Circular economy applied to business sites

On February 24th 2015, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technoloy (LIST) organised, in collaboration with EcoParc Windhof and the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, the conference "Developing Cradle to Cradle® Inspired Business Sites - principles, tools and financial models." As part of the "Betriber & Emwelt" event series in which the Environment Administration and LIST offer to companies and public organisations a series of information sessions and training on topics related to the environment, it brought together nearly 50 people around the presentation of the final results of "C2C BIZZ", a project co-funded by the transnational InterregIVB programme. There, Camille Gira, Secretary of State for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, emphasized the importance for Luxembourg of transitioning from a linear economic model to a circular one where valuable resources are kept in continuous loops of production, recovery and recycling. Jamila Bentrar from Lille Métropole, one of the project partners, presented the innovative approach to public tendering tested in this project - a competitive dialog process that enabled multiple teams to collaborate with them and co-create their vision of a sustainable and diverse site together.

"C2C BIZZ" a European project, a strong national commitment

Within "C2C BIZZ", public bodies, research institutes and private companies from 6 European countries - Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg - gathered for nearly 4 years on the circular economy issue in a consortium of 11 partners. In Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), EcoParc Windhof and the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure have specifically been mobilized. Together, they worked around the main principles of C2C (Cradle to Cradle) : to infinity reuse any material or substance, use of solar income, diversity in product manufacturing. In each participating country, a pilot site has been set up. There, the different aspects of C2C have been implemented and tested. For example in the UK a demonstrator was build to show the optimal reuse of secondary waste streams, in France a diverse and resilient brownfield has been developed, and in Luxembourg renewable energy has been generated on the site of the EcoParc Windhof .

Beyond pilot sites, the partners have developed a wide range of management, technical and economic tools so to facilitate the application of C2C methodology on business sites in which Luxembourg partners have actively participated. Thus, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure developed a guide entitled "Guide to Cradle to Cradle inspired business sites" giving clear advice on the why and how business sites can be inspired by C2C (financial benefits, savings resources, increased competitiveness, etc.). Researchers at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technoloy (LIST) developed a guideline on how to manage materials on business sites in order to maximize the value companies and sites can generate from their waste materials entitled "Guideline for C2C inspired material management on business sites." The Luxembourg researchers have also developed a methodology to assess how much renewable energy can be generated by a business site in order to supply their energy needs. They also carried out a study on how to implement a circular material system at the Luxembourg pilot site Ecoparc Windhof and proposed a system for the collective management and recycling of confidential paper waste.

For those wishing to explore and learn more about the C2C concept, both a quick quiz on C2C principles (C2C BIZZ quiz), and a game on about the different steps involved in the C2C in business process, (C2C BIZZ game), are available on the project website.

>> Download all documents and tools developed within the project at www.c2cbizz.com

>> Download the conference's presentations on the dedicated page

>> The 2015 calendar of the "Betriber an Emwelt" event series is downloadable on the dedicated page