What the circular economy is The circular economy is a development model where the value of the products, materials and resources is kept in the economy for the longest possible time. Instead of being scrapped after being used, the materials are reincorporated in the production cycle as secondary raw materials. Ecodesign, reuse and recycling play a key role in this new economic model, that seeks to minimise waste generation. Driving a circular economy fosters, among other aspects, the creation of new jobs in the following areas: Production of energy from renewable sources Energy efficiency Waste and waste management Air quality Restoring goods and services Increasing recycling Reuse and use of new materials that they are easily recyclable or reusable
The Circular Economy in the Basque Country The Basque Country currently generates 5.5 million tons of waste a year. The vast majority of that waste is industrial and has a recycling and recovery rate of 48%. The economic value of materials sent to landfill exceeds EUR 44 million a year. In order to harness those resources, the Basque Government’s Ministry of the Environment, Territorial Planning and Housing, though Ihobe, annually convenes a series of grant programmes to implement circular economy demonstration projects that drive: New value recycling solutions for secondary materials ("upcycling")Manufacturing products using secondary materials Repairing and remanufacturing parts or components, products or equipment Download
Life Giswaste projectThe agri-food sector of the Basque Country generates 4 million tons of organic by-products and waste every year. Its management as final waste is a difficult and costly task. However, its recovery and reuse is viable given its high content in nutrients. The European GISWASTE, implemented as part of the LIFE programme and led by the AZTI Tecnalia research centre, in conjunction with LKS, Geograma, and with the support of Ihobe, has developed a methodology and its relevant IT tool combining multicriteria decision-making procedures and geographic information systems (GIS), that facilitate decision making in the management of agri-food by-products. GISWASTE proposes alternatives to recover and reuse dairy, meat and/or plant by-products, by means of the production of biogas or animal feed. By combining geographical information and multi-criteria decision methodologies, GISWASTE provides viability reports regarding recovery and reuse by means of two options: Construction of a biogas production plantConstruction of an animal feed production plant
Basque Country's "Circular Thinking" Initiative As part of the Circular Economy Strategy of the Basque Country, the Basque Government’s Ministry for the Environment has set up the “Circular Thinking” initiative to foster the circular economy among the socio-economic stakeholders of the Basque Country, and particularly with industry (SMEs and large corporations). Apart from fostering and streamlining the implementation of circular economy processes by companies, this initiative seeks to facilitate the identification of the actions and case studies carried out by companies to act as examples for other organisations, by means of using the “Circular Thinking. The Basque Country towards the Circular Economy” brand.
Circular Economy in the Basque Country The circular economy proposes an evolution of the current economic model, based on extraction, production, use and waste generation, by offering countries, companies and consumers an alternative to grow and compete by reducing dependence on the use of raw materials and increasing wellbeing. In other words, to do “more with less”. Basque industry annually generates 3.5 million tons of waste, 43% of which is untapped and ends up in landfill. Iron & steel, metal casting and paper are the sectors where the greatest amount is generated. Recovery of products and components has generated in the projects conducted in the Basque Country so far greater value added than the recovery of materials, which confirms the hierarchy of the priority lines of work from an opportunity perspective (ecodesign, remanufacturing and upcycling of metals and plastics). However, the costs of raw materials in Basque industry account for 61%, compared to 2% for energy costs, a similar percentage to that of Germany. Furthermore, Basque industry's dependence on imported raw materials is 77% and it is, therefore, necessary to strengthen the current private-public partnership focused on product ecodesign to better harness the potential solutions to close the cycles of key materials. If circular innovative solutions are undertaken, an achievable average potential saving of 6% of that consumption of raw materials is estimated, which would mean savings of €2 billion in Basque industry.. Over 150 industrial companies of the Basque Country are already applying circular practices or models (ecodesign, servitization, remanufacturing, life cycle assessment, environmental declarations, etc.). The main industries that are adopting new "circular strategies”, are in the automotive, transport equipment, electronic and electrical equipment, machine-tool, metal, chemical, furniture and building sectors and environmental services subsector, even though the need to drive the culture of working with other value chain has been detected in companies. The circular economy experiences implemented by Basque companies have led to tangible and immediate results. Therefore, 60% of the companies already working on those approaches point out that it is essential to introduce those criteria in their business or product in order to, among others, make their processes more productive, cut energy consumption, save materials, grow sales, stand out on international markets, open up new markets, improve their image and increase their internal capabilities. Download
Measuring the circular economy The Basque Country, in accordance with the guidelines set by Europe, has defined a monitoring board to be able to evaluate its progress towards a more circular economy – thanks to the measurement of a limited set of significant key indicators that help us to study the main elements of the circular economy. This panel will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of actions at the European and national levels, to identify best practices and differences in performance in specific areas, and to detect the need to take new measures. The study framework covers areas such as food waste, safety of raw material supply, repair and reuse, waste generation, waste management, trade of secondary raw materials, and the use of recycled materials in products. The indicators are based on existing data from Eurostat and other official data sources; all indicators included in the monitoring framework comply with the RACER criteria (Relevance, Acceptability, Credibility, Easiness, Robustness). This monitoring panel is characterized by its comparability with Member States of the European Union, periodic updating, and the existence of time series. Download
Ihobe awards grants to two Sidenor circular economy projects for more efficient steel production Circular Economy Save 28/05/2020 Circular Economy Ihobe awards grants to two Sidenor circular economy projects for more efficient steel production The grant to Sidenor, a company specialised in the production of special steel long products, is part of a programme of grants to encourage innovative ecodesign and circular economy projects in Basque Industry financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
Save Circular Economy 14 Feb 2019 Circular Economy Workshop: Compete in a more resource efficient and circular economy by product policy and ecodesign Raw materials, most of which are imported and subject to important price and supply fluctuations, account for 50% of product manufacturing costs. On the other hand, 80% of the environmental impacts are determined during the building, service and product design stage. Given the difficulties, the European Commission has developed a market and legislative instruments to be deployed regionally and nationally. This event, co-organised by the European Resource Efficiency Knowledge Network – EREK, seeks... Iberdrola (Madrid) Madrid Available papers