A new European study has said
that Lombardy and other highly urbanised areas - such as Berlin,
×le-de-France, Madrid and Zürich - should accelerate efforts to
make better use of their trash.
The study by the Circter project, conducted as part of the ESPON
European cooperation programme specializing in regional
analysis, said these were the regions with the highest
proportions of waste generated compared with material consumed.
"The presence of a dense socioeconomic fabric and the lack of
primary raw materials might favour the deployment of circular
economy strategies based on the valorisation of produced waste,"
it said.
Analysing the data for material consumption and waste
generation, together with new indicators focusing on the
sectoral aspects of a circular economy, the researchers
identified several different territorial models of
circular-economy development in the EU.
The characteristics of a region and the different combination of
socioeconomic factors (such as the density of population and of
businesses) along with the availability of natural resources,
often determine the framework conditions of circular systems -
the models of business and consumer behaviour and solutions to
transform waste into resources, the researchers explained.
So it was shown that local economies with a greater availability
of natural resources are assets for circular bioeconomy
initiatives.
The cross-border area of central Scandinavia is an excellent
example of this type of territory.
The Norwegian regions of Innlandet and Viken and the Swedish
regions of Dalarna and Värmland, which are among the main
suppliers of timber not only to Norway and Sweden but also to
foreign markets, have set the ambitious goal of becoming the
leading area for the forest bioeconomy.
As for Lombardy and other densely populated areas that do not
have an abundance of raw materials, it is fundamentally
important to implement initiatives aimed at waste prevention and
modifying consumer behaviour.
Another case is that of Estonia.
The study shows that the high level of waste produced in this
country, which can be considered a low-density region, is mostly
explained by the nature of the national economy, as it is
strongly reliant on oil shale.
Indeed, the researchers wrote that Estonia generates 35 times
the EU average of hazardous waste per capita, 98% of which comes
from oil shale combustion and refining.
As a result, the transition towards a circular system should
focus on reducing the generation, and increasing the reuse, of
such waste in order to improve environmental quality throughout
country and particularly in the mining region of north-eastern
Estonia.
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