In October, we completed the drafting of the report for the project called Managing the change towards a circular economy in Terrassa: Inclusion of resources produced by industrial waste in the value chain of companies, commissioned by the Terrassa City Council with the support of the Barcelona Provincial Council. This project, which began at the end of 2022, aims to quantify the potential for reusing rejected materials in the activities of companies in Terrassa, which could be used as available resources in the territory. To this end, we have extended the analysis to the entire value chain, from the waste generator to the final product that could be created from it.
This project stems from the development of the Terrassa, Sustainable and Circular Industry project initiated in 2021, embodied in the Strategic Plan for Circular Economy of Terrassa. This analysis considered the situation of the industry in relation to the main vectors: circular economy, its relationship with sustainability, climate change and the socio-economic development of the territory. As a result, lines of action were identified for the future based on their significance, impact and potential benefit for the municipality.
One of these proposals focused on the reduction of trivial waste (mixture of industrial origin), which represents around 21% of the waste generated. In the current project Managing the change towards the circular economy in Terrassa, calculations have been made of potential quantities of the most common materials in this industrial mixture of the territory: wood, paper and cardboard, textiles, plastic (expanded polystyrene/EPS and polypropylene) and organic matter. From these wasted materials, proposals have been identified to recover them through a series of elaborated final products. In this way, the circle is closed as closely as possible, establishing systemic relationships between companies in the same territory.
