LIFE

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LIFE ENVIRONMENT | LIFE and the circular economy Photo: LIFE13 ENV/ES/001165 WALEVA is creating an economically-viable new use for ice straw as a raw material in the production of EVA (levulinic acid) tonnes of extracted waste. The recovered soil can be used as landfill cover, while the other materials can be sold to recyclers, especially when cleaned in the pilot system’s industrial washing unit. “The accompanying socio-economic analysis showed that these revenues can support the landfill mining process,” says Ms Gaitanarou, although she cautions that, “the recyclables market is subject to many fluctuations.” The technology can be replicated on a large-scale, with only minor modifications, and there is a significant market opportunity. “Landfill mining can be used to empty out old historic landfills, an estimated 150 000 to 500 000 in Europe, thus there is huge potential for waste recovery,” explains Ms Gaitanarou. Industrial waste tips, and soils that are unsuitable for agriculture because of their heavy metal content, are among the other areas where waste mining could bring environmental benefits and economic gains. The LIFE-AGROMINE project (LIFE15 ENV/FR/000512) is demonstrating phytomining (also called agromining) to recover high-value metals, especially nickel, from soils over sub-economic ores. The project’s approach uses plants to accumulate trace metals from soils, which can be harvested from their shoots. By-products generated by the process can be used as soil improvers. The project’s methodology could be applied to waste tips to recover metals for reinjection into product life-cycles. Smarter industrial cooperation In the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Commission stresses the importance of innovative industrial processes for improving resource use efficiency, in particular, the implementation of industrial symbiosis (IS). This occurs when traditionally separated industries are bought together in a collaborative approach that provides competitive advantages for all parties, often with the involvement of public sector bodies. It involves the physical exchange of materials, energy and water, wastes and by-products, and also the sharing of assets and expertise. Industrial symbiosis is part of a new industrial ecology paradigm, based on the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems, using the analogy of natural ecosystems where everything is recycled. IS provides a framework for describing how a network of diverse organisations can foster eco-innovation, and business culture and technological change, to create mutually profitable transactions. In the revisions to the Waste Framework Directive, the Commission proposed clarified rules on industrial by-products to facilitate industrial symbiosis, which also helps to create a level playing field across the EU. Of particular relevance to the circular economy is the use of one industry’s waste 24
LIFE ENVIRONMENT | LIFE and the circular economy or by-products as another industry’s secondary raw material. In many cases, waste can be diverted from landfill or incineration to become a valuable new resource. This reduces costs relating to raw materials and disposal, reduces environmental impacts and carbon emissions arising from landfill, provides a new source of revenue, and opens up new business opportunities. LIFE has been an innovator in this regard. Since 2007, the programme has been funding projects that have created networks and platforms to enable industrial symbiosis or to create a symbiosis between industries, turning the waste products of one industry into raw materials for another. For instance, ECOREG (LIFE07 ENV/RO/000690) established an industrial symbiosis network in the Suceava region of northern Romania, with the goal of enabling regional development to occur with minimal environmental impact. The project organised four IS workshops to identify how resources could be reused, and by-products utilised, through the creation of mutually beneficial partnerships. All participating companies filled out ‘have’ and ‘want’ IS forms, which enabled the project to identify 246 potential synergies and 638 resource flows. Out of these, 194 industrial synergies were finalised, whereas 52 were tested but failed at the commercial negotiation stage. ‘Synergies involving a single ‘want’ company and multiple ‘have’ companies were considered to have the potential for highest outputs. The project demonstrated environmental benefits, by reducing the amount of natural resources used as raw materials, which created new business opportunities with the creation of 28 new jobs and the safeguarding of 10 more. Industrial symbiosis can play an important role in reducing the amount of residential and commercial urban waste that goes to landfill. A demonstration Greek project, eSYMBIOSIS (LIFE09 ENV/ GR/000300) created a web-based platform to divert residential and commercial waste from landfill in Viotia. The replicable platform facilitated communication between potential partners and offered automated partner matching, with a particular focus on increasing the participation of public authorities and SMEs in IS activities. The project also trained SMEs to engage in IS and identify new sources of secondary raw materials for use in production. The ongoing project LIFE M3P (LIFE15 ENV/ IT/000697) is connecting clusters of SMEs to foster alternative uses of their wastes, in line with the Circular Economy Package and the Resource Efficiency Roadmap. It is identifying and characterising at least 500 industrial waste streams, and through a European-level online platform called M3P (Material Match Making Platform) is helping to turn them into secondary raw materials for other SMEs in the local area. It aims to involve at least 230 SMEs - 100 in Lombardy (Italy), 100 in Flanders (Belgium), 10 in Asturias (Spain), and 25 in West Macedonia (Greece). LIFE M3P is also demonstrating the feasibility of more efficient uses of raw materials, through the LIFECITRUS is developing an innovative and chemical-free process for obtaining natural food ingredients from discarded parts of citrus fruits: lemons, oranges, grapefruits and tangerines Photo: LIFE14 ENV/ES/000326 production 25
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LIFE

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