"The thread of life sometimes thins right before our eyes."So begins JoAnne Potter's debut memoir, a single year's chronological transcription from her personal journal in which she recorded her days as the caregiver of a dying husband. It starts with her husband's admission to palliative care and ends with his death, but this is not a tragedy.True, the story includes pain, confusion, and weakness, but the unyielding thread of life to which Potter's husband clings so long runs through her own voice, too. Almost daily, hope, optimism, and resolve wage real war with fear, depression, and anger. It wasn't until her husband's life reached its end and Potter could finally look back into these often dark days that she understood that her steps hadn't been nearly as random as they felt.There is a rhythm here, a rich refrain undulating with triumphant ups and gaunt downs. This is a song which, when its last chords dissolve, leaves behind a poignant sweetness that confirms we are, even on our hardest days, being held.

The EU Circular Economy Package adopted by the European Commission in December 2015 is a key milestone on the road to a low carbon, resource efficient future. The circular economy is the most important deliverable of the EU's Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, which sets out a vision for the structural and technological changes needed in order to transform Europe's economy into a sustainable one by 2050. Europe needs to move away from a 'linear' economic model that is resource intensive and unsustainable towards a more 'circular' approach, where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the generation of waste minimised. This transition is an essential requirement to ensure a sustainable, low carbon, resource efficient and competitive economy. Getting maximum value from resources requires action at all stages of the life-cycle of products, from the extraction of raw materials to product design, production and distribution of goods and through increasing use of secondary raw materials. Economic actors, such as business and consumers, are key to driving this process. LIFE - the EU financial instrument supporting environmental, nature conservation and climate action - is playing an important role in supporting the transition to a circular economy. This publication features more than 100 LIFE projects that illustrate how the circular economy works in practice. These projects have mobilised some €270 million in favour of the circular economy, and the EU has contributed more than €110 million of this total. For instance, LIFE has helped to increase citizens' awareness and to establish new processes for preventing waste. LIFE has also contributed to 'closing the loop' upstream in areas such as product design, new production processes, consumer awareness and new value chai ns. Since 2014, LIFE Environment and Resource Efficiency projects have prioritised the shift towards a circular and green economy through actions spanning the value chain, industrial symbiosis and the use of secondary resources. This has been done through projects that promote environmental footprint methodology and green public procurement and projects linking regulatory, financial or reputational incentives to environmental performance. There are tremendous opportunities for business development and job creation in a circular economy. The LIFE projects featured in this publication illustrate how the application of circular economy principles not only contributes to the protection of our environment but leads to market solutions and new employment. Such experiences should serve as references for replication in other regions, countries and sectors.

An account of Dennis and JoAnne Potter's years trapping the Chinchaga River Valley.

The EU Plastics Strategy is set to make a key contribution to the transition towards a circular economy and to the modernisation of our industry. This new publication shows how the work of the LIFE programme is helping to achieve the Strategy's goals. LIFE projects are addressing the challenges posed by plastics throughout their lifecycle and across the value chain. They are showing how a circular economy for plastics could deliver considerable benefits for the environment, with an integrated approach that takes on other policy challenges such as food waste and marine pollution. Circular thinking is also unlocking business potential and creating new jobs, for example in the field of bio-based plastics. LIFE and the EU Plastics Strategy profiles over 20 inspiring and innovative projects.