Professors and researchers of Tecnun, the School of Engineering of the University of Navarra in San Sebastian, have starred this week in a working workshop with about thirty agents of the public administration, companies, foundations, universities and associations with the goal to identify strategies to achieve the required change towards the Economics Circular. 

The session, which was attended by the Director of Environment of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, Mónica Pedreira, attendance , is part of the project Sarea in which Tecnun and the Provincial Council are working together. The goal of this project, launched at the beginning of the year, is to develop useful strategies for both public agents and private companies seeking to develop industrial symbiosis in Gipuzkoa. As the Director of the Environment indicated: "The Economics Circular saves resources, reduces emissions and is an opportunity for Gipuzkoa to advance in the development of a green Economics that can reach 10,000 jobs before 2030".

The goal of this workshop was to focus attention on the strategies needed to achieve an accelerated transition to a circular Economics . More than 50 strategies were identified, resulting from the input and consensus work of the participants, such as the promotion of solutions aimed at waste reduction such as eco-design or the development of alliances between different agents to increase circularity, among others. 

"There is a lot of consensus among the various participants, regardless of the point of view of each entity, which indicates that there is a common idea of what the Economics Circular is, that they are working on it and that the route to follow is defined," said Carmen Jaca, professor of the department Industrial Organization of Tecnun. 

It is also interesting "that the points of view of different stakeholders are on the table, not only to work with individual strategies for the implementation of the Economics Circular, but strategies as a group to accelerate the transition," said Marta Ormazábal, also a professor at the School of Engineering's Industrial Organization department . 

The workshop was attended by IHOBE, the Basque Government's Public Company for Environmental Management, the Donostia City Council, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, as well as Ekomodo, Ekonek, Sustainn, UCAN, Foretica Dekosocial, ECOEMBES, Cristina Enea Foundation, Gureak, Irizar, Aclima, Ecocir, NaturKlima, the University of Extremadura, the University of Cantabria, Bilibin Circular and department of Industrial Organization of Tecnun-University of Navarra. 

About Sarea

The necessary strategies have been identified and highlighted so that organizations can initiate the transition towards a model of Economics circular through the implementation of industrial symbiosis. The next steps to be taken will be focused on operationalizing these strategies with the different actors in the territory so that collaborative networks are developed and alliances between them are strengthened. In this way, organizations will be able to implement joint actions to achieve the necessary acceleration for the transition to a circular Economics in the territory.

The results of this project point to the creation of a general framework of reference letter for the implementation of industrial symbiosis and, therefore, this framework can be extrapolated to other companies in the territory, assuming that the transition towards a model of Economics circular requires a systemic approach .