Two major circular economy projects have been launched by Navarra-based companies from various sectors. First, CircFood will seek to revalue agri-food waste. In addition, the first Circular Economy Park in Navarra will be inaugurated next year, a space that will combine crops, greenhouses, drying sheds, composting plant and gastronomy.
The last week has served as a presentation of two major projects related to the circular economy that will help to position Navarra as an international reference in this area: the CircFood project, which brings together companies in the agri-food sector for the revaluation of agri-food waste, and the first Circular Economy Park in the region, which will be inaugurated next year, are presented as reference projects to inspire other companies in the region to implement similar projects.
Regarding the first project, the Navarrese companies Urzante, Harivenasa, IAN, Ingredalia, Nucaps and Isanatur, supported by the research centers CNTA and AIN, have joined forces in an R&D project based on circular economy for the valorization of agri-food by-products with a local and cooperative approach for added value applications.
CircFood seeks to provide a solution to by-products of plant origin, rich in bioactive compounds (CBAs), with the aim of developing high value-added products that are beneficial to health. In addition, it plans to convert industrial waste into raw material for industrial exploitation with the consequent reduction of environmental impact, thus taking a further step towards the concept of eco-profitability, industrial profitability based on sustainable processes.
Circular Economy Park
The first Circular Economy Park in Navarra will be completed in late 2023 or early 2024. The Bordablanca farm of Josenea, in Lumbier, where this space will be located, seeks to promote the dissemination of the circular economy, a concept that has been developing for 20 years in the company.
Josenea aspires to be a space for dissemination and real practice of the circular economy and plans to combine crops, greenhouses, dryers, composting plant and gastronomy. It also contemplates the sale and promotion of local agri-food products to encourage local trade.
Josenea is located on the Bordablanca farm, which belongs to the Government of Navarra and is leased to the association. It has 14 hectares and is located in Lumbier. The project was born in 2002 with the aim of offering an opportunity of labor insertion to people in a situation of social exclusion. A year later, it began to develop this work through training in environmental services and since 2006 the farm has been receiving guided tours and, since then, has attended more than 30,000 visitors.
Currently, Bordablanca has become a farm where more than 70 different varieties of plants, shrubs and trees with medicinal uses are grown in a 100% ecological way. All the facilities are designed and built with bio-construction criteria, using recycled and/or environmentally friendly materials, and the energy used in the cultivation is also of renewable origin.