How can regions turn industrial waste into new local value chains?
This question will be at the centre of CIRCULOOS’ participation in the European Week of Regions and Cities, where the project will bring together circular manufacturing, regional innovation and industrial competitiveness in a practical discussion focused on replication.
Across Europe, manufacturers are under increasing pressure to reduce waste, improve resource efficiency and make their supply chains more resilient. Yet turning industrial waste into a valuable secondary resource rarely depends on technology alone.
It also requires the right combination of companies, recyclers, technology providers, researchers, skills, data, financing and market demand. This is where regional ecosystems can make a difference.
Three circular value chains in practice
CIRCULOOS helps SMEs build more circular supply chains through real-world pilots, digital tools and new collaboration models.
During the session, three examples from the project will illustrate how industrial waste can become the starting point for new products and new value chains.
In Spain, recycled plastic is being explored for new applications in the automotive sector.
In Hungary, leather waste is being reused to create new fashion and accessory products.
In the Netherlands, reclaimed wood is being brought back into the value chain for sustainable construction.
Although the materials and sectors are different, the pilots share a common challenge: circularity requires coordination across several actors that would not necessarily work together under traditional linear supply chains.
Beyond waste: connecting the right actors
The session will therefore look beyond the final circular product.
For each case, the discussion will consider the original waste stream, the new application being developed, the actors that need to collaborate and the conditions required to replicate the model elsewhere.
Digital tools also play an important role. Data sharing, traceability and digital manufacturing solutions can help companies better understand material flows, exchange information across the supply chain and identify opportunities for reuse.
But digitalisation alone is not enough.
One of the questions explored during the session will be:
What is more difficult: the technology itself or getting the right actors to collaborate?
What can regions do?
Regional authorities, development agencies, innovation ecosystems and Managing Authorities are particularly well positioned to address some of these barriers.
They can help map local industrial capabilities and material flows, connect companies that would otherwise remain in separate value chains, support pilots and demonstrators, facilitate access to technology and skills, and use regional or European funding to reduce the risks associated with testing new circular models.
They can also help successful pilots move beyond experimentation towards wider adoption and replication.
This leads to another central question for the session:
What can regional authorities do that individual companies cannot do alone?
Starting with the audience
The session will open by turning the question back to participants.
Through an interactive poll, attendees will be asked:
What is currently the biggest barrier to circular industrial value chains in your region?
Potential barriers may include access to the right partners, information about waste and material flows, technology, skills, funding, regulation or market demand.
The results will provide a starting point for the discussion and will be revisited throughout the session as the speakers connect the experience of the CIRCULOOS pilots with the challenges identified by regional actors in the room.
From pilots to regional replication
The objective is not simply to present three project pilots.
It is to understand what can be learned from them and how these approaches could inspire similar value chains elsewhere in Europe.
The session will feature Marjorie Grassler, EU Project Manager at Mobile World Capital Barcelona, and Elia Mercedes Ruiz Pachon, researcher with PhD at SUPSI – University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland.
Together, they will explore how circular manufacturing can move from individual experiments towards stronger local ecosystems and more resilient regional value chains.