The bioeconomy is a hot topic these days, right up at the top of policy agendas. It involves using renewable natural resources as a raw material. The circular bioeconomy introduces circularity into this concept: using what would otherwise be thrown away, using spent biological resources to regenerate ecosystems and minimising waste.

The ECESP website has a good selection of circular bioeconomy-themed content. This series will shine a spotlight on it.

Circular bioeconomy concept: the Bioregio project's catalogue of bio-based good practices

A catalogue of circular bioeconomy-related initiatives!

The Bioregio project finished in 2021 - but it covered a range of initiatives, all of which are described in its website: from a waste management system in Jelšovce Distillery in Slovakia to biogas units for household applications in Romania and a Spanish project combining the fight against food waste and social inequality. 

Each good practice is described together with an account of the resources needed to carry it out and the indicators of success. The idea is that each initiative can be replicated elsewhere, and each listing gives a way to contact the project manager for more details.

The EU's Bioregio project boosted the bio-based circular economy through the transfer of expertise on best available technologies and cooperation models.

It aimed to:

• improve knowledge related to circular economy of biological streams i.e. bio-based circular economy
• increase recycling rates of biological materials e.g. food waste/biowaste, municipal and industrial sludge and agricultural residues  
• transfer expertise about:

          - cooperation models, e.g. ecosystems, networks, administrative cooperation,

          - best available technologies, e.g. bio refinery, biogas production.