÉIRE/IMR) engaging with TY student attendees during Science Week at IMR’s Mullingar office. During Science Week Valentina Tarasco , IMR Ce Metrics & Assessment Lead co-hosted a session on sustainability and the circular economy for TY students in IMR Mullingar. Valentina highlighted why shifting to a circular model is essential to tackle the 45% of emissions linked to how we extract and process materials. She shared what a “

Sophie Reynolds, Senior Programme Manager at CIRCULÉIRE/IMR, speaking at the Environment Ireland Conference 2025. We were delighted to sponsor the Environment Ireland Conference on October 9th with IMR ’s Sophie Reynolds, Senior Programme Manager CIRCULÉIRE taking to the stage to talk about ‘Delivering on Circularity's Transformational Potential’. Sophie explained that the linear economy of ‘take, make, waste’ is a mindset and system which has enabled growth in the past,