Circular economy

Focused on strategies that aim to increase efficiency along the entire value chain of goods and services through circular flows of resources (matter and energy) to preserve and extract the maximum environmental and economic value incorporated.

CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED:

1. Integrate environmental sustainability across business functions, increasing competitive advantage and operational efficiency by reducing costs and waste, in order to respond to regulatory constraints and take advantage of regulatory opportunities.
2. Deepen and enhance concepts such as sharing, leasing, refurbishment, reuse and recycle in a continuous (almost) closed loop with a "top-down" approach.
3. Enhance the management of waste materials from production cycles and along the entire value chain: from by-products to the "end of waste", with the establishment, for example, of a secondary market, up to the development of new products and business models and renewable energy.
4. Development of sustainable materials and building systems in accordance with the principles of the circular economy, using the principles of eco-design of products and services.
5. Propose new models to be presented to the region as "emblematic examples" to be taken as reference also for regulatory development.

CLUSTER OBJECTIVES:

1. Industrial symbiosis, promote the creation of "symbiotic relationships" among cluster companies, in which waste or by-products from one sector become inputs for another, particularly with regard to heat exchange for district heating.
2. Development of a system of industrial sustainability indicators (i.e. economic, environmental and social) for companies, groups, supply chains and districts.
3. Identification of the factors and conditions that hinder the adoption of interventions to improve industrial sustainability and the levers available to local government to encourage them. 
4. Support and encourage eco-innovation among Cluster companies to foster the design of new products and production processes.
5. Encourage the adoption of new business models that allow companies to create value by replacing existing practices or seizing new opportunities.
6. Support the energy transition towards the use of alternative fuels with low environmental impact (such as biomass).
7. Promote participation in competitive projects in the area of sustainability and circular economy with the aim of bringing out the activities already in place regarding sustainability (with reference to the SDGs), but not yet in evidence.

PUBLICATIONS:

1. Circular economy: 5 examples of business models and business cases (italian language)