It’s the global campaign everyone is talking about. Fresh from its successes in 2022 and 2024, #ForOurPlanet is back for a third season starting on April 22 with a brand new focus on circular economy: beyond recycling.

Running through to European Green Week 3-4 June, the campaign calls on ‘all interested organisations’ — including UN agencies, embassies, ministries, non-profits and companies — to take action for our planet.

The organisers of the 2025 #ForOurPlanet campaign promise taking action has never been easier. From cooking with leftovers to composting coffee grounds, from pop-up libraries to local repair cafes, there are dozens of ways that families, communities and businesses can get involved.

For inspiration, look no further than LIFE Turn to e-circular, a 5-year €2.2 million project which closed last year. With its slogan ‘I’m still useful’ LIFE Turn to e-circular set itself a big challenge: to persuade consumers — especially families and young people — to cut down on the mountains of WEEE (waste electric and electronic equipment) dumped in the EU each year.

Among other initiatives, the project set up 60 ‘reuse corners’ across Slovenia where people could take small electrical items for repair by experts. The team also toured the country in a mobile repair van giving new life to worn-out appliances, and set up a Facebook group to exchange opinions and share tips and guidelines for servicing.

‘Computers, mobile phones, consumer electronics and small white goods were the most popular items for repair, but most of the items brought in were less than 5 years old.’ says Emil Šehić, Director of ZEOS, the Slovenian non-profit which ran the project. ‘A circular economy must go beyond simple reuse. We have to ask ourselves about why we buy things, about servicing and sharing. Products must be made to be useful for as long as possible.’

Also featuring in this year’s #ForOurPlanet campaign is C-MARTLife, a 7-year LIFE project to reduce, recycle and reuse plastic waste in the Flanders region of Belgium. Already the team have cut marine plastic litter by 75% and expect to see completely litter-free beaches by 2027. ‘Today’s waste products are tomorrow’s raw materials,’ says project coordinator Els Herremans. ‘We’re training circular ambassadors to spread the word — education and awareness among leaders and communities drives change!’

#ForOurPlanet launches today, on Earth Day, April 22. For updates on activities in your area or ideas about how to get involved, visit the campaign website or email EU-FOR-OUR-PLANETec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EU-FOR-OUR-PLANET[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).

In ITER, the plasma is expected to reach temperatures up to 150 million °C—ten times hotter than the core of the Sun. Experts operating the device will need to keep a close eye on the components facing this harsh environment. They will do so thanks to an advanced optical technology, the Wide-Angle Viewing System (WAVS).

The WAVS, part of the range of European-made ITER diagnostics, is designed to capture visible and infrared light from the divertor and the main chamber wall. This will provide real-time measurements of the surfaces’ temperature, helping operators detect overheating and prevent damages.

The system consists of 15 lines of sight, located in four different vacuum vessel ports to cover about 80% of the inner surfaces. Each line will collect the light via an entrance pupil, and channel it through a series of mirrors and lenses up to the cameras located at the back end of the port-cell. In total, the WAVS comprises more than 600 opto-mechanical components, 60 cameras, plus other ancillary equipment.

Fusion for Energy (F4E), responsible for the design of the 15 WAVS lines and the procurement of 11, has set the production phase in motion. To speed up the process, pre-shaped raw materials were purchased from Rolf Kind in 2023. Now, F4E has signed a new contract with Empresarios Agrupados, Bertin, and AVS (EBA consortium) to manufacture the first port plug components.

These include three first mirror units, a gateway designed to collect and transfer the light into the system. It’s a standard optical technology; however, their exposure to the harsh conditions inside ITER added complexity to their design. The mirrors will be cooled through thermohydraulic circuits and coated with rhodium to ensure both resistance and reflectivity.

The design is the result of 10 years of collaborative work with European scientific institutes like, CEA, CIEMAT, INTA, SCK CEN and KIT, as well as the company Bertin. “We performed comprehensive tests to select the most suitable materials and carried out extensive R&D and prototyping. Thanks to our collective expertise, we found robust solutions for critical mechanisms and techniques,” explains Frédéric Le Guern, Project Manager for F4E.

One of these challenges was the exposure of the first mirrors to particle depositions that could blind them. In a partnership with the University of Basel, the team developed a technique to clean them in-situ. The process, known as “radio frequency cleaning”, ignites a plasma in front of the surfaces to remove the contamination.

Looking ahead, F4E, ITER Organization and the partners have worked together to anticipate issues in manufacturing. Once again, teamwork proved fruitful. “Our close collaboration has ensured a solid plan, giving all sides the confidence to start producing the components. We are looking forward to the next stage” claims Le Guern.