• A total of 21 entities and companies have participated directly in the preparation of the proposals, with a total budget of about half a million euros

Last Friday, the deadline for submitting the 2020 call for the promotion of circular economy projects of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya closed, an annual aid that began in 2016 and that takes on more relevance year after year.

As a cluster, we see a direct relationship between the circular economy categories aimed at aids and the market trends of our sector, which is why we help promote sustainable proposals that favor the ecological transition of the entire packaging value chain.

This year, the Packaging Cluster has helped to present 8 initiatives, with a total budget of more than € 450,000 and a requested aid of € 270,000:

• Launching 2 collaborative and sectoral reports (with the food sector and the textile sector) that involve more than 20 companies from the preliminary draft presented, and that intends to have the participation of more than 50 entities that are part of all the subsectors of the value chain.
• Promoting 5 implementation projects; four of new eco-designed products and a new remanufacturing service, and promoting 1 demonstration pilot of an innovative eco-design of sustainable packaging.
• To make it possible, a total of 21 entities have worked on the proposals: 12 companies, 5 consulting firms and 4 clusters. Of the 8 projects in which the Packaging Cluster participates, 5 have been collaborative consortiums between companies with the aim of generating a transversal impact of the proposal.

These initiatives involve different sectors of the economy, such as the Horeca channel (hotels, restaurants and cafes), food and beverages, textiles, industry and logistics, among others.

Carlos Jiménez, Project Manager of innovation and circular economy of the Packaging Cluster, concludes from this commitment of the sector that: “the projects presented have been diverse but all the initiatives have an innovative content of great value that fits perfectly with the cascading strategies the circular economy. Both partners and companies from other clusters and client companies have found in our entity a reference ally to be able to convey their ideas in projects through our services. "

In this sense, the cluster is preparing the upcoming opening of the new Next Generation project office to continue acting as a driver for new transformative projects that help reactivate a more sustainable, digital and inclusive economy of the present and future.