Circular economy from waste to resource: 7Rs innovative practices in Amsterdam. Technologie "die nog in de kinderschoenen staan”

Amsterdam city is proud of being a worldwide center for innovation, in 2016 it was named by the European Commission as the “European Capital of Innovation” (Iamsterdam 2020). This paper analyses seven innovative practices that deal with solid residue in The Netherlands, experiences that try to move towards a “circular bioeconomy” (Hetemäki et alli 2017). I classify the innovation cases I researched in reference to the 7Rs: 1) Rethink, 2) Reduce/Refuse, 3) Reuse/Rehome/Repurpose, 4) Recycle, 5) Recreate, 6) Repair and 7) Rot. My main objective is to bring ideas and images to inspire practitioners and academic fellows to experiment or to adapt from these innovation experiences. I will try to bring some of the new debates concerning the concepts of “circular economy”, “circular society” and the more contemporary one that is “circular bioeconomy” (Hetëmaki et alli. 2017). Finally, to end, I address the role of utopia and imagination as important forces that animate bio/social innovation to reproduce life. Keywords: circular economy; circular bio economy; innovation; solid residue management; Amsterdam.