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
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Sector key pointers and the Circular Economy
Ihobe's 2021 Berrindartzea Circular Programme helped 80 Basque companies from 9 sectors to conduct a circular economy assessment and prepare a roadmap.
As part of the 2021 Berrindartzea Circular Programme, 80 companies had the opportunity to have an intern, trained in the circular economy and technical support, who helped them to identify their environmental sustainability challenges and to set a roadmap to use environmental management as a way to become more competitive.
Based on the work by the companies – along with sector workshops and an additional strategic environmental watch process –, Ihobe, in conjunction with the leading stakeholders, produced a collection of reports that set out the short-, medium- and long-term key pointers of the circular economy for the sectors taking part in the 2021 Berrindartzea Circular. They included including the chemical, food & drink, mobility & logistics, means of transport, the metal, construction, and the electric & electronics sectors.
The "Sector Key Pointers in the Circular Economy Reports" collection is a useful tool for companies to define their environmental foresight and competitiveness strategies. Furthermore, the public administration can use it to steer environmental policy and face the specific challenges associated to each sectors.
All the reports are structured as follows: they start with an assessment of the rationale or drivers, including possible legislative changes that are in the pipeline or recently approved, and market trends regarding customers' new environmental requirements. Furthermore, they describe which companies are potentially affected and the implications of the legislative changes and market trends that may affect them.
As regards the legislative changes, special mention should be made of the regulatory package within the European Green Deal, including the Sustainable Products Initiative, the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Regulation and the proposal of a new Industrial Emissions Directive. When it comes to market trends, on the one hand, trailblazer companies are making great demands their supply chain, as the result of voluntary commitments and strategies, including decarbonisation, circularity and ecodesign requirements.
The collection also provides a compilation of innovative tools, from international regulations to sector standards, which are related to the aforementioned drivers to, finally, propose environmentally sustainable sector work lines by means of combining the available challenges and tools.
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.
In turn, it envisages driving the bioeconomy by means of innovative technologies and is committed to a new production and consumption model to support the Basque Country's transition to a more efficient economy.
The plan sets specific targets for 2024:
- Increase material productivity by 30%
- Increase the circular material use rate by 10%
- Cut the waste generation rate per unit of GDP by 10%
- New circular and high value-added business models
- Innovation and new technologies in the circular economy and bioeconomy
- New sustainable materials; Product and building ecodesign
- Efficient manufacturing and sustainable exploitation of resources
- Strengthening the opportunities of the circular bioeconomy
- Circular consumption
- Generating market conditions and demand
- Food waste; Plastic consumption
- Sustainable waste management
- Secondary raw materials)
These policy lines and actions are aimed at driving the transition of the Basque Country towards a more resource-efficient economy by means of innovation aimed at a new production and consumption model.
Basque Circular Hub
Basque Circular Hub, the first advanced circular economy services center in Southern Europe. 
Basque companies have access to a wide range of services to improve their competitiveness by integrating circular processes into their production systems, thanks to the services provided by the Basque Circular Hub.
This is the first advanced circular economy services center in Southern Europe. This center will support new green economy entrepreneurship initiatives and provide advanced training to teachers, employed and unemployed workers, and students who want to specialize in this field.
It is managed by the public company Ihobe and is the result of public-private collaboration between the Basque Government, the Bilbao City Council, the University of Deusto, the University of the Basque Country UPV-EHU, Mondragon University, the Applied Research Center of Vocational Training in Euskadi - Tknika, and the Novia Salcedo Foundation.
The Basque Circular Hub covers topics such as:
- New circular business models;
- Eco-innovation and technologies in circular economy;
- New sustainable materials;
- Ecodesign of products and buildings; efficient manufacturing;
- Food waste;
- Plastic consumption and circular consumption, among others.
Four areas of activity
The Basque Circular Hub covers topics such as: new circular business models; eco-innovation and technologies in circular economy; new sustainable materials; ecodesign of products and buildings; efficient manufacturing; food waste; plastic consumption and circular consumption, among others.
The work to be carried out by this center will cover four areas of action: implementing circular economy projects in Basque companies; acting as the Circular Economy Observatory of the Basque Country; providing advanced training in circular economy; and offering technical tools to companies.
In particular, the development of technical circular economy projects in Basque companies will be promoted with the involvement of young professionals trained in the HUB.
Companies will have young specialists with knowledge to integrate the circular economy into their processes, and students will gain access to a work environment to put into practice what they have learned. Specifically, in 2024, more than a thousand young people are expected to participate in this activity.
As the Circular Economy Observatory of the Basque Country, it will carry out strategic monitoring to identify new business opportunities, develop roadmaps for emerging businesses, and create tailored monitoring reports for industrial sectors.
In the entrepreneurship field, it will support project design and provide guidance on accessing available funding opportunities.
The expert training in circular economy activities will play a key role, as they will not only target recently graduated students but also teachers from both universities and vocational training centers. This training will also extend to companies interested in having professionals specialized in the field.
Basque Ecodesign Center
The Basque Ecodesign Center is a stable initiative established in 2011 and structured by a partnership framework between private sector companies and the Basque Government. Its purpose is to design and execute Ecodesign innovative projects for knowledge generation and subsequent transfer to the Basque industrial fabric. The Basque Ecodesign Center has evolved from the specific theme of ecodesign to the broader theme of the circular economy.
When the Basque Ecodesign Center started to operate in 2011, its founding members included six private companies of the Basque Country (Cie Automotive, Fagor Electrodomésticos, Gamesa, Iberdrola, Ormazabal Velatia and Vicinay Cadenas) and Ihobe, as the project coordinator and driver.
It has since grown to 16 members, as per the agreement for 2021-2025. This 2021-2025 agreement represents a significant mobilisation of the Basque industrial sector towards more sustainable frameworks in keeping with the strategy set by the European Green Deal and the Basque Green Deal. In fact, their member companies represent roughly:
- Over 185,000 jobs.
- A turnover of over €50,000 million.
- Around 15,000 suppliers from around the world, with a high number from the Basque Country.
ETE zirkularra Euskadi
The PYME Circular Euskadi programme is a partnership between the Basque Government – through its publicly-owned companies Ihobe and Spri – and business stakeholders that seeks to facilitate the response of the SMEs to specific challenges arising from a changing and increasingly more demanding market and mentor them in their transition to the circular economy. Following on from the work being carried out with the major Basque Ecodesign Center and the line of advanced services fundamentally to attract and train professionals at the Basque Circular Hub, the PYME Circular Euskadi was set up to cover Basque small and medium-sized enterprises that make up 99% of the business fabric. Its aim is to convert Basque SMEs into more circular, more competitive and better positioned organisations.
- By consolidating inter-business collaborations to address the new European instruments aimed at driving the circular economy ("drivers")
- Improving the positioning of SMES by means of the green brand (environmental assessment, performance and communication)
- Generating sustainable business activities that contribute to the green economic recovery of the Basque Country, to improving competitiveness and to creating skilled jobs
- Increasing the environmental resilience of the territory by means of new circular value chains
- Achieving compliance of the goals of the 2030 Basque Circular Economy Strategy
EThe PYME Circular Euskadi programme has set the target of reaching 500 SMEs in 2024 and has five areas of action. The role of brokers is fundamental in order to achieve that goal and facilitate access of small and medium-sized enterprises to competitive improvement programmes.
Areas of Action
Development of environmental watch activities to identify market challenges and opportunities in the circular economy.
Training and skills-building on the challenges and opportunities detected in Basque SMEs, as well as on the methodological know-how needed to apply them.
Implementation of technical projects together with Basque Circular Hub, the centre offering circular economy advanced services located in Bilbao. The only one of its kind in southern Europe, it offers market outlook and advanced training services, along with trend analysis and generating expertise.
Allowing for Basque SMEs in the implementation of technical projects with the partner companies of the Basque Ecodesign Center, the private-public partnership between the Basque Government and the 16 leading Basque companies.
A programme of specific grants to drive the application of circular economy methods and measures in SMEs, in order to encourage group projects, where approaches and lessons learnt are shared, and coordinated by a broker.
Signing up of the stakeholders to the programme and commitments
The Basque brokers — clusters, development agencies and business associations — can sign up to the PYME Circular Euskadi programme using this formulario form.
All PYME Circular Euskadi partners undertake to:
- Appoint a representative for the Monitoring Committee that meets three times a year.
- Help to define and development the activities for the deployment of the 2024 Basque Circular Economy and Bioeconomy Plan, along with the 2030 Basque Circular Economy Strategy.
- Facilitate information, provided it is not confidential, on matters related to the purposes and activities of the PYME Circular Euskadi programme.
- Actively disseminate the PYME Circular Euskadi activities among the SMES with which they are in contact as part of their routine operations and organise joint dissemination activities with the other partners.
- Contribute, based on a common position, to the good management of the PYME Circular Euskadi programme and to its growth and development.
- Akordio komunean oinarrituta, ETE Zirkularra Euskadi programa ondo kudeatzen, hazten eta garatzen laguntzea.
