IREKIA

The financial aid for these companies are the result of the 2015 call for demonstration projects launched by Ihobe in March and whose selected process was completed at the end of May.  Thirty-five proposals were submitted to the call, the second of this type organised by the Ministry for the Environment and Territorial Policy.

“This call is one of the tools established in the new Basque Waste Prevention and Management Plan 2020, recently passed by the Basque Government to speed up the transition to the circular economy in the Basque industry and thus contribute to the target of recovering 60% of the waste generated in the Basque Country by 2020,” explained Alejandra Iturrioz, the Environmental Administration Director.

The circular economy industrial projects selected for the financial and technical support are:

• Elastal: Developing new functional fillers using recycled rubber formulations, led by Befesa Aluminio.
• Plastcal: Recovery of secondary PVC from complex waste mixes from the aluminium industry, led by Befesa Aluminio.
• Digestor: Recovery of lead-zinc and metallic iron oxides from common steelworks dust by means of a new metallurgical furnace concept, led by Digimet 2013.
• Itsasrecycling: Recovery of disused boats in the Basque Country, led by Dina.
• Paviur: Manufacturing urban pavements with “zero” carbon footprint by means of the innovative recovery or iron and steel waste and enhancing their potentialities, led by Ecopavimentos Eguskiza.
• Orlegi Sarea: Recycling fishing nets to turn them into textiles, led by Ekorec.
• Gerbriq: Contribution to the circular economy by means of reincorporating waste from the rolling and steelworks areas to the production chain, led by Gerdau.
• Pissam: Cement-based innovative products by recovering iron and steel by-products from foundry sand, led by Hormor.
• Giltza: Increased recovery of the non-ferrous metals contained in the battery waste managed in the BAC, led by Indumetal Recycling.
• Pisadas Recicladas: Designing and producing footwear recycled from waste of the Basque Country, led by Kameleonik.
• Euskoremana: Remanufacturing industrial motors, led by Fagor Automation.
• Induenves: Reusing and recycling industrial packaging, led by VL-Kimiker.
• Vefuglas: Recovery of waste from the recycling of windscreen glass from end-of-life vehicles, led by Zorroza Gestión.

As regards the projects, 30% of them are from R&D lines previously stimulated by the European Commission or the Basque Government, 40% enable the launch of new circular economy business models and 80% make up more or less the whole value chain as partners of the project. Finally, 80% of the backed projects require public partnership for a good chance of success.  This demand for public partnership, beyond funding, is focused on streamlining the environmental red tape, drive green public procurement of secondary materials, provide criterion to the strategic approach of the green business, find potential partner organisations for the value chain or consolidate inspections and control of unfair competition.

The first estimates provided by the selected companies indicate that, if successful, these companies would be annually invoicing by 2019 over €18 million in their new circular economy lines and between 57,000 and 108,000 tons of waste could be recovered or reused each year. The funding of the Basque Government’s Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Policy for the set of projects in this fourth Call is €20,000, up to a maximum of €20,000 per company.

“This call is one of the tools established in the new Basque Waste Prevention and Management Plan 2020 to speed up the transition to the circular economy in the Basque industry and thus contribute to the target of recovering 60% of the waste generated in the Basque Country.

Given the warm welcome to this aid instrument to foster and stimulate circular economy projects within the industry of the Basque Country, the Ministry headed by Minister Ana Oregi has decided to bring forward the 2016 call to early November.