THE PROJECT

The impact of large events on resource consumption is beyond any doubt. Their number and footprint make it essential to introduce sustainability as a criterion in their organisation. Although there are several factors that come together to make an event more sustainable, in practice one of the most relevant is the generation of waste and its management. There is an increasing concern and commitment on the part of regional and local administrations to make the large events organised in their territories greener; private stakeholders are also increasingly committed to sustainability; the participants in the events as well. However, the many aspects involved makes the challenge is often beyond the capabilities and resources.

MINEV aims at being an accelerator for regional and local administrations to address and develop waste minimisation in large events through their policies for circular economy, waste management and climate neutrality. With that objective, during the MINEV project 5 local and regional administrations from all over Europe will exchange good practices and policy measures in force in their territories that make waste minimisation in large events possible. They will be supported by ACR+ (advisory partner) that will help them to optimise the process of exchange of experience.

From the point of view of communication, large events are an exceptional opportunity to involve organisers, participants and the overall society in the culture of sustainability, given the projection capacity of these events. Differently from previous projects that provided experience in the field, MINEV is the only one entirely dedicated to policy improvements related to waste minimisation in large events; also, it is also the only one that pays attention to the particularities of the different types of events when it comes to waste production and minimisation.

THE PROJECT

The EU obligation for separate collection of bio-waste will enter into force by the end of 2023, increasing bio-waste availability for composting and anaerobic digestion. To ensure the return of nutrients embedded in bio-waste to the soil, while minimizing soil contamination, an exhaustive analysis of bio-waste management schemes is required given that large disparities exist for its collection and treatment practices in the EU. Considering the existing knowledge on bio-waste management, LIFE BIOBEST will make the most of its network and their access to a large number of datasets to identify and validate current Best Practices (BPs) along the bio-waste management chain (from generation to treatment) that promote quality compost and digestate production and Key Performing Indicators (KPIs). An exhaustive analysis of datasets will provide a set of BPs and through a set of interconnected co-creation meetings with relevant stakeholders, this project will reveal the technical, regulatory, economic, and environmental barriers to widely adopt the proposed BPs. An EU comprehensive guidance will be prepared together with two guidance in the form of a decision support tree for local and regional authorities to tailor their bio-waste management system to their specific context, offering feasible BPs to promote the recycling of biowaste into high-quality compost. With an analysis of the production of high-quality compost and digestate, a proposal for premium EU standards for bio-waste entering composting and anaerobic digestion will be developed to promote certification of these materials and ensure optimal bio-waste processes and safe return to soil. With the outcomes of LIFE BIOBEST, we estimate a significant enhancement of purity of the input material going into compost and digestate, reducing sorting losses from 15% to 10%, promoting conversion of biowaste into high-quality compost and digestate.  

THE PROJECT

Hubs4Circularity are socio-technical ecosystems for full scale industrial symbiosis, industrial-urban symbiosis and circular economy closing energy, resource and data loops at regional scale. They are an important building block for achieving the climate neutrality targets by 2050.

Become part of the European Community of Practice for Hubs4Circularity which connects actors from industry, regions and cities, H4C initiatives, and research and development organizations who are interested in sharing knowledge, experiences, tools and materials to progress faster towards industrial and industrial-urban symbiosis and circular value chains.

THE PROJECT

BIOTRANSFORM provides European policymakers with an adequate assessment and policy development framework, knowledge base and expert support ecosystem to accelerate the transition from linear fossil-based systems to circular bio-based systems. It is therefore operating at the interface between the circular economy and the bioeconomy transitions. In this way, BIOTRANSFORM equips policymakers with the tools to set informed priorities that serve environmental, economic, and social goals, being actionable, futureproof, and align with supply-and-demand trends in related industries and value chains.

BIOTRANSFORM’s “assessment package” will be tested by and provided for European policymakers, which will include 3 complementary tools:

• resource flow analysis tool including circular innovations,
• a cutting-edge quick environmental, social, and economic assessment tool,
• and a logistics management tool

To achieve this, BIOTRANSFORM develops and tests its framework to establish and roll out circular bio-based systems by applying a multi-actor approach around 6 regional cases: Andalusia (Spain), Northern Burgenland (Austria), Western Macedonia (Greece), Finland, Charles Spa Region (Czech Republic) and North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). These regional case studies represent several important industries and scenarios for Europe such as: forestry, agri-food, lake ecosystems, lignite and minerals, and chemicals. Action roadmaps will consider specific regional available resources and infrastructures, conversion pathways, logistics, current policies, strategies, and access to finance. In other words, BIOTRANSFORM builds on the concept of regenerative bioeconomy value cycles by tapping into what is there already and connecting the dots. In this concept, carbon is stored, and nutrients are recovered. This concept shall be upscaled and replicated to many further European regions to achieve Europe's ambitious goals.