Mabbett is an environmental consultancy that identifies, designs and implements solutions for environmental, health and safety issues. Over the past months, they have collaborated with the ECCP on two circular economy cluster projects through the ECCP’s Towards Green Transition Facility.

Geraldine Boylan, Director of Environment at Mabbett, and Alexandre Fintoni, Project Manager and Environmental Consultant, discussed how they supported two clusters remotely. Activities included questionnaires, online workshops and one-to-one support with companies, as well as developing guidance documents.

Going into more detail on specific projects, Alexandre focussed on the Lublin Eco-Energy Cluster from Poland. He explained that every cluster is at a different level of understanding when it comes to the circular economy. Therefore, support focussed on generating a shared understanding of how circular economy business models can be integrated into existing business models. Because of the varying levels of understanding, Mabbett provided one-to-one support to 5 cluster members to identify new projects. A key learning was the use of collaboration and partnerships between cluster members as a tool to promote circularity and find new solutions.

Geraldine then introduced the AEC Cluster from Portugal and the difficulties in introducing circular economy approaches in the construction sector. Alexandre explained that clusters need the practical know how to implement circular economy actions at each stage of the construction process (from design to deconstruction). One of the main achievements was developing a checklist focused on the different stages of the construction supply chain.

Adding to this, Alexandre stated that clusters can act as drivers for a circular economy and can help their members to collaborate and find new solutions. In this context, collaboration and participation are crucial to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Finally, Geraldine mentioned that she and her team were very pleased to have been part of the clusters’ development and look forward to supporting more clusters in the future with their journey towards more sustainable business models.