This year, the Agreement parties focused on fostering discussions about challenges and opportunities related to the circular economy, IRBC, and geopolitical agendas. Recycling companies and civil society organisations from the Agreement, three Dutch ministries, the metals recycling industry association and some of its members, as well as different subject matter experts joined this discussion during a round table that was organised by the Agreement. The following three core questions were the starting point of the discussion:

• How can we close the loop (i.e. circular economy)?
• How can we achieve a closed-loop economy while responsibly considering people and the environment?
• How can we reduce geopolitical dependency?
  
  

The discussions touched upon various challenges and opportunities, such as transparency at the downstream side of the value chain, legislation and regulations that could stimulate or slow down sustainability efforts, business models and opportunities for innovations, and increased collaboration between stakeholders in the value chain to reach impact.