CBI Pro-Akademia

The mechanical sector encompasses various sub-sectors, including machinery, industrial equipment and manufacturing as significant contributor to the economy of CE, employing millions of people and generating a substantial share of the region’s exports. The sector currently faces several challenges in terms of reduction of waste streams, as well as difficulty in sorting and recycling, due to complex composition of products and the presence of hazardous materials. As recommended by the Circular Economy Action Plan, supporting the 2030 EU Climate Plan, the introduction of Circular Economy solutions in both production and product process of many companies, could reduce the production of waste streams. However, significant differences exist today between countries such as Austria, Italy, and Germany on the one hand and Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland on the other one, as regards the availability of facilities, services, instruments and capacity building paths for mechanical companies / SMEs aimed at introduce circular economy models. To deal with these challenges, REUSE2030 aims to increase the adoption of circular economy principles by mechanical sector, with the introduction of instruments and tools facilitating the application of circular economy models to both production and product phases of mechanical companies / SMEs at CE level. Through the project implementation, the existing disparities concerning the availability of services and instruments supporting mechanical companies / SMEs in different CE countries will be faced and the waste streams reduced from the sector. These are in turn the expected changes that the project wants to achieve in the short-medium terms. RESU2030 is based on a transnational cooperation of business supporting organisation, universities, chamber of commerce, competence centres and development agencies of 9 different CE countries. The partners will analyse a groups of mechanical companies / SMEs in CE, to identify the relevant waste streams, as well as existing or adoptable circular economy solutions that will be summarized in a Transnational Strategy, and two operational plans aimed at producing: 1. Digital Circular Inventory and App, supporting companies in identify applicable and sustainable circular economy solutions on the basis of their type of waste production; 2. Zero Carbon Tool Kit, enabling users to self-assess the carbon footprint of their products and identify opportunities for sustainable design and production optimization. Both tools will allow the companies to autonomously choose sustainable circular economy solutions and processes, determining the innovative approach of the project. These tools will make circular economy models and solutions available to businesses in the CE areas, as well as a network of research institutions, universities and services available to them, for which the transnational cooperation of the partners is essential.

Further information: https://www.interreg-central.eu/projects/reuse2030/

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