Empowering Europe's Regions

Greve Biogas “Magic Factory”

Oslofjord, Norway

 https://denmagiskefabrikken.no/ 

The Magic Factory is a biogas plant cooperatively owned and managed by two multi-municipality partnerships, Greve Biogas and Vesar refuse collection. It produces biogas from household food waste and agricultural manure, and biofertilizers from digestate which is sold to local farmers. The food waste comes from households in Eastern Norway and the manure comes from farms in the region. Approximately 110,000 tons of food waste and manure are recycled per annum, producing biogas equivalent to 6.8 million litres of diesel fuel. The biogas is used as environmentally friendly fuel for vehicles such as public busses and trucks.There is an on-site Educational Centre for Sustainability for sharing knowledge with school students. The Magic Factory’s goal is to become an international pioneer for green carbon capture. Carbon capture takes place through renewable and green CO2 from the factory being used inside industrially adapted greenhouses for food production, together with bio-fertilizer from the factory. A Magic Pilot Greenhouse is under construction for testing, with a plan for rolling out industrial greenhouses for local food production.

Video shorts in social media (BIOVOICES)

Italy

 https://library.iated.org/view/ALBERTINI2022EMP 

The projects involved two famous Italian TV presenters, already known as sensitive to environmental issues: Syusy Blady and her daughter Zoe. Their social media channels reach 750.000 followers, and they are well-known as unconventional travellers in primary TV formats.

The idea was to show and explain, in a very simple and inspirational way, the circular bioeconomy in everyday life. In 10 video shorts called “Lo sai che?” (Do you know that?), Syusy and Zoe, engage a funny competition to show one each other, in a playful banter, who knows more about bioeconomy in a generational mother and daughter rapid word exchange. Before getting in contact with the projects, they never heard about bioeconomy. Therefore, the first step was to inspire them presenting several stories on how waste can become a resource (e.g. apple skin can become leather, leftovers from winemaking can become cosmetics, etc.), to raise their enthusiasm and interest. Once inspired, the next step was to empower them with solid knowledge as well as bio-based products and curiosities, and create a series of stories, each one addressing an application field of the bioeconomy.

Finally, after the video shooting and editing, a contents check was performed, to prevent misleading communication. In this phase, insights like prices of bio-based products, communication messages and data were provided in a nice graphical format.

BIOVALE Innovation Biocamp

Yorkshire and the Humber, United Kingdom

 https://www.biovale.org/about/our-impact/biovale-biocamps-case-study/   

The Innovation Biocamp funded through the Biobase4SME programme was a week-long incubator programme aimed at providing high-potential biobased companies with hands-on tools needed to commercialise their biobased ideas and grow their companies. The Innovation Biocamp included a series of lectures from experts in key aspects of business growth, such as value propositions, business modelling, financing growth and risk management. Each lecture was followed by group exercises mediated by an experienced facilitator. Participants then worked with mentors to apply this learning to their own company. The training culminated in live pitches to a panel of specialist investors. Participant also benefited from peer-to-peer learning and networking with biobased companies across North-West Europe. A highly engaged and participative group of delegates worked well together for all the discussions, exercises and activities and could be divided into 3 categories:

• Founders just starting out (in business < than 1 year)
• Founders of more established companies (in business > than 1 year)
• Employees of start-up companies

Italian Ban on Plastic Bags

Italy

 https://issuu.com/edizioniambiente/docs/bioplastics_case_study_of_bioeconomy_in_italy 

Italy has a special position in Europe for the use of compostable bioplastics. The use of compostable bags, combined with its organic waste treatment sector and a law banning the use of conventional plastic shopping bags, is probably one of the factors that have enabled Italy to take a leading position in the recycling of food waste compared with the European average (47% compared with a European average of 16%). The Italian law on plastic shopping bags came into force on 1st January 2011. It bans the use of conventional plastic shopping bags, which must be replaced by biodegradable bags. This law has not only helped change the polymer that is normally used to produce these bags (polyethylene PE) to biodegradable polymers but has also led to a decrease in the overall consumption of these bags. No one-to-one replacement of conventional plastic shopping bags with bioplastic bags occurred after law came into force, but on the contrary, as shown in Figure 10, plastic shopping bag consumption fell from almost 180 tons in 2010 to 74.5 tons in 2020. The effect of the law was therefore very positive, because the consumption of plastic shopping bags fell by 60% over 10 years.

Grand Est Bioeconomy

Grand Est, France

 https://rubizmo.eu/attachment/render/c4ee5fa9-7dcc-4ea3-b880-6061d44fd7ef 

The Pomacle-Bazancourt biorefinery is based on the continuing development of the Crisal Union cooperative since the 1950s. In the 1990s, the site acquired an agro-industrial complex with the construction of a starch-glucose factory operated by the Chamtor company and an innovation centre, through the launch of a research centre shared between beet growers and cereals, Agro-industry Research and Development (ARD). After this point, policy supports occurs to ensure the development of the site and many different companies join the movement.

Today, the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery is a multi-company ecosystem, which mainly transforms wheat and beet to produce products intended for the food industries – a priority – but also to the chemical, cosmetic, pharmaceutical industries ticks, the packing and packaging industry, fuels and combustibles...but also a site that hosts an innovation platform to cover a wide field of investigations, from the laboratory research stage to the industrial demonstration. One of the most important success factors, was the strong dedication from all local authorities (the Marne department, then the Champagne-Ardenne region and finally Reims Métropole) to develop the site.

Baden-Württemberg Bioeconomy Congress

Baden-Württemberg, Germany

 https://biooekonomie.baden-wuerttemberg.de/,Len/Bioeconomycongress 

The international “Bioeconomy Congress Baden-Württemberg” was first established as part of the Baden-Württemberg Bioeconomy research programme initiated by the Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts. It was first organised in 2014. It currently continues with the aim to promote networking and cooperation among several actors, and knowledge exchange about researcher, businesses, and policymakers, with local and regional activities. The societal engagement is a key aspect of the initiative.

During the congress important topics regarding bioeconomy are addressed by information sessions, discussion panels, workshops, excursions, and seminars including real-life practices. The topics include among others primary production, industry, sustainability, environmental and climate protection, and waste management. The congress takes place every two-years. In year 2022 the fourth edition took place focusing on the contributions of the bioeconomy to the European Green Deal.

National Procurement Database for Biobased Products

Zeeland, Noord Brabant, Overijssel and Noord Holland, Netherlands

 https://biobasedinkopen.nl/ 

The central government has determined that the procurement policy of national, provincial, and municipal governments must become significantly more sustainable. Research among government buyers shows that they see the use of bio-based products as an important opportunity to achieve these sustainability goals. However, they indicate that the realization is made more difficult by the lack of a good overview of available products and suppliers. To meet this need, the provinces of have taken the initiative to set up a National Procurement Database for Biobased Products.

The Circular Biobased Delta Foundation is responsible for project implementation on behalf of the provinces. The Centre of Expertise Biobased Economy is the responsible knowledge partner and Performis BV is responsible as media partner for the construction, design, and continuity of the database. The database will be accessible to everyone after going live. The database and products are broken down by sector including packaging, food and catering and healthcare. The new database answers many questions from buyers. When is a product bio-based? What is it made of then? What offer is there in the specific purchasing categories? How much more sustainable are these products than their fossil alternatives? How can I compare different products and materials on sustainability characteristics? Public and corporate procurement officers can use the new database as a tool to meet sustainability targets in their tenders. Suppliers can enter their bio-based products into the new database free of charge.

Edible Landscape Project CLG

Northern and Western Region, Ireland

 https://ediblelandscape.ie/ 

Empowering local communities to engage positively with climate change through education. The Edible Landscape Project want to make ethical decision-making regarding food choices and have integrity in everything they do. Understanding that the issue of climate change has become a worrying and growing issue recently. Some children are very concerned or anxious and the program we have compiled is intended to be a positive, solutions-based approach to the issue. Each of the strand units and learning outcomes are clearly stated as they are in the curriculum, to assist lesson planning. Participating primary school teachers receive a pack containing a set of Lesson Plans which are directly curriculum linked. The resources provided are intended to teach students how our food choices can have both a positive and negative impact on climate change. The Edible Landscape Project have devised a novel Education Program for Irish primary schools to encourage more schoolchildren to grow and consume food in an environmentally sustainable, climate smart way. This solution focused, Food Forest- Climate Education Program was developed by teachers, for teachers, and in November 2021 was launched in local primary schools in Co. Mayo.