Of the municipal waste separately collected, almost a quarter is biodegradable.

Slovenia has made significant progress in separate waste collection, though returning materials back into the economy remains challenging. On August 27, experts and business representatives discussed how to transform surplus, leftovers, and waste into new business value at the RCERO Ljubljana. The main focus was on determining how much material actually re-enters production and how much primary raw materials can be replaced. Slovenia needs clearer regulations, better data, functioning secondary material markets, and business conditions that make keeping materials within the economy more sensible than discarding them. The business impact of circular solutions isn't always measured solely in new revenues. It can mean reduced material and energy consumption, fewer transports, longer product lifespans, less dependency on supply chains, and greater resilience for businesses. Mojca Markizeti from Understory noted that companies often fail to include these benefits in their investment calculations. For businesses, the key shift lies from asking “What will we do with the waste?” to questions such as: Where are we losing materials, energy, or time? What today is a cost that could become a resource? What would we buy anew, even though we could reuse or renew existing materials? According to Markizeti, there’s enough ideas, but the bigger challenge is rapid implementation. Circularity will become part of standard business logic when it brings higher productivity, resilience, and competitiveness. Regulatory frameworks remain a critical systemic obstacle. Antonija Božič Cerar, director of the Environmental Protection Service at the Slovenian Business Chamber (GZS), highlighted during a roundtable discussion that the paradox of the end-of-waste or cessation of waste status, allowing materials to become raw materials again, is undermined by unclear, lengthy, or legally uncertain procedures. For businesses, it's more predictable to treat materials as waste rather than resources. The system's role is to enable such materials to legally, safely, and economically enter a new production process. “Wastes are just raw materials in the wrong place,” Cerar added. While platforms exist in Slovenia and abroad to ease material exchange among businesses, they haven’t yet facilitated industrial symbiosis, according to Tina Pezdirc Nograšek from the Regional Development Agency Ljubljana Urban Region (RRA LUR). “First, businesses, institutions, and experts need to connect, build trust, and understand specific material flows. Only then can data infrastructure gain true economic value,” said Jure Naglič from Ekstere. He emphasized that concrete solutions emerge when businesses, development partners, and technology jointly find ways to convert waste materials back into usable resources. Jože Gregorič from JP VOKA SNAGA stressed that separate collection alone doesn’t close the loop unless there’s a next step for collected materials. Circular practices should begin earlier, in product design, repairability, potential for reuse, and material selection. This approach is especially crucial for complex systems like textiles or mixed packaging, where product design significantly influences later reuse or recycling possibilities. David Dremelj from LPP Fashion pointed to the market and consumer side. Brands under the LPP group, including Reserved and Mohito, have increased the share of products made from materials with lower environmental impact and are developing models for reuse.