• One more step towards the circular model
• On the occasion of the new call for grants in support of initiatives for the circular economy of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya, the Packaging Cluster organized a workshop with its associates to co-devise pilot projects in this field
• The member companies considered the implementation of this new way of designing, manufacturing and making use of resources, with a total of 10 project ideas to promote the circular economy

Recently, the call for grants for projects to promote the circular economy of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya was published, which allocates up to €50,000 to non-refundable funds to all those initiatives that somehow implement new products or services in categories such as ecodesign, new business models or industrial symbiosis. As a result of this call, and as one of the strategic axes of the Packaging Cluster, a participatory workshop was organized to share with its associates different proposals for impact on the packaging ecosystem.

Carlos Jiménez, the new Circular Economy and Sustainability Project Manager of the Packaging Cluster, was in charge of leading the workshop on January 19. He started with a short introduction on what the circular economy is and explained the different strategic models: the circular design model, the circular support model, the value recovery and the life cycle depletion model.

It is essential, as Carlos Jiménez stated during the conference, to design efficiently so as not to generate unnecessary waste and to help regenerate natural systems, with the participation of companies and promoting the transfer of knowledge.

For their part, several cluster members present at the session agreed that the entire value chain of the packaging sector has to evolve in order for changes to be generated, and even so, this does not imply that the end consumer acquires the product as a result, whether sustainable or not. They presented some success stories with solutions born from synergies between clusters and key players, such as the Monopet, Sumbox or Pactex projects.

After the presentation, the cluster carried out a participatory workshop through the Klaxoon platform, where different dynamics were carried out with the attendees in order to extract potential project proposals tailored to the needs of its associates. The activity left us a total of 10 ideas on pilot projects and new initiatives in the line of the circular economy.

This webinar gave the starting signal to different projects towards the circular economy that will be presented for the grant from the Agència de Residus de Catalunya. If you have any idea in mind and need advice as an associated company of the Packaging Cluster, write to us at info [at] packagingcluster.com